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〜 Nanairo Batake 〜

Herbs and Fragrances - Virginia cedarwood

Plant data

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Juniperus virginiana
FAMILY: Cupressaceae / ヒノキ科 / 측백나무과 / 柏科
COMMON NAME: red cedar; eastern red cedar; Virginian juniper / レッドシダー; エンピツビャクシン / 연필향나무 / 維吉尼亞雪松; 鉛筆柏
MAIN PLACES OF PRODUCTION: North America
DESCRIPTION: The common name "red cedar" is a misnomer, as this tree is not a cedar tree but a kind of juniper. It can reach 15 to 20 meters tall and around 0.5m in diameter, and has a lifespan of up to 450 years. Its leaves are evergreen, with younger leaves pointy and needle-like, and older leaves overlapping and scale-like. Its flowers appear in spring, with male and female flowers typically growing on different trees. The male flowers are yellow-brown, and the female flowers are light blue-green and typically smaller. The fruit is a small light blue berry-like cone that matures in autumn, and remain on the trees until the following spring. Its bark is reddish-brown and tends to exfoliate into long vertical strips. The sapwood is pale yellowish and the heartwood is reddish brown. The wood is lightweight and soft, highly aromatic, and resistant to rotting and insect attacks.
PICTURES:

tree

leaf, old (left) and young (right)

illustration of old and new leaves

Fragrance data

PART OF EXTRACTION: xylem
METHOD OF EXTRACTION: steam distillation
COLOR: light yellow to orange
VOLATILITY: mid to base note
STRENGTH: medium
DESCRIPTION OF FRAGRANCE: Some say it has a relaxing woody smell, but I think it has a touch of camphor.
MAIN USAGE: indoor diffusion, massage
MAIN COMPOSITION: α-cedrene, β-cedrene, thujopsene, α-copaene, β-caryophyllene, cedrol

Additional info

The fruit of red cedar is used to flavour gin.

Native American tribes used the leaves and fruit of red cedar as tea and medicine.

Cedarwood oil is an active component widely used in insect repellants. However, results of a 2015 study suggest that cedrol, a component of cedarwood oil, strongly ATTRACTS pregnant female mosquitoes after they have fed.

link to said study.

Cedrene is a sesquiterpene found in the essential oil of cedar. The two isomers present in the oil are (−)-α-cedrene and (+)-β-cedrene, which differ in the position of a double bond. They combine to make up about 34.9% of Virginia cedarwood oil.

chemical structure of α-cedrene. It differs from β-cedrene only in the position of the double bond (β-cedrene should have double bond on the leftmost horizontal line of this diagram).

Thujopsene is another type of sesquiterpene found in the essential oil of cedar. It makes up about 27.6% of Virginia cedarwood oil.

chemical structure of thujopsene.

α-copaene is yet another type of of sesquiterpene found in the essential oil of cedar. It makes up about 6.3% of Virginia cedarwood oil.

chemical structure of α-copaene.

Cedrene, thujopsene and copaene all have the chemical formula C15H24.

Cedrol is a sesquiterpene alcohol found in the essential oil of conifers (cedar oil), It makes up about 15.8% of Virginia cedarwood oil.

chemical structure of cedrol.

Main references

Youtube channel "Forestry and Natural Resources Extension"

"Chemical Selection Working Group" under United States NIH.