Eastern Redcedar, Virginian Juniper

Latin name: Juniperus virginiana

Etymology: Juniperus is derived from the combination of the Latin words for ‘young’ (junio) and ‘to produce’ (parere), possibly referring to the evergreen foliage. The species name virginiana means ‘from Virginia’.

Family: Cupressaceae (Cypresses)

Origin: Eastern North America

Native habitats: Prairies, old pastures and limestone hills

Eastern redcedars are an early successional species. They colonize abandoned fields, shading out grasses and meadow flowers, then in turn get shaded out as other, taller tree species become dominant. With fragrant, rot-resistant wood, the reddish brown  trunks of redcedars persist in the understory as evidence that what now is forest was once pasture.

Description: Eastern redcedars have a height of between 40-50 feet and a diameter of 1-2 feet. Leaves are sharply 3-sided needlelike or scalelike and evergreen. They occur in pairs of 4 rows along 4-sided twigs and branchlets. The heartwood is reddish and the bark dry and shreddy but not ridged. Fruits are more or less globular, hard, whitish to blackish berries with 1-2 seeds, measuring about ¼ inch in diameter.

Wildlife value: The fruits are consumed by over 50 bird species and opossums.

Uses: The light but strong and durable aromatic heartwood is widely used for cedar chests, cabinets, lead pencils, fuel and fence posts. The dry outer bark is used in flint-and-steel and sunglass fire sets and the volatile oil derived from the leaves is used in perfumes while the berries are used for flavoring.