EASTERN RED CEDAR
Native to Georgia
Scientific name: Juniperus virginiana
Family: Cupressaceae
Native American Uses:
Medicinal:
Tribes used the berries, leaves, and roots for various remedies, including treating respiratory issues, coughs, and even as a sedative.
Ceremonial:
The wood was burned during purification and ritual ceremonies, and cedar boughs were used for bedding.
Practical:
Cedar wood was used for crafting tools like lance shafts, bows, flutes, and canoes.The bark was woven into mats for various purposes.
European Settler Uses:
Construction: The rot-resistant wood was ideal for fence posts, furniture, and even coffins.
Pencils: For over a century, the eastern red cedar was the wood of choice for pencils, earning it the nickname "pencil cedar".
Aromatic Properties: The fragrant wood was used in chests and closets to repel moths.
FRUIT
BUDS
In 1584, English explorers Arthur Barlowe and Philip Amadus were sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to investigate the North American coastline. After finding shallow water and encountering a fragrance “so sweet, and so strong… as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden,” they landed on Roanoke Island, just off the coast of today’s North Carolina. There, they encountered the fragrant trees and described them as “the tallest and reddest cedars in the world.”
BARK
Cedar Waxwings get their common name from their love of eating Eastern Red Cedar berries. They are responsible for unintentionally planting a lot of seeds!