Juniperus virginiana

L. (1753)

Common names

Eastern redcedar, red or eastern juniper; cèdre rouge, genévrier rouge [French]; miskwaawaak [Ojibwe]. Subsp. silicicola is also known as southern redcedar, coastal redcedar, or sand cedar.

Taxonomic notes

This is one of the 9 species of Juniperus described in 1753 by Linnaeus; type USA, locality unknown, LINN 1198.7. There are two subspecies, J. virginiana subsp. virginiana and J. virginiana subsp. silicicola (Small) A.E.Murray. Most authorities treat them as varieties, but subspecies is a more appropriate rank because they have largely disjunct ranges and habitats, making them distinct albeit sister taxa.

Synonymy for the species: Juniperus foetida var. virginiana (L.) Spach (1841); Sabina virginiana (L.) Antoine in Cupress.-Gatt.:61 (1857). Subsp. virginiana has over 70 synonyms; see POWO for the list. Synonyms for subsp. silicicola include Sabina silicicola Small (1923); Juniperus silicicola (Small) L.H.Bailey in Cult. Conif. N. Amer., p. 197 (1933); Juniperus virginiana var. silicicola (Small) A.E.Murray in Kalmia 13:8 (1983).

J. virginiana belongs to the North American/Caribbean subclade of the smooth-leaf-margin junipers of Section Sabina, within which it anchors a large species complex. In many ways it is essentially identical to J. scopulorum. The two taxa adjoin each other in morphological, chemosystematic, and genetic analyses, and the geographic line separating them is an arbitrary boundary drawn across a treeless portion of the Great Plains—a particularly arbitrary boundary in this time of climate change and human-assisted migration. In a truly objective taxonomy they would probably be different subspecies of one species. Taken together, they are the predominate juniper of North America, their distribution bordering both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, at latitudes from southern Florida to central British Columbia. The seaside juniper, J. maritima, is arguably a maritime subspecies of J. scopulorum (though the name remains unpublished), in the same way that J. virginiana subsp. silicicola is the maritime subspecies of J. virginiana. The creeping juniper, J. horizontalis, is closely related to J. virginiana, as are the junipers of the Caribbean: J. barbadensis, J. bermudiana, and J. gracilior. Adams (2014) proposes that the Caribbean juniper species arose from long distance bird dispersal of J. virginiana seeds from North America, first to the Bahamas, and then to Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola. J. gracilior likely evolved from Cuban populations of J. barbadensis var. lucayana. Based on our knowledge of sea level and geologic change in the Caribbean, all of this likely happened during Pleistocene time (the past 1.8 million years). See Adams (2014) for a recent review emphasizing molecular and chemosystematic relationships within this species complex, and also see the pages for these other species in the complex. There is a named hybrid between J. horizontalis and J. virginiana, J. × ambigens (Fassett) R.P.Adams. The hybrids occur in areas where both parent species are present, and are distinguished by their shrubby, non-prostrate habit.

J. ashei is not part of the species complex, and reported hybridization with J. virginiana has been refuted in subsequent studies (Adams 1993).

Description

"Trees dioecious, to 30 m, single-stemmed; crown narrowly erect to conical, round, or flattened. Bark brown, exfoliating in thin strips, that of small branchlets (5-10 mm diam.) smooth, that of larger branchlets usually not exfoliating in plates. Branches pendulous to ascending; branchlets generally erect, sometimes lax to flaccid, 3-4-sided in cross section, ca. 2/3 or less as wide as length of scalelike leaves. Leaves green but sometimes turning reddish brown in winter, abaxial gland elliptic or elongate, conspicuous, exudate absent, margins entire (at 20× and 40×); whip leaves 3-6 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1-3 mm, overlapping by more than 1/4 their length, keeled, apex obtuse to acute, spreading. Seed cones maturing in 1 year, of 1 size, generally with straight peduncles, globose to ovoid, 3-6(-7) mm, blue-black to brownish blue when mature, glaucous, soft and resinous, with 1-2(-3) seeds. Seeds 1.5-4 mm" (Adams 1993). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Regarding the two subspecies, Adams (1993) describes virginiana as taller (to 30 m), having a narrowly erect to conic or round crown (vs. plants to 10 m tall with a conic to flattened crown in silicicola). The scale leaves have an acute apex in virginiana, but are usually blunt or obtuse in silicicola. Virginiana has slightly smaller pollen cones (3-4 mm), substantially larger seed cones (4-6 mm), and slightly larger seeds (2-4 mm); silicicola pollen cones are larger (4-5 mm) but the seed cones are only 3-4 mm and the seeds are 1.5-3 mm. Still, apart from its restricted range, subsp. silicicola "differs little in morphology or leaf terpenoids from upland J. virginiana." Plants in parts of Georgia appear intermediate between the two subspecies (Adams 1993).

Distribution and Ecology

Canada: Ontario, Québec. USA: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Subsp. virginiana is in all these states and provinces, while subsp. silicicola is restricted to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Subsp. virginiana is also naturalized in Colorado and Oregon (PLANTS database 2009.03.31). As such, this is the most widely distributed conifer in the eastern United States. See also Thompson et al. (1999). Subsp. virginiana is hardy to Zone 4; subsp. silicicola to Zone 8 (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Distribution of J. scopulorum and J. virginiana. J. scopulorum shown in red and J. virginiana in blue. Orange markers show J. virginiana var. virginiana and green markers show J. virginiana subsp. silicicola (blue markers are collections not identified as to subspecies). Distribution data from GBIF (2023a, 2023b), presented at a resolution of 0.1 degrees latitude/longitude.

Subsp. virginiana is a habitat generalist, found at 0-1400 m in woods, old fields, glades, fencerows, and river swamps. Subsp. silicicola occurs at 0-15 m elevation, primarily on coastal foredunes and coastal river sandbanks, though it is also planted/naturalized in coastal residential and agricultural landscapes (Adams 1993 and pers. obs. 1983-2024).

Remarkable Specimens

Both the largest and oldest known trees are recorded in subsp. virginiana. American Forests (1996) recorded two "champion" trees. One in Coleman cemetery, Angelina National Forest, Texas, has diameter 148 cm, height 27 m, and crown spread 14 m. The other, in Lone Hill Church cemetery, Coffee County, Georgia, had diameter 171 cm, height 17 m, and crown spread 21 m. A 2020 remeasurement found it to be 203 cm dbh and 17.1 m tall with a 26.8 m crown spread (Payne 2025).

The oldest known specimen, 939 years, is documented in a tree-ring chronology covering the period 481-1998 (fully crossdated), collected near Franklin, West Virginia by Ed Cook and colleagues (doi.org/10.25921/eh24-yv61). The 939-year lifespan was shown in one sample that ended in 1419, presumably a dead tree, as were most of the samples in this chronology. Also, a tree with a crossdated age of 795 years, specimen LTD95A, was collected near Leatherwood Creek, Missouri by Dave Stahle, Rich Guyette, M. D. Therrell and Malcolm Cleaveland as part of the Ancient Cross Timbers Project (doi.org/10.25921/fs4s-pk40). The data series for this tree ends in 1979, but it was collected in 1991, so I presume it was dead at the time. The oldest living tree recorded appears to be 664 years, crossdated for the 1344-2007 period, documented in a tree-ring chronology collected in Smokehole Canyon, West Virginia by R. S. Maxwell and colleagues (doi.org/10.25921/1s3n-pn59). Besides these, a number of trees over 500 years old have been found in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas area in the course of the Ancient Cross Timbers Project (1999), which performed ecological, historical/archeological and climatic studies using dendrochronological methods applied to this species and (primarily) the post oak, Quercus stellata.

In subsp. silicicola, American Forests (1996) reported that the "champion" was in Archer, Florida: 158 cm dbh, 23 m tall, and crown spread 16 m. A 2014 measurement found the largest tree in Florida to also be near Archer (probably the same tree): 168 cm dbh, 23.5 m tall, crown spread 16.9 m (Florida Champion Tree Register PK 182, accessed 2026.01.31; includes photos). Georgia also has quite a large specimen, on St. Simons Island: 165 cm dbh, 13.4 m tall, 20.7 m crown spread, measured 2013 (Georgia Champion Trees 1453, accessed 2026.01.31; includes photo). The Georgia specimen has the advantage of being on public land.

Ethnobotany

The wood is used for production of eastern redcedarwood oil, fenceposts, and cedar chests (Adams 1993). The wood has also been used for making wooden pencils, and the tree is occasionally called pencil cedar. The taxon has also been the subject of a variety of dendrochronological investigations. For instance old trees on bluffs in the Ozark Mountains have been used in climate reconstruction (Guyette et al. 1980).

Observations

See the very numerous iNaturalist observations, most of which are in readily accessible locations.

Some of the trees on the cliffs at Palisades-Kepler State Park are over 400 years old, making them the oldest conifers in Iowa. Best seen on the Cedar Cliff Trail.

Remarks

The epithet virginiana refers to Virginia, although in 1753, that name was indiscriminately applied to all of the southern American colonies from Maryland to Georgia. The epithet silicicola means "sand-dwelling" and has been applied to a variety of plants living in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain.

Citations

Adams, Robert P. 1993. Juniperus. Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico, Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. This document is available online. Go to http://www.efloras.org, click on "Flora of North America," and search for "Juniperus."

Adams, Robert P. 2014. Junipers of the World: The Genus Juniperus. Fourth edition. Trafford Publishing.

American Forests 1996. The 1996-1997 National Register of Big Trees. Washington, DC: American Forests.

American Forests 2021. 2021 National Register of Champion Trees. Washington, DC: American Forests.

Ancient Cross Timbers Project, https://xtimbers.uark.edu/, accessed 2019.03.01.

GBIF.org. 2023.01.01a. GBIF Occurrence Download, https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.tam8wd.

GBIF.org. 2023.01.01b. GBIF Occurrence Download, https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hjasu7.

Guyette, Richard, E. A. McGinnes, G. E. Probasco, and K. E. Evans. 1980. A climate history of Boone County, Missouri, from tree-ring analysis of eastern redcedar. Wood and Fiber Science 12(1):17-28.

Linné, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum, t. 2, p. 1039. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2026.01.29.

Murray, A. E. 1983. Notae spermatophytae no. 2. Kalmia 13:3-32 (p. 8).

Payne, J. (ed.). 2025. The 2024 Register of National Champion Trees. National Champion Tree Program, https://nationalchampiontree.org/.

See also

Burns and Honkala 1990 (as J. virginiana and J. silicicola).

Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library (treats taxa now called J. scopulorum and J. virginiana). This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.

Farjon (2010) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.

Guyette, Richard. 1974. Window into time. Transactions of the Missouri Academy of Science, v. 7-8. Available.

Prasad, Anantha M. and Louis R. Iverson. 1999. A Climate Change Atlas for 80 Forest Tree Species of the Eastern United States. http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/atlas/, accessed 2003.03.15, now defunct.