Missouri Plants Eastern Red Cedar   (Juniperus virginiana) Tracheophyte: Gymnosperm: Cypress (Cupressaceae) Native North American plant, Invasive Habitat: any full sun area. ID Features: small needle-like leaves, peculiar scent, blue fruit. Natural History: The eastern red cedar is actually a juniper that grows across the state of Missouri. It is poorly fire adapted and in the last 100 years of fire suppression in Missouri, it has flourished and taken over many plant communities. It prefers drier sites, growing on tops of hills and ridges. The oldest living trees remaining in Missouri, at over 300 years of age, are red cedars, growing on cliff faces where fire and saws have been unable to reach them. Cedars are gymnosperms and do not make flowers. They produce green/yellow cone structures that make a blue fruit.

The information is from: Trees of Missouri by Carl Settergren and Re. E. McDermott, University of Missouri-Columbia Agricultural Experiment Station, ©1979.