255 



N. Ord. CONIFERS. 

 Tribe Cupressea. 



Genus Juniperus, Linn. 



255. Juniperus communis, Linn., Sp. PL, ed. I, p. 1(MO 



(1753). 



Juniper. 



Figures. Woodville, t. 6; Bigelow, t. 44; Nees, t. 86; Steph. & Ch., 

 t. 141; Berg & Sch., t. 8 e; Syme, E. B., viii, t. 1382 (bad); Nees, 

 Gen. Fl. Germ., Apet. ; Reich, Ic. Fl. Germ., xi, t. 535; Schnitzlein, 

 Iconogr., t. 76. 



Description. A dwarf, procumbent, bushy evergreen shrub, or a 

 neat bush 2 5 feet high with upright branches, or a small tree 

 reaching 30 feet high ; bark chocolate-brown, coming away in flakes 

 on the old branches, young twigs divaricate. Leaves very nu- 

 merous, persistent, arranged mostly in threes, spreading at right 

 angles and rigid ; when full-grown, about ^ inch long, linear, taper- 

 ing to a sharp prickly point, articulated on stem, with a prominent 

 knob at the base above, channeled, glaucous or pinkish, with green 

 margins, above, bluntly keeled and bright green beneath ; shorter 

 and more concave at the base of the branches. Flowers dioecious, 

 the male in small catkins, the female in little cones ; all 

 axillary. Male catkins with a few small scales at base, ovoid or 

 globose, about i inch long, consisting of several whorls of decus- 

 sate horizontal stamens, each with three or four anther- cells 

 attached to the base of the lower surface of the connective, 

 dehiscing vertically. Female cones about i inch long, consisting 

 of about 12 16 green, ovate, acute, fleshy scales, closely placed 

 in 3 to 5 rows on a short axis and overlapping, the lower empty ; 

 the uppermost 3 surrounding the naked ovules, thinner, pinkish. 

 Ovules erect, 3, alternating with the scales, in close contact and 

 terminating the axis of the cone, flask-shaped, micropyles prolonged 

 and projecting slightly beyond the uppermost scales. Fruit berry- 



