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Vascular Plants of California
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Juniperus communis
COMMON JUNIPER


Higher Taxonomy
Family: CupressaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: CYPRESS FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree, generally evergreen; monoecious or dioecious. Leaf: simple, cauline, alternate or opposite (either +- 4-ranked) or whorled in 3s (6-ranked), linear or scale-, awl- or needle-like (sometimes linear and awl-like on 1 pl, or on juvenile or injured plants), generally decurrent, covering young stems. Pollen Cone: axillary or terminal. Seed Cone: +- fleshy to generally woody, generally hard at maturity; scales opposite or whorled, peltate or not. Seed: 1--many per scale, angled or lateral winged, generally wind-dispersed. Chromosomes: n=11.
Genera In Family: 30 genera, 130+ species: +- worldwide, especially North America, Eurasia. Note: Incl (paraphyletic) Taxodiaceae. Taxa of (polyphyletic) Cupressus in TJM (1993) now in Callitropsis, Chamaecyparis, Hesperocyparis.
eFlora Treatment Author: Jim A. Bartel, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: JuniperusView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: JUNIPER
Habit: Shrub, tree; generally dioecious. Stem: bark thin, peeling in strips; young shoots 4-angled to cylindric. Leaf: opposite (4-ranked) or whorled in 3s (6-ranked), scale-like to less often awl- or needle-like. Pollen Cone: generally terminal; pollen sacs 2--6 per scale. Seed Cone: generally terminal, 5--18 mm, +- spheric, +- fleshy, berry-like, glaucous or not, dry or resinous, generally maturing 2nd year, surrounded at base by minute scale-like bracts; scales 3--8, fused, opposite or whorled in 3s. Seed: 1--3 per cone, +- flat, unwinged, often not angled, generally animal-dispersed over 2 years; cotyledons 2--6.
Etymology: (Latin: juniper)
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert P. Adams & Jim A. Bartel
Reference: Adams & Nguyen 2007 Phytologia 89:43--57; Adams et al. 2006 Phytologia 88:299--309
Unabridged Reference: Adams 2004 Junipers of the World: The genus Juniperus. Trafford Publ., Vancouver
Juniperus communis L.
NATIVE
Habit: Shrub < 1 m, generally +- prostrate; generally dioecious. Stem: bark brown, peeling in papery sheets. Leaf: generally whorled in 3s, 6-ranked; suberect to spreading, awl- or needle-like, jointed, not decurrent. Pollen Cone: axillary, 4--5 mm. Seed Cone: axillary, 5--9 mm, green maturing bright blue to black, glaucous, resinous. Seed: 2--5 mm, ovoid, acute, generally 3-angled.
Note: 3 other varieties extend sp. range to include Europe, Asia.
Jepson eFlora Author: Robert P. Adams & Jim A. Bartel
Reference: Adams & Nguyen 2007 Phytologia 89:43--57; Adams et al. 2006 Phytologia 88:299--309
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Citation for this treatment: Robert P. Adams & Jim A. Bartel 2012, Juniperus communis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=29753, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Juniperus communis
click for enlargement
©2009 Barry Breckling
Juniperus communis  
var. depressa
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©2015 Barry Breckling
Juniperus communis
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©2009 Neal Kramer
Juniperus communis subsp. alpina
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©1991 Julie Kierstead Nelson
Juniperus communis  
var. depressa
click for enlargement
©2016 Keir Morse

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Geographic subdivisions for Juniperus communis:
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).