Eastern redcedar

Leaves

Form

• Scale leaves with or without glandular depressions on the outer surface, pointed
• Successive pairs overlapping
• Needle leaves often on same branch with scale leaves

Length

• Scale leaves 2 mm
• Needle leaves 12 mm

Colour

• Dark bluish-green becoming yellowish-brown in winter

Twigs

Form

• Slender, 4-sided

Seed cones (mature)

Form

• Berry-like
• Firm

Width

• 3–6 mm

Colour

• Dark blue with a whitish powder

Structure

• Containing 1 or 2 seeds

Timing

• Ripen in first autumn

Bark

Form

• Thin, fibrous
• Separating into long, narrow shreds

Colour

• Reddish-brown

Wood

Texture

• Moderately heavy and hard, weak
• Strongly aromatic
• Heartwood resistant to decay

Colour

• Heartwood bright purplish-red to dull red
• Sapwood nearly white

Size

Height

• To 10 m

Diameter

• To 20 cm

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Tapering rapidly, cross-section irregular

Crown

• Narrowly pyramidal or columnar becoming open and irregular
• Branches short, slender, ascending

Root system

• Deep where soil conditions are favourable

Habitat

Site

• Scattered locations on rocky ridges and on dry sandy soils
• Often abundant in pastures and abandoned fields
• Also in isolated localities along migration routes of seed-eating birds

Light tolerance

• Full sun

Range

An eastern species