Our November tree is the Eastern Red Cedar, which is not a Cedar at all but a Juniper (Juniperus virginiana). It is a tough, irrepressible green tree that can do well even where other trees can’t. It has provided wood for a variety of uses to early settlers and later Americans. It has been used as fuel, tinder from the bark, wood for cabinets and cedar chests to keep moths from clothing, fence posts that last for years, and then and now, the wood for the indispensable No. 2 pencil (as well as other Number pencils). Today, as then, volatile oils from the tree are used for perfumes, and a flavoring can be derived from the “berries” as dried fruit as a cooking spice. Finally, 50 different birds eat the berries, as does the humble opossum, which has often been seen in Parkfairfax.
The Eastern Read Cedar, often locally called the Virginia Cedar, is an evergreen tree. It is a narrow, medium sized tree, 40-50 feet tall with a conical top. It has a singular trunk, 1 to 2 feet in diameter. The trunk is often fluted, the bark is reddish and the heartwood is aromatic and rose-brown in color. The leaves are scale-like and small, ¼ inch in length. Its native habitat is woody, rocky slopes.
In Parkfairfax you can find the tree at the corners of a number of buildings and along our streets. One of the best examples is a magnificent tree of mature size at the intersection of Valley with Gunston Road and Martha Custis.
For more information about this beautiful and valuable tree:
Dirr, Michael A. Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs. Timber Press, 1997.
