Click on the images help you identify an eastern red cedar.
Form
Straight trunk, more or less grooved, with a pyramidal to rounded crown. Height ranges from 25 to 50 feet in favorable locations, with a trunk diameter of up to 24 inches. On poor, rocky, or dry soil, the trunk may be very divided or nearly prostrate.
Bark
Thin, reddish-brown, peeling off in long, vertical, shredlike strips.
Leaf
Two types usually occur on the same tree. The more common type is dark green, minute, and scalelike, clasping the stem in four ranks so that the stem appears square. The second type appears on young growth, vigorous shoots, or branches in deep shade; it is awl-shaped, sharp-pointed, spreading, and whitened underneath.
Fruit (seed)
Fruit is a dark blue, berrylike cone about 1/4 inch in diameter, enclosing one or two seeds in sweet flesh. It matures in one season and is a favorite winter food for some birds.
Range
Found on dry, gravelly soil and rocky ledges in the southern half of the state. Most abundant on river bluffs in the southeastern part, where few other trees grow. Shade-intolerant.
Wood uses
Wood is red, fine-grained, soft-textured, fragrant, and very durable. Used for interior woodwork, chests, closets, lead pencils, posts, and poles. Red cedar is an alternate host of cedar-apple rust, so it is not recommended near orchards or in regions devoted to commercial apple production.