Plant Family: Cupressaceae
Growth Form: Small to medium-sized densely branched tree with a pyramidal form.
Leaves: New leaves at the twig tips are short, needle-like, and bright green; older leaves are darker green and scaly, overlapping and hugging the twigs.
Bark: Gray to reddish brown, peeling in long strips.
Cones: Dioecious; male cones golden brown, female cones berry-like, grayish blue, waxy, 1 cm in diameter; they are eaten by as many as 50 bird species.
Habitat: This native pioneer species is usually found in drier habitats, including wood edges, abandoned fields, rocky slopes, coastal thickets, and roadsides; it grows best on limestone soils.
Range: All of the eastern and central U. S. west to the Great Plains. It is replaced by Southern Red-Cedar (J. silicicola) in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.
Similar Species: The related Common Juniper lacks scale-like foliage, and is usually shrubby.
Comments: Like Common Juniper, the ripe female cones can be used as a flavoring. The aromatic wood is used to make cedar chests and closets. Cedar rust diseases are fungal diseases (Gymnosporangium spp.) that spend one year of their lifecycle on Eastern Red-Cedar and the second year on species of crabapple, hawthorn, and other susceptible members of the Family Rosaceae.
