Family: Cupressaceae

Origin, Description & Uses
Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a slow-growing, evergreen conifer native to southeastern Canada, the central and eastern United States, and the Mexican state of Coahuila. It typically matures as a columnar or pyramidal tree reaching 30–50 feet tall, with aromatic, scale-like foliage that ranges from dark green to blue-green and often turns bronze or reddish in cold weather. The tree produces small, blue-gray berry-like cones that are a food source for birds and wildlife. Valued for its rot-resistant, fragrant wood, eastern red cedar is widely used for fence posts, cedar chests, closets, and pencils. In landscaping, it is planted as a windbreak, privacy screen, or specimen tree, and it tolerates drought, poor soils, and salt spray.

Risks & Threats
Although eastern red cedar is not currently known to be naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands, it possesses several traits that are cause for concern and could detrimentally impact tropical island ecosystems. It produces abundant, long-lived seeds that are easily dispersed by birds, and it can form dense, monotypic thickets that shade out native plants. Its high tolerance for drought, poor soils, and fire gives it a competitive edge over many slower-growing native species. Additionally, eastern red cedar is an alternate host for cedar-apple rust, a fungal disease that could affect native and cultivated plants in Hawaiʻi. Because of these risks, we recommend choosing a low-risk or native alternative to protect Hawaiʻi’s unique ecosystems.

High Risk Traits:

• Naturalized outside native range in middle and Western US, and South Africa
  
• Broad climate suitability
  
• Invades cattle pasture and reduces available forage
  
• Environmental weed by homogenizing diversity, reducing wildlife habitat quality, and altering hydrology and nutrient cycling
  
• Related species are invasive
  
• Possibly allelopathic
  
• Alternate host to the cedar apple rust
  
• Increase fire risk
  
• Forms monocultures within native range
  
• Produces allergenic pollen
  
• Tolerates a wide range of soil conditions
  
• Seeds dispersed by frugivorous birds and mammals
  
• Some seeds persist in soil for over one year
  
• Herbicides not very effective in controlling this tree

Low Risk Traits:

• Unarmed (no spines, thorns or burrs)
  
• Palatable to cattle
  
• Landscaping and ornamental value (used as a Christmas tree)
  
• A dioecious species
  
• Reaches maturity in 10+ years
  
• Will not spread vegetatively
  
• Killed by fire