Juniperus 1423 



JUNIPERUS WALLICHIANA 



Juniperus Wallichiana, J. D. Hooker, ex Parlatore, in De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 482 (1868); 



Brandis, Forest Flora N.-W. India, 537 (1874), and Indian Trees, 695 (1906). 

 Juniperus pseudosabina, J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India, v. 646 (1888) (not Fischer and Meyer i); 



Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 184 (1900); Gamble, Indian Timbers, 698 (1907). 



A tree, attaining in the Himalayas 60 ft. in height. Leaves dimorphic. Adult 

 foliage with tetragonal ultimate branchlets, about ^ in. in diameter, densely covered 

 with scale-like leaves, which are arranged in four ranks in decussately opposite pairs, 

 closely appressed, narrowly ovate, about ^ in. long, tapering to an acute apex, 

 bright green with a whitish margin, marked on the back with a linear glandular 

 furrow extending from the base to near the apex. Leaves on the main axes, larger, 

 up to I in. long, tipped with acuminate points. Juvenile foliage, often preponderant 

 on adult trees ; leaves acicular, in threes, decurrent, densely clothing the branchlet 

 in successive whorls, slightly spreading, about \ in. long, sharply mucronate, 

 whitened on the inner (upper) surface, usually marked on the back with a longi- 

 tudinal furrow. 



Flowers dioecious. Fruit, ripening in the second year, on the ends of short 

 curved branchlets, ovoid, f in. long, ^ in. broad near the base, dark purplish brown, 

 becoming quite blue when ripe ; smooth on the surface except for the minute mucros 

 which indicate the three to five component scales ; depressed at the summit with a 

 minute transverse rhomboidal apiculate umbo. Seed, one in each fruit, large for the 

 genus, :^ in. long, ovoid, compressed, with a narrow thin pointed apex, and two or 

 three depressions for resin-glands about the middle of each surface. 



This species is a native of the Himalayas from the Indus to Bhutan, occurring 

 between 9000 and 15,000 ft. elevation. In the western part of its range, it is a 

 large gregarious shrub ; but in Sikkim, it becomes a large tree, sometimes 60 ft. in 

 height, with a stout trunk and dark branches and foliage. An illustration of it is 

 given by Hooker,^ who calls it the " Black Juniper." Mr. J. Claude White' saw a 

 large "weeping cypress," at Chalimaphe in Bhutan, which was 50 ft. round the 

 trunk at five feet from the ground ; and this remarkable tree in all probability was 

 J. Wallichiana. 



J. Wallichiana was introduced in 1849, when Sir J. D. Hooker sent seeds from 

 India to Kew.* It is very rare in cultivation, the only specimens which we have 

 seen being one in the Juniper collection at Kew, about 20 ft. high ; and another of 

 the same size at Leonardslee, which bore fruit in 191 1. (A. H.) 



' J. pseudosabina, Fischer and Meyer, in Index Sent. Hort. Petrop. 65 {184 1), and Plant. Schrenk. ii. 13 (1842), differs 

 in appearance from the Himalayan tree, the scale-like leaves being less acute, and the fruits smaller and often globose. It was 

 described from specimens gathered in the Altai and the Tarbagatai mountains in Turkestan. It appears to be a low shrub, like 

 J. Sabina in habit, and has not apparently been introduced. 



2 Him.Joum. ii. 55, fig. (1854). 



' Sikkim and Bhutan, 131 (1909). No specimens of this enormous tree appear to have been collected. 



* See Kew archives, "List of Seeds received from Dr. Hotker during his Travels in India," where "No. 78, 1849 

 (No. I ^2), Juniperus, large tree," is evidently _/. Wallichiana. 



VI N 



