176 FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



however, they may be carried far by water washing the surface soil and dgbris. 

 The seed-leaves, 2 to 6, are usually needle-like, and the seedling leaves which 

 follow these are similar in form; but as the tree grows older these are replaced 

 by the short, close, scale-like leaves or by the lance-needle-shaped leaves of 

 adults. 



Junipers are small or, at most, only medium-sized trees. Their trunks are 

 too short, small and poorly formed for saw-timber, though the wood possesses 

 qualities which would otherwise adapt it for this use. They are largely used 

 for post timber, fuel, and minor manufactures. Some of them are of the great- 

 est value for fuel in localities where no other trees grow. Forestally junipers 

 are highly important. Their adaptability to dry, barren slopes and exposed 

 situations renders them exceedingly useful in maintaining and extending tree 

 growth where few if any other trees will thrive. 



Five tree junipers inhabit the Pacific region. One extends from eastern 

 North America across the continent to the Pacific northwest. The ranges of the 

 others lie wholly or in part within the Pacific States. Junipers are of ancient 

 origin. Remains of them in Tertiary rocks show that they inhabited Europe 

 ages ago. 



Dwarf Juniper. 



Juniperus communis Linnaeus. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Dwarf juniper is more widely distributed than any other tree inhabiting the 

 northern half of the globe. It is one of the most singular of our trees in that 

 throughout its world-wide range it attains tree size only in a few counties of 

 southern Illinois, where it is from 15 to nearly 25 feet high and from 6 to 8 

 inches in diameter. Elsewhere on this continent it is a shrub under 5 feet in 

 height, with numerous slender, half-prostrate stems forming continuous tangled 

 masses from 5 to 10 yards across. It is said to sometimes become a tree from 30 

 to 40 feet high in north Germany, where it grows extensively also as a low shrub. 

 As a tree it has a very unsymmetrical trunk with conspicuous rounded ridges 

 and intervening grooves at and near the ground. It is clear of branches for only 

 a few feet, and the crown, narrow and very open, has short, slender branches 

 trending upward. The bark is less than one-eighth of an inch thick, deep choco- 

 late brown, tinged with red, and composed of loosely attached, extremely thin 

 scales. 



The dark, lustrous green, keenly pointed, needle-like, or narrow, lance-shaped 

 leaves (fig. 08), chalky white above, clearly distinguish this juniper from all 

 of the other native species. The leaves spread widely from the triangular 

 branchlets in groups of 3 at rather regular intervals, those of each season's 

 growth persisting for five or six years. Sharp-pointed leaves, similarly ar- 

 ranged but much shorter and more slender, are found on young junipers of other 

 species. A careful examination, however, will at once distinguish such leaves 

 from the wider, more spreading leaves of dwtirf juniper. The "berries" (fig. 

 68) are mature at the end of the second summer, when they are very dark 

 blue — almost black, coated with a whitish bloom. The top of the " berry " is 

 conspicuously marked by three blunt projections (points of the ovules). The 

 soft flesh of the fruit is dry, resinous-aromatic, and sweet, containing from 2 

 to 3 (sometimes 1) hard, bony seeds. The "berries" are greedily eaten by 

 birds and by some mammals, otherwise they may remain on the branches until 

 the following winter or spring. 



Wood, pale, yellowish brown ; heavy, rather tough, very fine-grained, and ex- 

 ceedingly durable. The tree is too small to be of any commercial value. It has 



