180 JUSIPEKUS OXYCEDRUS. 



Juniperus Oxycedrus is common throughout the Mediterranean region 

 from Portugal to Syria and formerly in Madeira, inhabiting the most 

 exposed and sterile mountain slopes in the neighbourhood of the coast, 

 in places ascending to 5,000 feet, but most abundant on the arid rocks 

 near the shore. It is too common for cultivation in the region it 

 inhabits and scarcely of any value ; in places its fragrant wood is used 

 for fuel and its prickly sprays are used in hedges to prevent the 

 ingress of small animals much in the same way as gorse branches are 

 sometimes used in Great Britain. Aiton states that it was cultivated 

 by Miller in the old Physic Garden at Chelsea in 1739,* and it is 

 known to have been frequently re-introduced since ; it is now but 

 rarely if ever seen in other than botanic gardens in this country ; as 

 an ornamental shrub it is far surpassed by J. drnpacca which is also 

 much hardier. 



Three species, or geographical forms of Juniperus Oxycedrus that are 

 unsuitable for the climate of Great Britain may lie here noticed. 



Juniperus brevifolia. 



Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 478. Trelase, Bot. Observ. Azores, 169. 

 J. Oxycedrus, var. brevifolia, Hockstetter, Fl. Azor. 26. .J. Cedrus brevifolia,, 

 Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 130. 



This Juniper occurs only in the Azores where it once formed a 

 conspicuous ingredient of the indigenous vegetation till the clearing of 

 the land for cultivation greatly reduced it in numbers ; it usually takes 

 the form of a dense shrub or low tree, but where protected from the 

 sea-wind it sometimes attains a considerable size. Compared with 

 J. Oxycedrus, the leaves are more crowded, shorter with shorter spines at. 

 the tip and the fruits are smaller. It must have inhabited the islands 

 from a remote period, as trunks and branches of it are found so frequently 

 beneath the soil in certain localities that the inhabitants Avhen in want 

 of wood simply pierce the surface with an iron stake to discover and 

 disinter these remains of an ancient forest. 



X, 



Juniperus Oedrus. 



Webb, Phytogr. Canar. III. 277, t. 2. Can-tore, Traite Conif. ed. II. 11. 

 Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 478. Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 129. 



A tall tree formerly abundant in the sub-alpine districts and higher 

 valleys of the Canary islands, but now become quite rare in consequence 

 of the destruction of the trees for the sake of their timber. A young- 

 plant, cultivated in the Temperate House at Kew, is of arborescent 

 habit with horizontal primary branches ramified in the same way and 

 with the youngest shoots angulate as in /. Oxycedrus ; the leaves are 

 identical in size and shape with those of /. Oxycedrus but less rigid, 

 of a deeper green, less glaucous and not so spreading, the result 

 perhaps of being produced under the artificial conditions in which the 

 plant is placed. 



* Hortus Kewensis, ed. II. Vol. V. p. 415. 



