Eastern Red Cedar


Look at me friend.

I come to ask for your dress

Since there is nothing

you cannot be used for.

I come to beg you for this,

long-life maker.

Kwakiutl prayer to a cedar tree

In my mind, there is an endless list of plants that I want to know better.  A few of these plants are of the more exotic nature that I doubt I will ever see in their native environment. So, to realistically encompass my list in a lifetime, I try to focus on the plants that are more familiar to me.  These everyday plants surround me in my garden, walks in the woods, or just being part of my everyday routine.  I might give them a nod "hello" as I pass by, notice a pretty flower or soothing scent as I tend to them or admire the majesty of how they reach for the sky.  But most are just acquaintances to me, looking quite ordinary but at the same time, standing ready to reveal the incredible history they have lived.  I just need to ask.  Such is the Eastern Red Cedar.

To get the technical information out of the way.....Juniperus virginiana L. is it's proper name, belonging to the Cupressaceae, or cypress, family.  Having 60 to 70 species in the family, Junipers are found all over the world, but the "red cedar" is native to North America.  Hardy to zone 2, it is found west to Colorado, isolated places in Oregon and north to Ontario and Quebec.  It will grow on a variety of soils and weather conditions, but prefers a slightly chalky soil that doesn't stay wet.  The tree can reach 55 to 60 feet in nature, although it might take it 50 years to do so.  You also might have noticed by it's Latin name, that it is a juniper and not even a cedar, which are naturally found in the Middle and Far East.  It seems the over eager colonists of our young country, when at first seeing this wonderful tree, reported back to Europe that it was the most amazing cedar they had ever seen.  As it happens with alot of other plants, the name stuck.  The tree also goes by the name of Savin, Red Juniper and graveyard tree.

The colonist might have admired this juniper, but their admiration could not have come close to the high esteem the Native American's have for it.  To the Native American's it is the sacred Tree of Life.  The Cherokee's name for it is ajina, the Choctaw call it chuala and it is keezhik to other tribes.  The cedar is one of the 4 sacred plants and is associated with the direction of the south on the compass.  The others being tobacco representing the east, sage representing the west and sweetgrass the north.   These 4 sacred plants are used in smudging ceremonies where one uses smoke emitted from these plants for purification. Most all civilizations have been using smoke for ceremonial purposes for thousands of years.  Cedar is used for protection, courage, cleansing and growth and to help clear the mind and the heart.  In a smudging ceremony, the smoke attaches itself to negative energy and as the smoke clears, it takes negative energy with it where it will be released and regenerated into positive energy.  A piece of cedar is also used by hanging over a door to ward of bad spirits and keep them from entering the home.  A piece is also worn around the neck in a medicine bag for protection.

The Cherokee tell a story of after the earth was created, the people went to the creator and had asked him to make it always daylight.  Although reluctant, the creator obliged the people and made it perpetual daylight but the people soon came to realize that it was not a good thing.  They could not keep up with their gardens and it was too hot.  They then asked the creator to make it night always.  He obliged them once again.  The crops failed from cold and lack of sunlight, the people could not stay warm and many died.  They went back to the creator and pleaded with him to change it back to day and night.  The creator did so but felt bad that many of the people had died by their foolishness, so He created the cedar tree and placed the spirits of their people who had passed on, in the tree.  It is the tree of their ancestors.  The cedar is mentioned in the actual creation story of the Cherokee, also.  The creator had told all the plants to stay awake and watch for 7 days and nights.  Most plants fell asleep but the cedar, pine, holly and laurel.  Because they stayed awake, they did not lose their "hair" and are green all the time.

The city of Baton Rouge gets it's name from the cedar.   Tribes used sticks from the cedar to mark territories and when the French, on an expedition in Louisiana, had noticed a red pole adorned with animal skulls, they named the site Baton Rouge, which means "red stick", referring to the red color of the "heart" of the cedar wood.

As a practical matter, the cedar bark, leaves and it's berries are used as medicine.  The wood had many uses from canoes to flutes.  The bark was used as a red dye.  Later, the white man used the wood almost exclusively for pencils and the wood has been used in furniture and fence post because of it being a natural insect repellent.

Because the Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, only grows in the eastern half of North America, the Juniperus communis, or the common juniper is used by Indian tribes out west.  It's habitat is mostly the northern half of North America from east to west.  It is a low growing "shrub like" cedar that rarely reaches 5 feet..  The leaves are more flattened and whitish on the surface.  The leaves also turns a rich, bronze color during the winter.  This is the cedar that the juniper berries used for Gin come from.  The berries of this juniper were used by Cheyenne, Apache, Blackfeet, Crow and other tribes for colds and fevers, to stopping vomiting, to easing childbirth.  A natural yeast also grows on the berries.  The berries of the Eastern Red Cedar are used in traditional medicine but can be mildly toxic, with large amounts possibly causing diarrhea and cramping. Toxicity can vary according to season, different plant parts or stages of growth.  Besides the berries, the leaves, roots and bark of both types are used in medicines and teas.

The cedar tree is dioecious, which is Latin for two houses, and means the tree has a separate female and male tree.  The trees develop sexual maturity around 10 years of age at the earliest.  The male's will develop their own type of conelets, which are a tannish color, by late September.  They grow until spring when the pollen is then released and carried by the wind to the female tree.  The male conelets will then dry up after releasing the pollen.  The female tree has small green conelets that develop late summer to early fall.  They grow very little during the winter.  When pollination is successful in the spring, the female conelets develop and grow, changing colors from green to whitish blue to finally a darker blue by late Autumn.  The "berries" contain one to four seeds.  This juniper is a true evergreen and although they don't look like the traditional evergreen cones and more like berries, they are indeed classified as cones.

The Eastern Red Cedar is considered to be a "pioneer invader".  These are usually plants that are the first to establish themselves on cleared land, rather it be by natural clearing or by man.  Nature doesn't like barren soil and will usually use the fastest or easiest spreading plants to protect the soil.  Cedars get a bad rap as being invasive, but the truth is, man has created this problem.  Cedars, by nature and for thousands of years, were controlled by natural selection.  The young seedlings will not grow in mature forest because there is not enough sunlight.  If you see old cedars mixed in with hardwoods, you can almost guarantee that at one time it was pasture land.  Cedars also cannot tolerate fire.  The trees are high in volatile oils and catch fire easily.  One reason not to plant the tree too close to a house.  The Native American's and nature used fires to control over population of certain species and to rejuvenate the soil.  With no controlled burnings and men planting cedars as wind breaks, the trees have become "weedy" in certain areas.

Red Cedars are favorites with many birds and mammals.  The cedar wax wing is a favorite fan of the tree along with many other birds.  They have discovered it takes 12 minutes for the berries to pass through the birds digestive system.  Just long enough for it to perch on a fence row and deposit the now fertilized seed.  That's the reason alot of cedars grow along fence rows!  Deer will eat the leaves sparingly.  Few insects inflict permanent damage to the tree.  Root rot causes more damage.  Flagging is a condition where a few of the leaves turn orange in the Fall and is caused by lower light levels.  It's just the tree's way of adjusting and will not harm it.  They will naturally shed 10 to 15 percent of older leaves during fall/winter.  Cedar apple rust is a fungus that uses the tree as a host and affects apples that grow nearby.  It will not kill an apple tree, just affecting the fruit.

I am surrounded by hundreds of cedar trees on my property, some large and some very small.  I have a new respect for this friend I have gotten to know better.  It took me years to learn this unassuming, sometime gangly, always quietly beautiful tree, has such a noble history.  I am glad this is one I can now take off my list and hopefully will not wait so long to acquaint myself with more of the plants I share this space with.