PINACE.E 



83 



vesting the thin dry sweet flesh, J'-f ' long, with 1 or rarely 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, ob- 

 tusely angled, marked to the middle by the hilum, with a hard bony shell, and 4-6 cotyle- 

 dons. 



A bushy tree, rarely exceeding 20 in height, with a short usually eccentric trunk some- 

 times 2 in diameter, generally divided near the ground by irregular deep fissures into 

 broad rounded ridges, many erect contorted branches forming a broad open head, slender 

 light yellow-green branchlets covered after the falling of the leaves with thin light red- 

 brown scaly bark; more often with numerous stems spreading from the ground and fre- 

 quently not more than 8-10 high. Bark about \' thick, ashy gray or sometimes nearly 



Fig. 81 



white, and broken into long thin persistent scales. Wood light brown, slightly fragrant^ 

 with thick nearly white sap wood; largely used locally for fuel and fencing. The fruit is 

 eaten by Indians fresh, or ground and baked into cakes. 



Distribution. Southwestern Wyoming (J. Knightii A. Nels.), southwestern Idaho (Po- 

 catello, Bannock County), western Colorado, eastern Utah, and western New Mexico to 

 northern Arizona and southeastern California at altitudes from 5000 to 8000; the most 

 abundant and generally distributed tree of the Great Basin, forming in the valleys open 

 forests of stunted trees and shrubs, and on arid slopes more numerous and of larger size 

 in dense nearly pure forests. 



A variety (var. megalancocarpa Sarg.) occurs in eastern New Mexico and northern 

 Arizona, with fruit sometimes f ' in diameter. A tree often 40 high with a single erect 

 stem sometimes 3 in diameter. 



5. Juniperus flaccida Schlecht. Juniper. 



Leaves opposite, acuminate and long-pointed, spreading at the apex, glandular or 

 eglandular on the back, light yellow-green, about -' long, turning cinnamon-red and dy- 

 ing on the branch ; on vigorous young shoots ovate-lanceolate, sometimes \' long, with 

 elongated rigid callous tips. Flowers: male slender, composed of 16-20 stamens, with 

 ovate pointed connectives prominently keeled on the back; female with acute or acumin- 

 ate spreading scales. Fruit subglobose, dull red-brown, more or less covered with a glau- 

 cous bloom, i' I' in diameter, with a close firm skin and thick resinous flesh; seeds 

 4-12, pointed at apex, slightly ridged, often abortive and distorted, |'-j' long, with 2 

 cotyledons. 



A tree, occasionally 30 high, with gracefully spreading branches and long slender droop- 

 ing branchlets, covered after the leaves fall with thin bright cinnamon-brown bark separat- 



