Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern red cedar is a juniper. This versatile coniferous tree can adapt to a whole range of circumstances and drastically change its appearance. The only condition absolutely necessary for red cedar is plenty of light. It thrives at the ocean front, where it usually grows as a low shrub, or on hill tops, where is becomes a small tree. The largest cedars can reach 90 ft in height. In any population, there are male and female trees, i.e., those producing pollen cones and those producing seed cones. Flowering starts in March, when there is few obstacles for wind pollination. Seed cones ripen late in the fall. They are round and blue, thus often mistakenly called "berries" or "fruit." Red cedar produces prickly needle-shaped leaves when it is young. Later on, it develops mature leaves, which look completely different: they are short and scale-like.

Due to rapid advancement of forests in Massachusetts in the 20th century, there are now fewer red cedars around than in the 18-19th centuries, when they had plenty of habitat in pastures and around other agricultural land. Another reason for relatively scarce numbers of red cedar has been their intentional destruction. The problem with eastern red cedar is that it supports a fungus that kills apples and hawthorns. The fungus does not reside only on apples, but uses an alternative host, a red cedar during a certain stage of its life cycle. Red cedar has thus become a vector for the disease. However, in the area where there are no orchards around, not much harm is inflicted by the presence of the fungus.

Juniperus virginiana