JUNIPERUS 669 



sexes occur on separate trees, sometimes on one. The male flowers are 

 small, erect, columnar or egg-shaped bodies, composed of ovate or shield- 

 like scales, overlapping each other and each carrying anthers at the base. 

 The fruit is composed of usually three to six coalescent, fleshy scales, 

 forming a berry that carries one to six seeds. It is this fruit that 

 distinguishes the junipers from the true cypresses, which they much 

 resemble in foliage. Without fruit, the junipers can usually be recognised 

 by a peculiar, aromatic, somewhat pungent odour, especially strongly 

 developed in the savin. 



Junipers like a well-drained, loamy soil, and are essentially lime-lovers, 

 all the cultivated species except J. horizontals being found commonly, 

 although not invariably, on a limestone formation. This gives the genus 

 a special value in chalky districts, where the impossibility of growing 

 satisfactorily most of the heath family somewhat limits the number of 

 evergreens available. Many of the species take two years to ripen their 

 fruit, and the seeds will often lie dormant a year. Their germination 

 may sometimes be hastened by plunging them in boiling water from three 

 to six seconds, but this should only be regarded as an experiment, and 

 tried with a portion of the seeds. All junipers can be increased by 

 cuttings, a method especially suitable for the shrubby sorts. 



The species most to be recommended are : 



Tall. Virginiana, chinensis, excelsa, drupacea, and communis var. 

 fastigiata. 



Shrubby. Sabina and its varieties, procumbens, communis, and com- 

 munis var. compressa. 

 



J. CEDRUS, Webb. MOUNTAIN CEDAR. 



Of this interesting tree very few specimens are said now to remain in a wild 

 state, mostly in almost inaccessible places in the Canary Islands. Unfortun- 

 ately it is only likely to be permanently hardy in the south-western counties, 

 but it /should certainly be tried there. Its leaves are in whorls of threes, set 

 closely on three-cornered branchlets ; they are uniformly awl-shaped, \ to in. 

 long, ^ to ^ in. wide ; very concave, and with two glaucous, stomatic bands 

 above. Berries globose, A in. wide. The wood of this tree is very pleasantly 

 perfumed, and was highly valued by the Guanches of Teneriffe for making- 

 mummy cases. Dr Perez of Orotava has lately done much to revive an interest 

 in this remarkable juniper, some specimens of which he says have trunks a 

 yard or more in diameter. It is one of the communis group, and differs from 

 that species and J. rigida by having two distinct glaucous lines on the upper 

 side of the leaf, separated by a midrib. 



In the Mediterranean region occurs another juniper, J. OXYCEDRUS, 

 Linnaus, which appears to be only a geographical form of J. Cedrus, somewhat 

 hardier, but now very rarely seen in this country and needing a warmer climate. 

 It thrives very well on the Riviera, where I have seen good specimens at the 

 Villa Thuret, Antibes. Elwes mentions a tree 35 ft. high near Montpellier. 

 Fruits up to | in. diameter, dark brown with more or less glaucous bloom. 

 Leaves stouter than in J. Cedrus. (Fig. p. 670.) 



J. CHINENSIS, Linn&US. CHINESE JUNIPER. 



A tree up to 60 ft. high ; young shoots terete. Leaves of two types that 

 are nearly always found on the same tree, viz., juvenile awl shaped ones, and 



