PINACEAE. JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS 81 



Willdenow and many later botanists cite /. communis, var. saxatilis Pallas as a 

 name for this Juniper, but Pallas did not make the combination attributed to him, 

 and this leaves Aiton's name the oldest. Another variety is 



JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS, var. NIPPONICA Wils. n. var. 



Juniperus nipponica Maximowicz in Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, XII. ser. 3, 

 230 (1868); in Mel. Biol. VI. 374 (1868). Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PL Jap. 

 I. 471 (1875). Masters in Jour. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 496 (1881). Matsumura, 

 Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 1, 10 (1905). Hayata, Veget. Mi. Fuji, 95 (1911). Elwes 

 & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel. VI. 1422 (1912). Clinton-Baker, III. Conif. III. 

 20, t. (1913). 



There can be no question that this Juniper is a variety of /. communis L. and I 

 very much doubt if it is entitled to rank as distinct from the variety montana 

 Ait. The upper side of the leaf is normally deeply sulcate and not merely con- 

 cave as in all recognized forms of J. communis. This is the only difference I can find 

 and on specimens I collected on Mt. Ontake some of the leaves are concave above 

 and indistinguishable from those of the variety montana. Moreover, on specimens 

 of the latter from Alaska I find an occasional leaf which is sulcate above. The 

 fruit of var. nipponica is from 1 to 3 seeded as in the var. montana and in the 

 fruits themselves I cannot find the slightest difference. Maximowicz recognized 

 the similarity in appearance of his J. nipponica and J. nana Willd. (syn. J. com- 

 munis, var. montana Ait.), but considered his plant to be more closely related to 

 /. rigida S. & Z. of which he suggested it might represent a dwarf form although 

 he had seen no intermediates. To me this view is untenable. The straight, acicu- 

 lar, triquetrous leaves of J. rigida S. & Z. readily distinguish it from /. communis L., 

 and any of its forms, while some specimens of Maximowicz's plant are almost 

 identical with J. communis, var. montana Ait. The Japanese variety is now in 

 cultivation in this Arboretum from seeds I collected and until more is known about 

 it I think it best to retain it as a variety distinct from others of /. communis. 



This Japanese variety of the Common Juniper is an alpine shrub and is found 

 on many of the high mountains of Hondo from the Shinano province northward, 

 but it has not yet been reported from Hokkaido. I met with it first on Mt. 

 Ontake in Shinano province, between 2800 and 3200 m. altitude, where it grows 

 with Pinus pumila Regel and scrubby bushes of Abies Mariesii Mast. On 

 Adzuma-san in Uzen province it is common above 1800 m. altitude, and on Chokai- 

 san in Ugo province it is plentiful above the tree limit. The most northerly point I 

 met with it was on Hayachine-san in Rikuchu province, where it is abundant on 

 the upper slopes and summits. Usually the branches of this Juniper are wide- 

 spreading and ascending toward the ends and form a broad shrub from 0.5 

 to 1.3 m. high; very often, however, the branches are prostrate and form a wide 

 mat. The leaves are curved and point forward and are more or less strongly keeled 

 on the under side. The fruit is globose or slightly longer than broad, more or less 

 glaucous and black or brownish black when ripe and contains from one to three 

 seeds; the summit of the fruit is marked by three short radiating lines and three 

 slight depressions overhung by three minute mucros which indicate the three scales 

 of which the fruit is composed. On ripe fruit these lines, depressions and 

 mucros are often somewhat obscure, but not more so than on similar fruits of 

 J. communis. 



The Japanese name for this Juniper is Miyama-nezu, and for garden purposes 

 its decorative value should be the same as that of the var. montana, but as yet 



