54 HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES. 



colour is not so deep nor so long sustained as in that well- 

 known form. 



J. chinensis aurea varieg'ata (Japanese form) 

 differs from the preceding in having only a few of the branch 

 tips suffused with a golden-yellow colour. 



J. communis, Linnaeus. Common Juniper. Greater 

 part of the Northern and Eastern Hemisphere, Britain. — 

 Whether as regards height, shape, or arrangement, and colour- 

 ing of foliage, this must be described as a very variable species. 

 Altitude and elevation have no doubt much to do with this 

 marked dissimilarity in appearance, but certainly not all, for 

 even on our low-lying commons and downs the variety 

 afforded by these wild junipers is something remarkable. In 

 height we find them of all sizes, up to as much as 24 feet, 

 some tall, straight and tapering gradually throughout, others 

 with rounded tops and nearly equal diameter from base to 

 tip, while others again assume the spreading habit of growth, 

 often forming broad, dense masses of not more than a couple 

 of feet in height. The colouring of foliage is at all times 

 beautiful, though varying greatly in different plants— some- 

 times a rich greenish-brown, relieved here and there by silvery 

 tones, at others a uniform greyish-green, the dainty and deli- 

 cate leaders alone being of a rich, warm brown. The leaves 

 are stout, sharp, and thickly arranged, varying in length and 

 width, each being about three-eighths of an inch long, green 

 or greyish-brown on one side, and of a beautiful and distinct 

 silvery tone on the other. Berries are produced very freely, 

 in some cases constituting dense masses, the colour varying 

 with age from green, through purplish-olive to a deep, glossy 

 black, and each about the size of a pea. Both fruit and foliage 

 emit a pleasant myrtle-like aroma when bruised. 



J. communis canadensis. — In habit and general 

 outline this bears a great resemblance to the Savin {J. Sahina), 

 while the leaves are stiff, narrow, and sharp-pointed, grey- 

 green in colour, with a silvery band on the upper side. The 

 growths are very irregular in length, thus causing the plant to 

 have a straggling, and by no means pleasing, appearance. 



