of New York 41 



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 



RED CEDAR 



One-half natural size. 



of an inch long, closely appressed to twigs, four-ranked. 

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

 overlap, occur in 2's and 3's. 



The fruit is a dark blue berry about % of an inch in 

 diameter. 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, very durable, of even texture, works 

 easily. The heartwood is red, the sapwood white. This 

 color combination and its pronounced fragrance, supposed to 

 ward off moth and other insects, account for its wide use for 

 clothes chests, closets and for interior woodwork. It is also 

 used for fence posts and pencils. 



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

 from Nova Scotia to South Dakota south to Florida and 

 Texas. In New York this tree is common on poor dry 

 soil in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys. It becomes less 

 abundant northward and is rare in the southwestern coun- 

 ties, not known in the Adirondacks, but local westward in 

 Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties. In abandoned fields, 

 waste places and along fence rows one often finds it. Birds 

 distribute the seeds widely. This tree grows slowly, needs 

 plenty of sunlight, and rarely exceeds 50 feet in height and 

 1 8 inches in diameter. It has a distinctive narrow conical 

 crown when growing in the open. 



