Distribution: The
species is reported to be distributed in Ontario, Quebec,
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Illinois,
North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin,
and West Virginia. The tree is reported to be adaptable to
various growing sites including dry uplands, especially limestone,
and flood plains as well as swamps. It is also found on abandoned
fields and fence rows.
General Characteristics: The
tree is reported to attain a height of 40 to 60 feet (12
to 18 m) at maturity. It develops a trunk, which is reported
to be often angled, with a diameter of 12 to 24 inches
(30 to 60 cm) above buttresses. The color of the heartwood
is initially light red, purplish or rose-red. It ages to
a dull red or reddish brown, usually with streaks of included
lighter colored sapwood. The heartwood often contains many
small knots, which are reported to impart a pleasant rustic
look to furniture manufactured from Eastern red cedar;
The narrow sapwood is nearly white or light cream in color.
Texture is usually fine; Grain is reported to be fine and
even. Eastern red cedar has a characteristic mild, delicate,
and agreeable, pencil-cedar odor and taste.
Weight: Basic specific gravity
(ovendry weight/green volume) 0.47; air-dry density 33
pcf.
Working Properties: Eastern
red cedar is reported to respond readily to all types of
tools in most machining operations. It is reported to work
easily to yield clean, smooth surfaces.
Durability: The wood has
a high natural resistance to attack by decay causing organisms.
Eastern red cedar has a thin bark, which makes the tree
rather vulnerable to fire. Trees growing in apple-orchards
are usually removed because of the cedar-apple rust disease
which tends to infect apple trees from the cedars. Large
numbers of Eastern redcedar trees are reported to have
been removed in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia because
of this.
Preservation: N/A
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