io8 



The Junipers 



Leaves light green, about 3 mm. long, acute or acuminate 



Leaves dark green, about 1.5 mm. long, obtuse or acutish. 

 Leaves entire. 



Eastern trees; fruit maturing the first season. 



Fruit 5 to 6 mm. long; branches not pendulous, or slightly so. 



Fruit 3 to 4 mm. long; branches pendulous. 

 Western tree; fruit maturing the second season. 



8. /. monosperma. 



9. /. niexicana. 



10. /. virginiana. 



11. /. barhadensis. 



12. /. scopulorum. 



I. 



COMMON JUNIPER Juniperus communis L 



innaeus 



Often a low shrub, the Common juniper sometimes becomes a tree 9 meters 

 high with a trunk diameter of 3 dm. Its range is from Greenland and Labrador 

 to Alaska, south to Pennsylvania, Nebraska and New Mexico ; also in Europe and 

 Asia; it is also called Dwarf juniper. It has escaped from cultivation in Georgia. 

 The trunk is usually excentric and irregularly ridged. The branches are 

 slender, nearly erect, forming a narrowly conic tree. The bark is about 1.5 mm. 

 thick, spHtting into persistent scales of a reddish brown color. The twigs are 

 slender, 3-angled, smooth, and reddish yellow. The buds are ovoid and scaly. 

 The leaves, which persist for many years, are in whorls of 3, widely spreading, 

 narrowly linear-lanceolate, i to 2 cm. long, tapering to a very sharp-pointed apex, 

 widest near or at the sessile base, sHghtly concave, white-glaucous and with 



many stomata above, keeled, dark green and 

 shining beneath, becoming brownish in winter. 

 The flowers are axillary, dioecious, or monoe- 

 cious, solitary, appearing in spring from buds 

 formed the previous season. The staminate 

 are sessile, narrowly ovoid, 4 to 5 mm. long, 

 consisting of several whorls of 3 stamens each, 

 their connectives broadly ovate, sharp-pointed, 

 with 3 or sometimes 4 anther-sacs at the base. 

 The pistillate flowers consist of 3 minute scales 

 each bearing a single ovule, and subtended by 

 several sterile scales in whorls of 3. The fruit, 

 which requires 3 seasons to ripen, consists of 

 the 3 upper scales of the flower united about 

 the ovules; it is sub-globose, 6 to 8 mm. in 

 diameter, blue or nearly black, with a bloom, 

 short-stalked, and unless devoured by birds often remains upon the twigs for 

 several years. The seed is ovoid, 3 mm. thick, flattened and 3-angled, sharp- 

 pointed, brown, and roughened by deep resin glands. 



The wood of the Common juniper is hard, close-grained, light brown; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.67. It is very durable, receives a fine polish, and is used 

 in Europe for stakes, cups and walking sticks, and is also important for fuel. 

 It has been cultivated for centuries in European gardens, and stands the most severe 



Fig. 82. Common Juniper. 



