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Eastern Red Cedar.JPG

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

 

Interesting & key characteristics:

 

Bark: Reddish-brown

Leaves: Evergreen, sometimes referred to as bagworm trees, named after the invasive insect that eats it, Songbirds like it-Baltimore oriole, black capped chickadee. 

Height: up to 50-60 feet tall

Fruit: blue-purple berries (female); tiny cones on male trees

Habitat: Glades and bluffs, open rocky woods, pastures, old fields 

Interesting Fact: The berries have been used to make gin. 

 

Unique benefits (how it helps our planet): 

 

The Eastern red cedar has many small blue berries that the birds and animals can eat. It also provides safety for the small birds. If you go past the outer layer of acicular (needle shaped) leaves it is almost completely hollow, and is a nice place to sit. Additionally it never loses its leaves or stops producing berries so it is a never ending source of food. 

 

Source: Fifty Common Trees of Missouri: www.MissouriConservation.org and Show Me Trees: www.MissouriConservation.org.

 

The Story Behind the Tree:

 

The trees along the fence in the Big BackYard were planted by the students in 2nd-5th grade during science class in 2013. In third grade, the class studies birds and has a bird-watching field trip, and the 2nd grade studies insects and does an insect collection project. The purpose of the trees along the fence was to create a "bird corridor". This would increase the diversity of birds coming to the campus. It would also increase the insect life, specifically caterpillars, which provide food for many baby birds. The science classes have been tracking insect life for at least 12 years and birds for 10 or so. We are hoping to show that the animal diversity has increased with the addition of new trees. Many of the students who planted trees also added little rock borders or markers so they could come back and find "their" tree years later.  

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