DIOECIA MONADELPHIA. 
ma. Corolla 0. Sta- 
mina. 3. 
Foeminei. Calyx 
3-partitus. Petala 3? 
Styli 3. Bacca 1 — 3 
sperma, tuberculata. 
1. Virginiana. Lin. 
J. foliis ternis, basi 
adsiatis, junioribus pa- 
tulis, senioribus ap- 
pressis, imbricatis. 
717 
scale. Corolla 0. Sta- 
mens 3. 
Fertile Jlorets. Ca- 
lyx 3-parted. Petals 3. 
Styles 3. Berry 1 — 
3 seeded, tuberculate. 
Leaves ternate, uni- 
ted at base, when 
young expanded, when 
old appressed, imbri- 
cate. 
Sp. pi. 4. p. 853. Walt. p. 243. Mich. 2. p. 245. Pursh, 2. p. 647* 
Nutt. 2. p. 245. 
Mich. arb. for. 3. p. 42. 
A tree of irregular growth; along the margin of salt-water streams it is 
generally covered with horizontal branches; in thick woods it grows like 
the fir, tall and slender; in old fields it extends like the live oak, and in such 
situations sometimes attains the height of 40 or 50 feet and a diameter cf 2 
- — 3. Leaves very small, resembling scales, verticillate by threes, on young 
shoots expanding and very acute, on old branches closely imbricate. Flow- 
ers axillary. Ament of sterile florets very small. Berry dry, 1— -2 seeded, 
roughened with the persistent calyx. [Seeds nuciform. Nutt.) 
The wood, leaves and berries of this tree have all an aromatic flavour. 
The wood is light, close grained, reddish purple, and perhaps more durable 
than any other timber in our country. Those which grow along the sea- 
coast with their roots partially immersed in salt-water, though smaller in 
their dimensions, are much more durable than those which inhabit the fo- 
rests. Often when surrounded and finally destroyed by the encroachments 
of the salt-water, their bodies remain in the marshes for an indefinite period, 
the roosting places of vultures and of sea-birds, become incrusted with pul- 
verulent lichens and seem to moulder away like rock rather than decay like 
a vegetable product. 
The timber of the Red Cedar is extensively used by ship carpenters and 
boat builders, by cabinet makers and turners, and is in many articles of do- 
mestic use. The aroma of the wood is so disagreeable to insects that in 
chests newly made woollens may be preserved for one or two years without 
receiving any injury from moths. 
Grows in almost all soils; very common along the sea-coast of Carolina 
and Georgia; more rare in the interior country. In the state of Alabama, 
however, at a distance from the ocean, it sometimes is found covering almost, 
exclusively many acres of land. 
Flowers April. 
