The Junipers 



form. A much-prized Himalayan species, /. recurva, D, Don., 

 is a dwarf with long, spreading or trailing limbs. Of similar habit 

 is J. Sabina, Linn., native of Europe and Asia, parent of many 

 horticultural forms. 



Dwarf Juniper (Juniperus communis, Linn.) — Shrub of 

 sprawling habit, or small tree 20 to 30 feet, with short trunk and 

 irregular, open head of erect branches. Bark loosely scaly, thin, 

 reddish brown. IVood hard, fine textured, light brown, durable 

 in soil. Buds loosely scaly, small, pointed. Leaves in threes, 

 boat shaped, lined with a white bloom on the concave (upper) 

 side, spiny, spreading, dark green, shiny below; J to ^ inch long; 

 in winter, bronze green; persistent for many years. Flowers 

 monoecious, axillary, in cone-like aments. Fruits ripe third 

 autumn; berries bright blue with pale bloom, flesh mealy, soft; 

 seeds i to 3. Preferred habitat, dry limestone hills; waste land. 

 Distribution, Greenland to Alaska; south to Pennsylvania and 

 Nebraska, in Rocky Mountains as far south as Texas, New Mexico 

 and Arizona; Alaska to northern California. Uses: Planted for 

 hedges, windbreaks and as a cover for waste land on seashore. 

 Berries used to flavour gin. 



This indefatigable little tree colonist has not only settled in 

 most of the colder parts of this country, but it is found in the 

 Eastern Hemisphere from the broad stretches of the North even 

 to the mountains of southern Europe, northern Africa and the 

 Himalayas. In America it assumes a definite tree habit only in 

 southern Illinois. It would seem as if the limestone of these 

 uplands gave the procumbent, incapable sprawler backbone 

 enough to stand up and take its place among trees. In another 

 particular this species lacks energy; it requires three years to ripen 

 a crop of berries. 



Out of J. communis has sprung a race of low junipers — impor- 

 tant horticultural varieties, including graceful weeping forms, 

 compact globose ones, some spire-like and some with golden foliage. 

 The Irish juniper, one of the most popular varieties, has a tapering 

 habit, very narrow, like a miniature Lombardy poplar. J. com- 

 munis is the only species whose leaves are spreading throughout. 

 On the remaining ten native species the leaves are minute and 

 closely appressed to the stem, except a few whose new shoots 

 imitate the dwarf juniper. In Europe, much more than in Amer- 

 ica, the berries are gathered and consumed in the making of gin. 



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