Juniperus 14^9 



JUNIPERUS RECURVA 



Juniperus reatrva, Buchanan-Hamilton, ex Don, Prod. Fl. Nepal. 55 (1825); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. 

 Brit. iv. 2504 (1838); Masters, in Gard. Chron. xix. 468 and 574, fig. 69 (1883), and in 

 Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxvi. 542 (1902); J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India, v. 647 (1888); 

 Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 185 (1900); Gamble, Indian Timbers, 698 (1902); Brandis, Indian 

 Trees, 694 (1906). 

 Sabina recurva, Antoine, Cupress. Gatt. 67, tt. 88, 90, 91 (1857), 



A tree, attaining in the Himalayas 30 ft. or more in height. Bark brown, thin, 

 peeling off in long fibrous strips. Branches curved, more or less pendulous. Young 

 branchlets marked between the whorls by the decurrent bases of the leaves, which are 

 separated by three grooves. Older branchlets from which the leaves have fallen 

 smooth, with a light reddish-brown scaly epidermis. 



Leaves all acicular, densely imbricated in whorls of threes, their basal part being 

 decurrent on the branchlet, loosely appressed, directed forwards, scarcely spreading ; 

 linear-lanceolate, |^ to ^ in. long, ^ to ^^ in. broad, ending in a sharp cartilaginous 

 point ; outer surface convex, channelled longitudinally from the insertion to about the 

 middle, greyish green ; inner surface concave, whitened throughout. The leaves 

 persist for several years, becoming brown in the third and fourth years, the mixture 

 of green and brown leaves giving the foliage a peculiar appearance. 



Flowers monoecious.^ Staminate flowers, terminal or solitary in the axils of one 

 or two of the leaves on the ultimate branchlets, oblong, about ^ in. long, with twelve 

 to sixteen stamens. Fruit axillary, ripening in the second year, subsessile, bracteate 

 at the base, dark purplish brown, ovoid, about -f in. long, composed of three or six 

 united scales, each bearing a triangular spreading mucro, prominent near the 

 umbilicate apex of the fruit. Seed solitary, occupying the greater part of the berry, 

 ovoid, with a thin narrowed apex, marked on the surface with two or three large 

 depressions for resin-glands. 



This species is a native of the eastern Himalayas, occurring in Sikkim and 

 Bhutan, between 9000 and 12,000 feet. It is represented in the north-western 

 Himalayas, China, and Japan by the closely allied species or variety, y. squamata. 



(A. H.) 



In the very moist climate of the interior of Sikkim, where it is common in the 

 Lachen and Lachoong valleys, from about 10,000 to above 13,000 feet, Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, whose sketch ^ of it has been reproduced in Veitch's Conif eree, fig. 58, gives 

 30 ft. as its height ; but if my recollection is correct, I saw much larger trees above 

 Lachoong ; and G. A. Gammie, in his account of a botanical tour in Sikkim,* says 

 that in the Sebu valley he saw Icirge trees at 11,000 feet ; and at 13,000 feet in the 

 same valley it was the only arborescent vegetation. 



1 This species appears to be always monoecious. Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 187 (1900), states that a tree at Fota is a 

 male. We have specimens of this bearing both staminate and pistillate flowers on different branchlets of the same branch. 



2 Himalayan Journals, ii. 45, fig. (1854). 



3 Published as a Government paper, No. 41 B.S.I., dated Calcutta, 25th July 1893, reprinted in Keiv Bulletin, October- 

 November 1893, p. 311. 



