red cedar Identification (Juniperus virginiana)

Check red cedar for a narrow, often column-like evergreen form and dense branching.

• Leaves are scale-like and pressed tight to the twigs, usually in opposite pairs.
• Some shoots show sharp awl-like leaves, especially on vigorous branch tips.
• Twigs form flat to slightly rounded sprays rather than long loose needles.
• Berry-like cones are round, blue to bluish purple, with a pale whitish bloom, about 1/8-1/4 inch (3-6 mm) wide.
• Bark is reddish brown and peels in long, narrow strips on the trunk.

Use several traits together, especially the tight scale leaves and blue berry-like cones.

Red cedar shows clear age-related changes in foliage, crown shape, bark, and cones.

• Seedling: First growth carries soft, sharp juvenile needles in opposite pairs or whorls of three, making a spiky, open little plant unlike older branchlets.
• Juvenile plant: Young shrubs and saplings still show mostly awl-like needles, but branching becomes denser and more upright; scale foliage begins appearing on some shoots.
• Mature plant: Adult trees are usually narrow to broadly conical, often 30-50 feet (9-15 m) tall, with mostly tight scale-like leaves and fibrous bark peeling in strips.
• Fruiting stage: Female trees bear rounded, blue seed cones with a waxy coating, typically about 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide, standing out against the finer adult foliage.

Several named selections of red cedar are identifiable by foliage color and crown shape.

• 'Canaertii': Narrowly pyramidal, often 20-30 feet tall (6-9 m), with soft juvenile foliage persisting in plume-like sprays rather than mostly scale leaves.
• 'Grey Owl': Broad-spreading and low, usually 2-3 feet tall (0.6-0.9 m) and 5-8 feet wide (1.5-2.4 m), with gray-green foliage instead of the typical darker green.
• 'Glauca': Foliage has a consistent blue-green to silvery cast, making the whole crown look cooler in color than the species type.
• 'Emerald Sentinel': Very narrow, columnar habit, often only 3-4 feet wide (0.9-1.2 m) at maturity, unlike the broader pyramidal form typical of the species.

Juniperus virginiana stays evergreen, so the clearest seasonal clues are color and fruit. In late fall and winter, foliage often shifts from medium green to dull green, bronze, or purplish. Female trees show waxy blue, berry-like cones that become conspicuous from late summer into winter. Male trees can show small tan pollen cones in late winter to early spring.

Several conifers are regularly mistaken for red cedar.

Juniperus virginiana is native to eastern and central North America, from southeastern Canada through the eastern United States and west onto the Great Plains. Knowing that range helps separate it from western junipers when a tree is found growing wild. It commonly occurs in old fields, limestone glades, rocky slopes, fence rows, cedar barrens, and open woodland edges, often on dry, thin, or disturbed soils. In those habitats, especially abandoned pastures and rocky uplands, it is a strong identification clue.

• Berry-like cones: The blue, berry-like seed cones can cause stomach upset if eaten in quantity. This is an ingestion concern for humans and pets.
• Foliage and sap: Leaves and plant oils can irritate the mouth if chewed and may irritate skin in sensitive people during handling. This affects humans and pets through ingestion or skin contact.