28 BULLETIN 207, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Little is known regarding the tree's light requirements or its repro- 

 duction. In the intolerance of shade, it appears to be very similar 

 to the western and one-seed junipers. It produces an abundance of 

 berries at intervals of about two years, a few being borne nearly 

 every year. Reproduction is usually sparse and widely scattered, 

 due to the failure of most of the seed to germinate in the exceedingly 

 dry soils of the region where the tree grows. 



LONGEVITY. 



Utah juniper is rather long-lived, the maximum age being about 

 300 years. Trees from 6 to 10 inches in diameter are from 145 to 

 250 years old. 



BIG-BERRIED JUNIPER. 



Juniperus megalocarpa Sudworth. 



COMMON NAME AND EARLY HISTORY 



This recently discovered juniper is not distinguished by settlers 

 in its range from other southwestern junipers and "cedars." The 

 common name "big-berried juniper/' adopted here, is derived from 

 the technical name in reference to the large size of its fruit, a striking 

 and distinctive characteristic. 



It was discovered by Mr. W. R. Mattoon of the Forest Service on 

 September 22, 1906, in the southwest corner of the Datil National 

 Forest, Socorro County, southwestern New Mexico, where only about 

 25 trees were found. 1 



The tree was named and described in June, 1907, from specimens, 

 field notes, and a photograph obtained by Mr. Mattoon. 2 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Big-berried juniper is one of the largest and best formed of our 

 southwestern junipers. It varies in height from 30 to 50 feet, and 

 in diameter from 2 to 4 feet. The crown is compact, broadly pyrami- 

 dal, with short, stout branches. The trunks are clear of branches for 

 from 15 to 20 feet, or more, and have dark reddish-brown, finely 

 fissured bark, shredded on the surface (PL XVIII) . The branchlets 

 (PL XVII) are short, very dense, and clothed with pale yellowish- 

 green, sometimes bronze-green, foliage, On young trees the foliage 



1 This station, approximately in section 11 or 14, township 9 south, an unsurveyed region, is on the west 

 bank of the San Francisco River at a point about halfway between the towns of Alma and Frisco, and 3 

 miles above the "Widow Kelley's Ranch." 



Forest Supervisor William H. Goddard later reported having seen a juniper, which may prove to be 

 J. megalocarpa, on a small tributary of San Francisco River at a point about 6 miles west of Pleasanton, 

 N. Mex., some 20 miles from Mr. Mattoon's type locality and near the east border of Arizona. The 

 writer has not seen specimens of this tree. 



Prof. C S. Sargent also informed the writer (Nov. 6, 1914) that several years ago he collected specimens 

 of this tree on the rim of Oak Creek Canyon, 20 miles south of Flagstaff, Ariz., and that three or four years 

 later Prof. Percival Lowell also collected specimens at Angell, near Flagstafi, Ariz. 



Further explorations should extend the tree's range. 



2 Forestry and Irrigation, XIII, figs. 1 and 2 (1907). 



