The question of whether cedar trees produce berries is a common source of confusion because the name “cedar” is often incorrectly applied to various coniferous trees. True cedars, which belong to a specific genus, do not produce berries in the botanical sense. The small, fleshy, blue structures often mistaken for berries are actually found on different species historically misidentified as cedars. Clarifying the difference between the reproductive structures of these trees reveals the distinction between cones and true fruit.
Cones vs. Berries: The True Cedar Structure
True cedars belong to the genus Cedrus, which includes the Cedar of Lebanon, Deodar Cedar, and Atlas Cedar. These trees are part of the Pinaceae family, making them conifers, or cone-bearing plants. As gymnosperms, they reproduce using cones, not flowers or fruit.
The female reproductive structure of a true cedar is a woody, barrel-shaped cone that grows upright on the branches. These cones are substantial, often reaching several inches in length, and take about two years to fully mature. Unlike the cones of many other conifers, which fall to the ground intact, mature cedar cones disintegrate while still on the branch, scattering their winged seeds.
This reproductive biology is fundamentally different from that of a berry, which is a fleshy fruit derived from the ripened ovary of a flowering plant. True cedars do not produce flowers and cannot produce berries. Their life cycle is centered around the production and dispersal of seeds from a woody cone structure.
Why the Confusion? The Case of False Cedars
The belief that some cedars produce berries stems from the common names given to numerous North American trees. Most trees locally known as “cedars” are not in the Cedrus genus but are members of the Cypress family, Cupressaceae. This family includes genera like Juniperus (Junipers), Thuja (Arborvitae), and Chamaecyparis (False-cypress).
The misidentification likely began with early European settlers who named trees based on a perceived resemblance, often due to the wood’s aromatic qualities. For instance, the Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), which is a juniper, produces the small, blue structures that look like berries. Junipers are abundant and widespread, making this misnomer highly prevalent.
Other trees, such as the Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) and Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), also carry the common name “cedar” but produce small, dry, woody cones that are clearly not berries. The blue, fleshy cones of the junipers are the primary source of the confusion regarding cedar berries.
Anatomy of the Fleshy Cone
The “berries” found on junipers are actually highly modified female seed cones, which botanists call a galbulus. This structure is a unique adaptation where the scales of the female cone have evolved to become fleshy and soft, fusing together to enclose the seeds. The mature galbulus is typically round and blue, often coated with a waxy, pale-blue layer, resembling a true berry.
This fleshy covering encourages animals, particularly birds, to consume the structure, serving a purpose similar to that of a true fruit. The seeds pass through the animal’s digestive tract, facilitating dispersal away from the parent plant. Despite this functional similarity, the galbulus is technically a cone because it is derived from the cone scales of a gymnosperm, not the ovary of a flower. A true botanical berry is a simple fruit developed from a single flower’s ovary, a feature characteristic only of flowering plants.