RED CEDAR
Juniperus virginiana, L.
Form.—Height 30-40 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; crown pyramidal or rounded, often irregular, dense.
Leaves.—Opposite, of two kinds: (1) scale-like overlapping one-sixteenth inch long, (2) awl-shaped, ¼-½ inch long, less common than the other form.
Flowers.—April-May; dioecious, or occasionally monoecious; in small lateral catkins.
Fruit.—A berry-like strobile, maturing in autumn, about ¼ inch in diameter, dark blue with white bloom, sweet and resinous.
Bark.—Thin, peeling off in long strips, reddish-brown.
Wood.—Light, soft, fragrant, close-grained, very durable, red, with whitish sapwood.
Range.—Nova Scotia and Ontario, south to Florida and Texas.
Distribution in West Virginia.—Occasionally found in Randolph, Tucker, Upshur, Pocahontas, Webster, Barbour, Harrison, Taylor, Lewis, and in the mountainous parts of Nicholas, Greenbrier, Grant, Preston and Monongalia counties. A scattered growth throughout the western and southern hilly counties. Plentiful in Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, and in parts of Gilmer, Calhoun and Putnam counties.