American Libraries

The trees depicted are indeed redwoods---Sequoiadendron giganteum in the Sierra Nevada. However, these are not used for pencils. Virtually all U.S. pencils come from the Western Red Cedar--- Thuja plicata, which like redwood has very soft wood and can grow quite large---up to 20 feet in diameter. The Eastern Red Cedar of the Midwest (Cedar Rapids etc.) and East is a juniper---Juniperus virginiana---that is a much smaller, tough juniper and not used for pencils. FJW, Iowa City