Part 15

Flowers axillary; stamens decussate; ovules 3, alternate with the scales of the flower, their tips persistent on the fruit; seeds usually 3; leaves ternate, linear-lanceolate, prickle-pointed, jointed at the base, eglandular, dark yellow-green, channeled, stomatose, and glaucous above; fruit maturing in the third year, subglobose, bright blue, covered with a glaucous bloom; buds scaly (_Oxycedrus_). 1. J. communis. Flowers terminal on short axillary branchlets; stamens decussate or in 3’s; ovules in the axils of small fleshy scales often enlarged and conspicuous on the fruit; seeds 1—12; leaves ternate or opposite, mostly scale-like, crowded, generally closely appressed, free and awl-shaped on vigorous shoots and young plants; buds naked (_Sabina_). Fruit red or reddish brown. Bark of the trunk separating into long thin persistent scales; fruit maturing in one season. Leaves closely appressed to the branchlet, obtusely pointed. Leaves conspicuously glandular-pitted, ternate or opposite; fruit red, subglobose, ¼′ in diameter. 2. J. Pinchotii (C, H). Leaves eglandular or slightly glandular; fruit reddish brown. Leaves ternate, rarely opposite; fruit short-oblong, ¼′—½′ in diameter. 3. J. californica (G). Leaves opposite, rarely ternate; fruit subglobose, ⅛′—¼′, in one form ¾′ in diameter. 4. J. utahensis (F, G). Leaves not closely appressed, spreading at the apex, long-pointed, glandular or eglandular; fruit subglobose, ⅓′—½′ in diameter. 5. J. flaccida (L). Bark of the trunk divided into thick nearly square plates; leaves eglandular or occasionally glandular-pitted; fruit subglobose to short-oblong, ½′ in diameter, ripening at the end of its second season. 6. J. pachyphlæa (H). Fruit blue or blue-black, with resinous juicy flesh, subglobose to short-oblong, 1/12′—⅓′ in diameter; seeds, 1—4; cotyledons 2. Leaves denticulately fringed, opposite or ternate; fruit maturing in one season. Branchlets about 1/12′ in diameter; leaves acute, conspicuously glandular; fruit short-oblong, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter; seeds 2 or 3. 7. J. occidentalis (B, G). Branchlets not more than 1/24′ in diameter; leaves usually ternate; fruit short-oblong. Seeds 1 or rarely 2, pale chestnut-brown, obtuse, prominently ridged; leaves acute or acuminate, usually glandular. 8. J. monosperma (F). Seeds 1 or 2, dark chestnut-brown, acute, obscurely ridged; leaves obtusely pointed, often eglandular. 9. J. mexicana (C). Leaves naked on the margins, mostly opposite, glandular or eglandular; fruit subglobose. Fruit ripening at the end of the first season. Fruit ¼′—⅓′ in diameter; seeds 1 or 2, rarely 3 or 4; leaves acute or acuminate; branches spreading or erect. 10. J. virginiana (A, C). Fruit 1/12′—⅙′ in diameter; seeds 1 or 2; leaves acute; branches usually pendulous. 11. J. lucayana (C). Fruit ripening at the end of the second season, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter; seeds 1 or 2; leaves acute or acuminate. 12. J. scopulorum (B, F).

1. Juniperus communis L. Juniper.

Leaves spreading nearly at right angles to the branchlets, ⅓′—½′ long, about 1/32′ wide, turning during winter a deep rich bronze color on the lower surface, persistent for many years. Flowers: male composed of 5 or 6 whorls each of 3 stamens, with broadly ovate acute and short-pointed connectives, bearing at the very base 3 or 4 globose anther-cells; female surrounded by 5 or 6 whorls of ternate leaf-like scales, composed of 3 slightly spreading ovules abruptly enlarged and open at the apex, with 3 minute obtuse fleshy scales below and alternate with them. Fruit maturing in the third season, subglobose or short-oblong, about ¼′ in diameter, with soft mealy resinous sweet flesh and 1—3 seeds; often persistent on the branches one or two years after ripening; seeds ovoid, acute, irregularly angled or flattened, deeply penetrated by numerous prominent thin-walled resin-glands, about ⅛′ long, the outer coat thick and bony, the inner membranaceous.

In America only occasionally tree-like and 10°—20° tall, with a short eccentric irregularly lobed trunk rarely a foot in diameter, erect branches forming an irregular open head, slender branchlets, smooth, lustrous, and conspicuously 3-angled between the short nodes during their first and second years, light yellow tinged with red, gradually growing darker, their dark red-brown bark separating in the third season into small thin scales, and ovoid acute buds about ⅛′ long and loosely covered with scale-like leaves; more often a shrub, with many short slender stems prostrate at the base and turning upward and forming a broad mass sometimes 20° across and 3° or 4° high (var. _depressa_ Pursh.); at high elevations and in the extreme north prostrate, with long decumbent stems and shorter and more crowded leaves (var. _montana_ Ait.) passing into the var. _Jackii_ Rehdr. with long trailing branches and broader incurved leaves. Bark about 1/16′ thick, dark reddish brown, separating irregularly into many loose papery persistent scales. Wood hard, close-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, light brown, with pale sapwood. In northern Europe the sweet aromatic fruit of this tree is used in large quantities to impart its peculiar flavor to gin; occasionally employed in medicine.

Distribution. Occasionally arborescent in New England, eastern Pennsylvania, and on the high mountains of North Carolina; the var. _depressa_, common in poor rocky soil, Newfoundland to southern New England, and to the shores of the Great Lakes and northwestward; the var. _montana_ from the coast of Greenland to northern New England, on the high Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina, and to northern Nebraska, along the Rocky Mountains from Alberta to western Texas, and on the Pacific coast from Alaska, southward along mountain ranges to the high Sierras of central California, extending eastward to the mountains of eastern Washington and Oregon, and on the high peaks of northern Arizona up to altitudes of 10,000°—11,500° (_P. Lowell_); the var. _Jackii_ on the coast mountains from northern California to Vancouver Island; in the Old World widely distributed in many forms through all the northern hemisphere from arctic Asia and Europe to Japan, the Himalayas and the mountains of the Mediterranean Basin.

Often planted, especially in several of its pyramidal and dwarf forms, in the eastern United States and in the countries of western, central, and northern Europe.

2. Juniperus Pinchotii Sudw.

Leaves ternate, obtusely pointed, rounded and glandular-pitted on the back, 1/16′ long, dark yellow-green, turning light red-brown before falling; on vigorous shoots and seedling plants linear-lanceolate, thin, acuminate, eglandular, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Fruit ripening in one season, subglobose, bright red, ¼′ in diameter, with a thin skin and thick dry mealy resinous flesh and 1 seed; seed ovoid, bluntly pointed, deeply grooved, irregularly marked by the usually two-lobed hilum, ⅙′—¼′ long and 2 cotyledons.

A tree rarely 20 feet high, with a trunk 1 foot in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming an open irregular head and thick branchlets covered with dark gray-brown scaly bark, their ultimate divisions about 1/12′ in diameter; more often a shrub with several stems 1° to 12° tall. Bark thin, light brown, separating into long narrow persistent scales.

Distribution. Dry rocky slopes and the rocky sides of cañons, Panhandle of western Texas (Armstrong, Potter and Hartley Counties), and in Hardaman, Garza, Tom Green, Kemble, Valverde and Menard Counties; on Comanche Peak near Granbury, Hood County, Texas; in central and on the mountains of southern Arizona.

3. Juniperus californica Carr. Desert White Cedar. Sweet-berried Cedar.

Leaves usually in 3’s, closely appressed, thickened, slightly keeled and conspicuously glandular-pitted on the back, pointed at apex, cartilaginously fringed on the margins, light yellow-green, about ⅛′ long, dying and turning brown on the branch at the end of two or three years; on vigorous shoots linear-lanceolate, rigid, sharp-pointed, ¼′—½′ long, whitish on the upper surface. Flowers from January to March; male of 18—20 stamens, disposed in 3’s, with rhomboidal short-pointed connectives; scales of the female flower usually 6, ovate, acute, spreading, obliterated or minute on the fruit. Fruit short-oblong or ovoid, ½′—¾′ long, reddish brown, with a membranaceous loose skin covered with a thick glaucous bloom, thick fibrous dry sweet flesh, and 1 or 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, obtusely pointed, irregularly lobed and angled, and 4—6 cotyledons.

A conical tree, occasionally 40° high, with a straight, large-lobed unsymmetrical trunk 1°—2° in diameter; more often shrubby, with many stout irregular usually contorted stems forming a broad open head. Bark thin and divided into long loose plate-like scales ashy gray on the outer surface and persistent for many years. Wood soft, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, light brown slightly tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood; used for fencing and fuel. The fruit is eaten by Indians fresh or ground into flour.

Distribution. Dry mountain slopes and hills at altitudes between 400° and 4000°, from Moraga Pass and Mt. Diabolo, Contra Costa County, California, southward on the coast ranges, spreading inland to their union with the Sierra Nevada, and northward at low altitudes along the western slopes of the Sierras to Kern and Mariposa Counties; on the desert slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains, the northern foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, on the western slopes of the San Jacinto and Cayamaca Ranges, and southward in Lower California to Agua Dulce; arborescent and probably of its largest size on the Mohave Desert.

4. Juniperus utahensis Lemm. Juniper.

Leaves opposite or in 3’s, rounded, usually glandular, acute or often acuminate, light yellow-green, rather less than ⅛′ long, persistent for many years. Flowers: male with 18—24 opposite or ternate stamens, their connectives rhomboidal; scales of the female flower acute, spreading, often in pairs. Fruit ripening during the autumn of the second season, subglobose or short-oblong, marked by the more or less prominent tips of the flower-scales, reddish brown, with a thick firm skin covered with a glaucous bloom and closely investing the thin dry sweet flesh, ¼′—⅓′ long, with 1 or rarely 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, obtusely angled, marked to the middle by the hilum, with a hard bony shell, and 4—6 cotyledons.

A bushy tree, rarely exceeding 20° in height, with a short usually eccentric trunk sometimes 2° in diameter, generally divided near the ground by irregular deep fissures into broad rounded ridges, many erect contorted branches forming a broad open head, slender light yellow-green branchlets covered after the falling of the leaves with thin light red-brown scaly bark; more often with numerous stems spreading from the ground and frequently not more than 8°—10° high. Bark about ¼′ thick, ashy gray or sometimes nearly white, and broken into long thin persistent scales. Wood light brown, slightly fragrant, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely used locally for fuel and fencing. The fruit is eaten by Indians fresh, or ground and baked into cakes.

Distribution. Southwestern Wyoming (_J. Knightii_ A. Nels.), southwestern Idaho (Pocatello, Bannock County), western Colorado, eastern Utah, and western New Mexico to northern Arizona and southeastern California at altitudes from 5000° to 8000°; the most abundant and generally distributed tree of the Great Basin, forming in the valleys open forests of stunted trees and shrubs, and on arid slopes more numerous and of larger size in dense nearly pure forests.

A variety (var. _megalancocarpa_ Sarg.) occurs in eastern New Mexico and northern Arizona, with fruit sometimes ¾′ in diameter. A tree often 40° high with a single erect stem sometimes 3° in diameter.

5. Juniperus flaccida Schlecht. Juniper.

Leaves opposite, acuminate and long-pointed, spreading at the apex, glandular or eglandular on the back, light yellow-green, about ⅛′ long, turning cinnamon-red and dying on the branch; on vigorous young shoots ovate-lanceolate, sometimes ½′ long, with elongated rigid callous tips. Flowers: male slender, composed of 16—20 stamens, with ovate pointed connectives prominently keeled on the back; female with acute or acuminate spreading scales. Fruit subglobose, dull red-brown, more or less covered with a glaucous bloom, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, with a close firm skin and thick resinous flesh; seeds 4—12, pointed at apex, slightly ridged, often abortive and distorted, ⅛′—¼′ long, with 2 cotyledons.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with gracefully spreading branches and long slender drooping branchlets, covered after the leaves fall with thin bright cinnamon-brown bark separating into thin loose papery scales; often a shrub. Bark about ½′ thick, reddish brown, separating into long narrow loosely attached scales.

Distribution. In the United States only on the slopes of the Chisos Mountains, in Brewster County, southern Texas; common in northeastern Mexico, growing at elevations of 6000°—8000° on the hills east of the Mexican table-lands.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of southern France and of Algeria.

6. Juniperus pachyphlæa Torr. Juniper. Checkered-bark Juniper.

Leaves appressed, acute and apiculate at apex, thickened, obscurely keeled and glandular on the back, bluish green, rather less than ⅛′ long; on vigorous shoots and young branchlets linear-lanceolate, tipped with slender elongated points, and pale blue-green like the young branchlets. Flowers opening in February and March: the male stout, ⅛′ long, with 10 or 12 stamens, their connectives broadly ovate, obscurely keeled on the back, short-pointed: scales of the female flower, ovate, acuminate, and spreading. Fruit ripening in the autumn of its second season, subglobose to short-oblong, irregularly tuberculate, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, usually marked with the short tips of the flower-scales, occasionally opening and discharging the seeds at the apex, dark red-brown, more or less covered with a glaucous bloom, especially during the first season and then occasionally bluish in color, with a thin skin closely investing the thick dry mealy flesh, and usually 4 seeds; seeds acute or obtusely pointed, conspicuously ridged and gibbous on the back, with a thick shell and 2 cotyledons.

A tree, often 50°—60° high, with a short trunk 3°—5° in diameter, long stout spreading branches forming a broad-based pyramidal or ultimately a compact round-topped head, and slender branchlets covered after the disappearance of the leaves with thin light red-brown usually smooth close bark occasionally broken into large thin scales. Bark ¾′—4′ thick, on young stems reddish brown becoming on old trunks whitish, deeply fissured and divided into nearly square plates 1′—2′ long, and separating on the surface into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, close-grained, clear light red often streaked with yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; often producing vigorous shoots from the base of the trunk or from the stumps of felled trees.

Distribution. Dry arid mountain slopes usually at elevations of 4000°—6000° above the sea, from the Eagle and Limpio mountains in southwestern Texas, westward along the desert ranges of New Mexico and Arizona, extending northward to the lower slopes of many of the high mountains of northern Arizona, and southward into Mexico.

7. Juniperus occidentalis Hook. Juniper.

Leaves opposite or ternate, closely appressed, acute or acuminate, rounded and conspicuously glandular on the back, denticulately fringed, gray-green, about ⅛′ long. Flowers: male stout, obtuse, with 12—18 stamens, their connectives broadly ovoid, rounded, acute or apiculate and scarious or slightly ciliate on the margins: scales of the female flower ovate, acute, spreading, mostly obliterated from the fruit. Fruit subglobose or short-oblong, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, with a thick firm blue-black skin coated with a glaucous bloom, thin dry flesh filled with large resin-glands, and 2 or 3 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, rounded and deeply grooved or pitted on the back, flattened on the inner surface, about ⅛′ long, with a thick bony shell, a thin brown inner seed-coat, and 2 cotyledons.

A tree, occasionally 60° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, more often not more than 20° in height, with a short trunk sometimes 10° in diameter, enormous branches, spreading at nearly right angles and forming a broad low head, and stout branchlets covered after the leaves fall with thin bright red-brown bark broken into loose papery scales; frequently when growing on dry rocky slopes and toward the northern limits of its range a shrub, with many short erect or semiprostrate stems. Bark about ½′ thick, bright cinnamon-red, divided by broad shallow fissures into wide flat irregularly connected ridges separating on the surface into thin lustrous scales. Wood light, soft, very close-grained, exceedingly durable, light red or brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; used for fencing and fuel. The fruit is gathered and eaten by the California Indians.

Distribution. Mountain slopes and high prairies of western Idaho and of eastern Washington to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains; eastern and southern Oregon up to altitudes of 4500°; along the summits and upper slopes of the Sierra Nevada of California, and southward to the San Bernardino Mountains, here abundant in Bear and Holcomb valleys; attaining its greatest trunk diameter on the wind-swept peaks of the California sierras, usually at altitudes between 6000° and 10,000° above the sea.

8. Juniperus monosperma Sarg. Juniper.

Leaves opposite or ternate, often slightly spreading at apex, acute or occasionally acuminate, much thickened and rounded on the back, usually glandular, denticulately fringed, gray-green, rather less than ⅛′ long, turning bright red-brown before falling; on vigorous shoots and young plants ovate, acute, tipped with long rigid points, thin, conspicuously glandular on the back, often ½′ long. Flowers: male with 8—10 stamens, their broadly ovate, rounded or pointed connectives slightly erose on the margins: female with spreading pointed scales. Fruit subglobose or short-oblong, ⅛′—¼′ long, dark blue or perhaps occasionally light chestnut-brown with a thick firm skin covered with a thin glaucous bloom, thin flesh, and 1 or rarely 2 seeds; seeds often protruding from the top of the fruit, ovoid, often 4-angled, somewhat obtuse at apex, with a small hilum, and 2 cotyledons.

A tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a stout much-lobed and buttressed trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, short stout branches forming an open very irregular head, and slender branchlets covered after the falling of the leaves with light red-brown bark spreading freely into thin loose scales; more often a much branched shrub sometimes only a few feet high. Bark ashy gray, divided into irregularly connected ridges, separating into long narrow persistent shreddy scales. Wood heavy, slightly fragrant, light reddish brown, with nearly white sapwood and eccentric layers of annual growth; largely used for fencing and fuel. The fruit is ground into flour and baked by the Indians, who use the thin strips of fibrous bark in making saddles, breechcloths, and sleeping-mats.

Distribution. Along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains from the valley of the Platte River, Wyoming (near Alcova, Natrona County) and the divide between the Platte and Arkansas rivers in Colorado; western Oklahoma (near Kenton, Cimarron County, common) and western Texas; on the Colorado plateau, northern Arizona; over the mountain ranges of southwestern Wyoming, Nevada, southern New Mexico and Arizona, and southward into northern Mexico; often covering, with the Nut Pine, in southern Colorado and Utah, and in northern and central New Mexico and Arizona, great areas of rolling hills 6000°—7000° above the sea-level; reaching its largest size in northern Arizona.

9. Juniperus mexicana Spreng. Cedar. Rock Cedar.

_Juniperus sabinoides_ Nees.

Leaves usually opposite or ternate, thickened and keeled on the back, obtuse or acute at apex, mostly without glands, denticulately fringed, rather more than 1/16′ long, dark blue-green, on vigorous young shoots and seedling plants lanceolate, long-pointed, rigid, ¼′—½′ long. Flowers: male with 12—18 stamens, their connectives ovoid, obtuse, or slightly cuspidate: scales of the female flower ovate, acute, and spreading, very conspicuous when the fruit is half grown, becoming obliterated at its maturity. Fruit short-oblong to subglobose, ¼′—½′ in diameter, dark blue, with a thin skin covered with a glaucous bloom, sweet resinous flesh, and 1 or 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, slightly ridged, rarely tuberculate, dark chestnut-brown, with a small hilum, a thin outer seed-coat, a membranaceous dark brown inner coat, and 2 cotyledons.

A tree, occasionally 100° but generally not more than 20°—30° high, with a short or elongated slightly lobed trunk seldom exceeding a foot in diameter, small spreading branches forming a wide round-topped open and irregular or a narrow pyramidal head, slender sharply 4-angled branchlets becoming terete after the falling of the leaves, light reddish brown or ashy gray, with smooth or slightly scaly bark; often a shrub, with numerous spreading stems. Bark on old trees ¼′—½′ thick, brown tinged with red, and divided into long narrow slightly attached scales persistent for many years and clothing the trunk with a loose thatch-like covering. Wood light, hard, not strong, slightly fragrant, brown streaked with red; largely used for fencing, fuel, telegraph-poles, and railway-ties.

Distribution. From Brazos County over the low limestone hills of western and southern Texas, and southward into Mexico; forming great thickets and growing to its largest size on the San Bernardo River; much smaller farther westward, and usually shrubby at the limits of vegetation on the high mountains of central Mexico.

10. Juniperus virginiana L. Red Cedar. Savin.