CYPRESS FAMILY 



n 



1. Juniperus sibirica Burgsd. 

 Dwarf Juniper. Fig". 160. 



lunipcrus sibirica Burgsd. Anleit. Holz. no. 272. 1787. 

 luiiiperus communis montaua Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 414. 1788. 

 lumpcrus nana Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 854. 1806. 

 lunipcrus communis sibirica Rydb. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 

 533. 1896. 



Low or usually prostrate alpine or arctic shrub, 

 forming patches several feet in diameter. Leaves in 

 whorls of 3, ascending, linear-lanceolate, 6-12 mm. 

 long, pungently acute, dark green, shining and keeled 

 or strongly convex on the lower surface, deeply 

 grooved above and with a broad, white band of 

 stomata ; staminate flowers 3-6 mm. long ; anther- 

 ■icales with a short subulate point ; berries globose, 

 7-9 mm. broad, bright blue, covered with a white 

 bloom ; seeds, 1-3, ovate, acute, angled, about 3 mm. 

 long. 



Widely distributed over the Arctic and alpine regions of the 

 northern hemisphere in the Arctic and Hudsonian Zones. On 

 the Pacific Coast it ranges from Alaska southward to the high 

 altitudes of the central Sierra Xevada. Type locality: in 

 Siberia. 



Family 5. EPHEDRACEAE. 



Ephedra Family. 



Shrubs or small trees wath jointed opposite or fascicled branches and scale-like 

 opposite or whorled leaves ; flowers unisexual, and usually dioecious, with decus- 

 sate persistent bracts ; stamens monodelphous, suljtended by a membranous 2-lobed 

 calyx-like perianth ; anthers dehiscent by terminal pores. Ovulate flowers, com- 

 posed of a solitary erect ovule enclosed in an urn-shaped perianth which becomes 

 hardened in fruit ; seed coats 1, separating into 2 and ending in an elongated style- 

 like micropyle ; embryo axillary surrounded by copious endosperm ; cotyledons 2. 



A single genus, inhabiting the arid regions of the northern hemisphere. • 



1. EPHEDRA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 1040. 1753. 



Desert shrubs, with jointed, equisetum-like branches, and persistent or deciduous scale- 

 like leaves. [Ancient Greek name, used by Pliny for the horse-tail.] 



About 15 species distributed over the desert regions of Asia, northern Africa and North America. Type 

 species, Ephedra distachya L. 



Leaf-scales and bracts in twos, the latter only scarious on the broad margins, sessile. 



Branches bright green, erect and broom-like. 1. E. riridis. 



Branches pale glaucous green, divergent. 2. E. nevadensis. 



Leaf-scales and bracts in threes, the latter scarious throughout, clawed. 



Branches not spinose; leaf-scales oblong, obtuse to acutish, soon splitting to the base and recurved. 



3. E. californica. 



Branches spinose-tipped; leaf-scales persistent, sheathing, sharp-pointed. 4. E. trifurca. 



1. Ephedra viridis Coville. 

 Green Ephedra. Fig. 161. 



Ephedra riridis Coville, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herl). 4: 220. 1893. 



An erect shrub, 5-10 dm. high, with numerous 

 slender, erect, bright green and broom-like scabrous 

 Ijranches. Leaf-scales opposite, 3-6 mm. long, sheath- 

 ing for about two-thirds their length, obtuse or toward 

 the ends of the branches tapering at apex, deciduous 

 in age; staminate aments sessile, with 4 or 5 pairs of 

 bracts; fruiting bracts of 4 pairs, round-ovate, sessile; 

 fruit well exserted beyond the bracts, often in pairs 

 and triangular, acutish. 



A characteristic species of the Pifion and the upper part ot 

 the Juniper belt of the Mojave Desert region. Upper Sonoran 

 Zone; southern Nevada to the vicinity of Fort Tejon and the 

 desert slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, California. 

 Type locality: near Crystal Springs, Coso Mountains, Inyc 

 County, California. The species of Ephedra are often called 

 Mexican Tea. 



