74 Illustrations of Conifers. 



JUNIPERUS. 



EVERGREEN trees and shrubs belonging to the tribe Cupressineae of 

 of the order Coniferae. Leaves either all acicular and in whorls 

 of three, or acicular on young plants and opposite or in threes and 

 scale-like on older specimens, the two kinds of foliage often occur- 

 ring on the same tree. Flowers dioecious, rarely monoecious ; 

 staminate flowers consisting of numerous anthers united into an 

 ovoid or oblong catkin ; pistillate greenish, minute, globular, with 

 two to six bracts, each bearing one or two ovules. Fruit a berry- 

 like cone containing one or more seeds. 



Juniperus is closely allied to Cupressus, but is distinguished 

 by its succulent fruit. Barren specimens are often difficult to iden- 

 tify, but many species are known by their dimorphic foliage, both 

 acicular and scale-like leaves nearly always being present in the 

 same specimen. 



About thirty-five species of Juniper are known, distributed throughout the greater part of 

 the northern hemisphere, extending from the Arctic Circle southward in America to Mexico 

 and the West Indies, and in the Old World to the Azores, Canary Islands, Morocco, Algeria, 

 Abyssinia, east tropical Africa, Asia Minor, Himalayas, China and Japan. 



