California Juniper 



109 



clipping and was a great favorite for hedges, especially when topiary gardening 

 was in vogue. A great many varieties are now in cultivation. 



The Low Juniper, Juniperus sibirica Burgsdorf, is a low shrub, with stems 

 radiating from a central root, sometimes appearing like a gigantic bird's-nest, 

 with stouter and often shorter leaves which are sometimes curved; it grows on 

 hills in the northern parts of the north temperate zone, occurring in the United 

 States as far south as New York, Michigan, and Utah ; it is doubtfully distinct 

 as a species, however, from Juniperus communis. 



2. CALIFORNIA JUNIPER — Juniperus calif omica Carriere 



This cone-shaped tree occurs on dry mountain slopes and high plains of the 

 coast ranges and along the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California into Lower 

 CaUfomia, at altitudes 

 of 900 to 1200 meters. 

 It is also called White 

 cedar. Sweet- berried 

 cedar, and Sweet- fruited 

 juniper, and reaches a 

 maximum height of 12 

 meters with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 6 dm., al- 

 though frequently only 

 a shmb. 



The trunk is straight, 

 ridged and more or less 

 irregular. The 

 branches are stout, 

 erect, or irregularly as- 

 cending. The bark is 

 thin and peels off into 

 long, gray shreds, which 

 persist on the trunk for 

 a long time; the inner 

 bark is reddish brown. 

 The twigs are stout, yel- 

 lowish green, becoming 

 red and finally light gray, after the leaves have fallen from them. The scale-like 

 leaves are mostly 3 in each whorl, yellowish green, tightly appressed, ovate to 

 oblong-ovate, about 2 mm. long; they are convex, and distinctly glandular pitted 

 on the back, bluntly pointed at the thickened apex and slightly fringed on the 

 margin; on young plants or on vigorous twigs they are 2 or 3 times as long, hncar 

 or awl-shaped, sharply pointed, and whitish above. The flowers open in late 



Fig. 83. — California Juniper. 



