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Fig. 11.—The Red Cedar.

Distinguishing characters: The tree can best be told at a glance by its general form, size and leaves. It is a medium-sized tree with a symmetrical, cone-like form, Fig. 11, which, however, broadens out somewhat when the tree grows old. Its color throughout the year is dull green with a tinge of brownish red, and its bark peels in thin strips.

Fig. 12(a).—Twig of Young Cedar.

Fig. 12(b).—Twig of Cedar (Older Tree).

Leaf: In young trees the leaf is needle-shaped, pointed, and marked by a white line on its under side, Fig. 12(a). In older trees it is scale-like, Fig. 12(b), and the white line on its under side is indistinct.

Range: Widely distributed over nearly all of eastern and central North America.

Soil and location: Grows on poor, gravelly soils as well as in rich bottom lands.

Enemies: The “cedar apple,” commonly found on this tree, represents a stage of the apple rust, and for that reason it is not desirable to plant such trees near orchards. Its wood is also sometimes attacked by small boring insects.

Value for planting: Its characteristic slender form gives the red cedar an important place as an ornamental tree, but its chief value lies in its commercial use.

Commercial value: The wood is durable, light, smooth and fragrant, and is therefore used for making lead-pencils, cabinets, boxes, moth-proof chests, shingles, posts, and telegraph poles.

Other characters: The fruit is small, round and berry-like, about the size of a pea, of dark blue color, and carries from one to four bony seeds.

Other common names: The red cedar is also often called juniper and red juniper.

Comparisons: The red cedar is apt to be confused with the low juniper (Juniperus communis) which grows in open fields all over the world. The latter, however, is generally of a low form with a flat top. Its leaves are pointed and prickly, never scale-like, and they are whitish above and green below. Its bark shreds and its fruit is a small round berry of agreeable aromatic odor.