Common Cedar Trees of the Brazos Valley

• Only female trees of eastern red cedar produce the fleshy blue cones. Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

  Situated in eastern central Texas, the Brazos Valley refers to only a part of the basin of the Brazos River. When Texans mention the Brazos Valley, chances are they talk about the region roughly stretching from Brenham through Bryan and College Station to Buffalo. While many cedars trees are native to the big state of Texas, only one species, the eastern red cedar, naturally occurs in the Brazos Valley region. Winters here yield temperatures no lower than 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA Zone 8).

Eastern Red Cedar

• The only cedar tree native to the Brazos valley, eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) produces small fleshy cones of powdery blue in branch tips. Densely covered in needled evergreen leaves, eastern red cedar slowly forms a reddish brown, flaky bark on its trunk. In winter the needles turn rusty brown-green at times.

Atlantic White Cedar

• Hoped to be a replacement or alternative plant to the disease-striken Leyland cypress in the American Southeast, Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) is native to the coastal plain, the Gulf Coast and eastern states. Tolerant of heat, humidity and wet soils, Atlantic white cedar looks mundane in size and has scaly evergreen foliage, but a tough plant nonetheless, according to Dr. Michael Dirr, author of "Dirrs Hardy Trees and Shrubs."

Deodar Cedar

• The only true botanical cedar suited to the long hot and humid central Texas climate is the deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara). "Sunset National Garden Book" notes this species, not the blue Atlas or cedar of Lebanon, grows best in the Brazos Valley. A large, spreading tree with wide branching and a tip that nods, it's native to the Himalayas.

Invasive Cedar Tree Threats

• Ashe's cedar (Juniperus ashei) hails from central Texas, much farther west than the Brazos Valley. Since natural fires on the Texas prairies no longer occur and grazing cattle don't browse on this tree for food, the range of Ashe's cedar is expanding eastward. Now regarded as a weed, sprouting Ashe's cedar trees invade lands and out-compete native wildflowers, grasses and trees for soil and light. Once found mainly in Texas' Edwards Plateau, Ashe's cedar now grows in the Hill Country to the west of the Brazos Valley. Efforts to eradicate this cedar from the eastern Texas landscape exist.