JUNIPER. 233 



Thuja occidentalis aurea. Douglas Golden Arbor- 

 vitae. 



In habit like the species, but with a bright yellow color to the 

 leaves; conspicuous and pretty; rather more tender than the 

 species and occasionally sunscalds severely. 



Genus JUNIP^RUS. 



A large genus of evergreen trees and shrubs. Flowers naked, 

 dioecious, axillary or terminal. Fruit a fleshy cone, in some 

 species resembling a berry or drupe more than a true cone. 



Juniperus virginiana. Red Juniper. Red Cedar. Savin. 



Leaves small, evergreen, opposite, scale-like and awl-shaped, 

 the former sort minute, the latter about one-half inch long and 

 spreading. Flowers dioecious, or very rarely monoecious; the 

 small solitary catkins upon lateral twigs appearing in this section 

 in May. Fruit a small dark colored fleshy berry-like cone with 

 a light bluish bloom, maturing late in the fall of the first year. 

 Fruit, leaves and wood are aromatic and resinous. 



Distribution. It is the most widely distributed conifer of 

 North America. It ranges from the Atlantic to the Rocky 

 Mountains and from Northern Minnesota to Florida. In West- 

 ern Louisiana and Texas it makes a tree sometimes eighty feet 

 high and three or more feet in diameter, but it is usually very 

 much smaller. In this section it is nowhere abundant, rarely 

 thirty feet high, and generally short and bushy. In the north of 

 its range it grows on dry land, while in the south it is often found 

 in swamps, but it is not particular about soil. 



Propagation. By seeds. For planting the berries should be 

 gathered in autumn, then bruised and mixed with an equal or 

 greater bulk of wet wood ashes or strong lye. In three weeks 

 the ashes or lye will have cut the resinous gum so that the seeds 

 can be washed clean. They should then be stratified over winter, 

 and be sown in the spring, as recommended for coniferous seeds 

 in general. The bed should be covered with mulch for the first 

 season, as the seeds do not usually start until the second year. 

 There are a number of varieties which may be propagated by 

 cuttings of the young wood or by layers. 



