eastern red cedar

Juniperus virginiana — its common names include red cedar, eastern red-cedar, eastern redcedar, eastern juniper, red juniper, pencil cedar, and aromatic cedar — is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain Juniper) and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei (Ashe Juniper). In the Lakota language, its name is Chansha, “redwood” or Hante’. In its native range it is commonly called “cedar” or “red cedar,” names rejected by the American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature as it is formally classified as a juniper, not a true cedar. Notwithstanding this, “red cedar” is by far its most commonly used name.