1 414 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



JUNIPERUS CEDRUS 



Juniprus Cedrus, Webb and Berthelot, Hisi. Nat. Isles Canar. iii, Fhytog. Canar. ii. 27 7, t. 217 

 (1840); Antoine, Cupress. Gattung. 14, tt. 16-19 (1857); Parlatore, in De Candolle, /'r<7</. 

 xvi. 2, p. 478 (1868); Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 180 (1900). 



Juniperus Oxycedrus grandifolius, Buch, Phys. Beschr. Can. Jnseln, 109, 159 (1825). 



Juniperus canariensis, Knight, Syn. Conif. 13 (1850). 



Juniperus Webbii, Carrifere, Conif. 13 (1855). 



A tree, attaining a large size in the Canary Islands, with wide -spreading 

 branches and long pendulous branchlets. This is an insular form of /. Oxycedrus, 

 differing mainly from the Mediterranean tree in habit and not in technical characters. 

 Leaves directed towards the apex of the branchlet, and not widely spreading, 

 resembling in this respect /. formosana, thinner in texture than in /. Oxycedrus, and 

 becoming acute or rounded at the apex in adult trees ; glaucous and not bright green 

 on the lower surface, the glaucous tint being present on the narrow midrib and the 

 borders external to the white stomatic bands of the upper surface. Fruit similar to 

 that of /. Oxycedrus, with two or three seeds, which are often acute and not broad 

 and emarginate at the apex, the resin-pits being usually more developed than in the 

 Mediterranean species. 



Copious specimens received from Dr. Perez show that this tree is scarcely 

 separable as a distinct species from J. Oxycedrus ; and trees of the latter, with 

 pendulous branchlets, which occur on the Riviera, are very similar to, if not identical 

 withy. Cedrus. 



J. Cedrus is a native of the Canary Islands, where it has been .nearly exter- 

 minated by the inhabitants, who value its timber highly. It still exists on Teneriffe, 

 Grand Canary, and Palma, but is extinct on Gomera.^ Dr. Perez writes that it was 

 common on Teneriffe at the end of the eighteenth century,^ as Humboldt mentions 

 it as occurring all the way up from Orotava to the canadas, growing with Pinus 

 canariensis ; but only a few stunted specimens now survive, which grow on inac- 

 cessible rocks about the caiiadas, from 7000 to 9000 ft. altitude. Schenck,^ who 

 gives the latest published account, quotes Fritsch,* who mentions a noble juniper, 

 which formerly grew on the south-west side of the Peak at 8000 ft. elevation. This 

 tree was 18 ft. in girth and nearly 100 ft. high. 



It also occurs in the crater of Tirijana on Grand Canary, but seems to be most 

 abundant now on Palma,^ where it grows on the inaccessible inner walls of the crater, 

 and outside it to the north-east on isolated rocks at 7000 ft. elevation. Dr. Burchard ^ 



1 Dr. Christ, in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. vi. 487, 500 (1885). 



2 Buch, Phys. Beschr. Canar. Inseln, 109 (1825), mentions a few trees which were then growing at 9000 ft. altitude 

 amidst the lava at the foot of the last cone of the Peak. 



2 Wiss. Ergeb. Deut. Exped. 'Valdivia,' ii. pt. I, p. 375, figs. 63, 64 (1907). 

 * Reisebilder, 6 (1879). 



5 Bornmuller, in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. xxxiii. 398 (1904), states that he found trees also on the south side of the crater, in 

 the Barranco de las Angustias at 1300 and 2700 ft. elevation ; and at Cumbrecita at 4700 ft. 

 » In Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 191 1, p. 296, fig. 



