bump...

Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

Eastern Juniper - not a cedar!

Resin

Since the OP is in North America, I am sticking with the vernacular.

You can chide us all you want but it's unlikely to result in widespread change.

When Eastern Red Cedar is mentioned I always think Thuja occidentalis instead of Juniper. That's because we, here in the Pac NW, have a Thuja plicata we call Western Red Cedar.
How did a Juniper become to be called a Cedar?! And, just as important, how did a Thuja get to be called a Cedar?
What tree is a Cedar chest made from? What cedar smell repels fleas? One, or all? It gets confusing real fast.
I'm sticking to Latin to do my part to eliminate confusion. That's why it was chosen in the first place.
I suppose it comes down to who you're addressing. We have a mixed lot here, but I believe Latin should be used by those who know it, with references to the common name where applicable.
Mike

I usually always provide both the Latin and common name so those not familiar with one have the other to refer to.

For better or worse, Cedar as a common name got applied to a whole host of conifer species that have aromatic wood with insect repellant properties. In North America, we can take the 18th & 19th century plant explorers to task over that. I suspect for Juniperus virginiana & Thuja occidentalis, they got the cedar moniker back in the 17th century from French and English arrivals who probably had never even seen a Cedrus before...they just knew it from the aromatic wood. Probably made perfect sense to call everything with similarly aromatic wood a cedar.

Thuja occidentalis has the common name of Eastern White Cedar instead of Red Cedar...just to add to the confusion.

Latin is indeed best.

tj

Thanks tj.
Actually, it eliminated some confusion here. :-)
Mike

I agree w/Resin, at least in principle. The Latin name suggests straightforward that the name should be Virginia juniper.

In keeping w/that (somewhat), Thuja occidentalis should be Eastern arborvitae, and the western Thuja, Western arborvitae.

In North America, don't forget Atlantic White Cedar (Atlantic False Cypress?), Yellow Cedar (Nootka Cypress), Port Orford Cedar (Lawson Cypress - should be False Cypress), & Incense Cedar (???)