ii8 



The Junipers 



poor or rocky soil from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to western Ontario and 

 South Dakota, southward to northern Florida, Alabama, and eastern Texas. It 

 is variously known as Red cedar, Red juniper. Savin, Cedar, and Juniper bush. 

 The trunk is tall and straight, usually ridged, often considerably expanded 



at the base, and sometimes excentric. The 

 branches are slender, more or less spreading 

 below and ascending or erect above, forming a 

 dense, narrow conic tree, or, when older, some- 

 times becoming broader and irregularly dome- 

 shaped. The bark is 3 to 6 mm. thick, slightly 

 fissured into long, narrow persistent shreds of a 

 grayish or reddish brown color. The twigs are 

 slender, 4-angled, becoming round and dark red- 

 dish brown or gray after the leaves have fallen. 

 The leaves are dark bluish green, sometimes 

 glaucous, 4- ranked, closely appressed, ovate, en- 

 tire, 1.5 to 2 mm. long, sharp-pointed, rounded, 

 and usually without a gland on the back; they 

 become yellowish and after three or four years 

 brown and dry before falling off; on young 

 plants and vigorous twigs they are linear-lanceolate, i cm. long or more, and sharp- 

 pointed. The flowers are usually dioecious; very seldom both kinds of flowers are 

 found on the same tree; they appear in early spring. The staminate, which are ver}' 

 profusely produced, are short-stalked and consist of 8 to 12 stamens with very broad, 

 rounded, entire connectives. The pistillate flowers have a few spreading sharp- 

 pointed scales. The fruit ripens the first autumn, is nearly globular when ripe, 

 5 to 8 mm. thick, the flesh thin, juicy, sweetish, and resinous; seeds i or 2, 

 rarely m.ore, ovoid, 3 to 4 mm. long, nearly round, sharp-pointed, sometimes 

 grooved, smooth and shining near the light brown apex; cotyledons 2. 



The wood is soft, close-grained, weak, red with a whitish sapwood; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.48. It is aromatic and highly prized for cloth chests and other 

 furniture, various utensils, and used to some extent for pencil wood. Its dura- 

 bihty makes it valuable for fence-posts and rustic work. The fruit and leaves 

 have some medicinal value; a volatile oil is distilled from both leaves and wood. 



Having been cultivated for a long time in parks and gardens, many varieties 

 or forms ha\-e been selected which are highly prized by landscape gardeners. 



Fig. 92. Northern Red Cedar. 



II. SOUTHERN RED CEDAR Juniperus barbadensis Linnc-eus 



A tree of the coastal region of southern Georgia and Florida and of the West 

 Indies. It is indigenous in river-swamps in Florida, but has become naturalized 

 as far west as Louisiana. In the island of Jamaica it inhabits mountain slopes 

 and it grows also on Antigua and Santo Domingo. Its maximum height is 15 



