OF Ohio 37 



RED CEDAR 



Juniperus virginiana, Linnaeus 



RED CEDAR is a common household word. In recent 

 years the "red cedar chest" has won its way to a special 

 place in the modern home. 



The leaves are of two kinds, namely, scale-shaped and awl- 

 shaped. The scale-shaped are commonest, one-sixteenth of 



BED CEDAR 

 One-half natural size. 



an inch long, closely appressed to twigs, four ranked. The 

 awl-shaped are narrow, sharp-pointed, spreading, do not over- 

 lap, occur in 2's and Vs. 



The fruit is a dark blue berry about 34 of an inch in di- 

 ameter. Berries are freely eaten by birds. 



The bark is very thin, reddish-brown, shallowly furrowed, 

 peels off in long shred-like strips. 



The wood is soft, strong, of even texture, works easily. 

 The heartwood is distinctly red and the sapwood white. 

 This color combination and its pronounced fragrance, sup- 

 posed to ward off moth and other insects, account for its 

 wide use for clothes chests, closets and for interior wood- 

 work. 



The Red Cedar, also called Cedar and Juniper, is found 

 from Nova Scotia to South Dakota, south to Florida and 

 Texas. This tree is generally distributed throughout Ohio, 

 but is rather rare in the north and north-central part of the 

 State. It is abundant on the limestone soils of southwestern 

 Ohio. This tree grows slowly, needs plenty of sunlight, 

 and rarely exceeds 50 feet in height and 18 inches in di- 

 ameter in the northern part of its range. It has a distinctive 

 narrow, conical crown when growing in the open. 



The Common Juniper — Juniperus communis, Linnaeus — 

 is closely related to the Red Cedar. It is a small, shrubby 

 tree, with a wide range of ornamental varieties, planted 

 widely for ornamental purposes. Its awl-shaped leaves 

 occur regularly in 3's and do not extend along the twigs. 



