Eastern red cedar

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Eastern red cedar staminate inflorescence

Eastern red cedar fruit

Eastern red cedar bark

Eastern red cedar

Eastern red cedar leaves

Eastern red cedar fruit

Eastern red cedar

Eastern red cedar fruit

Eastern red cedar

Eastern red cedar staminate cones

Eastern red cedar

Eastern red cedar

Cedar apple rust fungus

Morphology

Trunk

Erect, solitary; bark thin, brown to reddish-brown, splitting into long strips; wood red with white sapwood, fragrant; branches erect, spreading or drooping, reddish-brown.

Twigs

Pliable, green when young, glabrous.

Leaves

Opposite, simple, green or bluish-green, reddish-brown in winter; leaves of mature twigs sessile, scale-like, ovate or lance-ovate, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, closely appressed, overlapping leaf above; tip sharply pointed; leaves of immature twigs needle-like, 1/16 to 1/6 inch long, widely spreading.

Flowers

Male and female inflorescences on separate trees; cones rather than flowers, at ends of twigs. Staminate pollen cones solitary, ovoid to ellipsoid, 1/12 to 1/6 inch long, 1/25 to 1/12 inch in diameter, yellowish-brown, sessile at branchlet tips; pistillate cones solitary, spherical, green, at branchlet tips.

Fruit

Berry-like, spherical, 1/6 to 1/4 inch in diameter, surface waxy; seeds 1-3, egg-shaped, 1/12 to 1/6 inch long, light brown, pitted; fruits in September.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairie hillsides, pastures, shelterbelts, windbreaks, roadsides, old fields, occasionally in woods; dry rocky, sandy, or clay soils.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas

Practical Information

Toxicity

Foliage consumption by cattle and sheep may cause small birth weights and abortions.

Uses

Red cedar is often observed in shelterbelts where it provides protection from the wind. The trunks have been used for fence posts and the durable and fragrant wood made into furniture, shingles, and handicrafts. Native Americans chewed the berries to treat canker sores and used them as food and to add flavor to soups and meats. The berries and twigs were boiled and the liquid taken for coughs in humans and horses. The twigs and leaves were burned and the smoke inhaled for colds and were used in stem baths to treat rheumatism. The Dakota attached red cedar branches to their tipi poles to ward off lightning. Wildlife use it for cover and songbirds and morning doves nest in it. The fruits are eaten by deer, birds, and rodents and wild turkeys eat the leaves.

Additional Notes