Juniperus coahuilensis

Last updated

Juniperus coahuilensis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Cupressales
Family: Cupressaceae
Genus: Juniperus
Species:
J. coahuilensis
Binomial name
Juniperus coahuilensis
Martínez Gaussen ex R.P.Adams

Juniperus coahuilensis, commonly known as redberry juniper, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae. [2]

Contents

Description

Juniperus coahuilensis grows as a large shrubby tree up to 8 metres (26 feet) tall. It is usually multi-trunked. [3] The bark is brown to gray, exfoliating in long strips on mature trunks and branches. [3]

The leaves are green to light green, and have glands that can produce a white crystalline exudate. [3]

The cones are a fleshy glaucous yellow-orange to dark red, 6–7 millimetres (14932 in) in diameter, and mature in one year. [3]

This species is unusual in that it sprouts from the stump when cut or burned, which has probably allowed it to remain in the grasslands in spite of periodic grass fires that kill all other juniper species. [4]

Fossil record

The species is known to have been present during the Late Wisconsin Glacial Episode of the last glacial period, in North American latitudes defined by fossils from the Waterman Mountains in present-day Arizona. [5]

Distribution

The shrubby tree is found in northern Mexico and areas of the Southwestern United States within central and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and West Texas including Big Bend National Park. [3]

This species occurs in high desert grasslands at elevations of 1,200–2,000 m (3,900–6,600 ft), in Bouteloua spp. grasslands and adjacent rocky areas. [1] In Mexico, it can also occur in canyons or alluvial fans. In the Chihuahuan Desert and Sonoran Desert ecoregions, it often in association with Opuntia spp. and/or Yucca spp. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> Species of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae

Juniperus virginiana, also known as eastern redcedar, red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei. It is not to be confused with Thuja occidentalis.

<i>Robinia neomexicana</i> Species of plant native to North America

Robinia neomexicana, the New Mexican, New Mexico, Southwest, desert, pink, or rose locust, is a shrub or small tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the family Fabaceae.

<i>Juniperus osteosperma</i> Species of plant

Juniperus osteosperma is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States.

<i>Juniperus californica</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus californica, the California juniper, is a species of juniper native to southwestern North America.

<i>Juniperus occidentalis</i> Species of tree in North America

Juniperus occidentalis, known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the Western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of 800–3,000 meters (2,600–9,800 ft) and rarely down to 100 m (330 ft). It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a widespread species with an increasing population.

<i>Juniperus scopulorum</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus scopulorum, the Rocky Mountain juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, from southwest Canada to the Great Plains of the United States.

<i>Juniperus horizontalis</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus horizontalis, the creeping juniper or creeping cedar, is a low-growing shrubby juniper native to northern North America, throughout most of Canada from Yukon east to Newfoundland, and in some of the northern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaled quail</span> Species of bird

The scaled quail, also commonly called blue quail or cottontop, is a species of the New World quail family. It is a bluish gray bird found in the arid regions of the Southwestern United States to Central Mexico. This species is an early offshoot of the genus Callipepla, diverging in the Pliocene.

<i>Juniperus deppeana</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus deppeana is a small to medium-sized tree reaching 10–15 metres in height. It is native to central and northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

<i>Juniperus foetidissima</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus foetidissima, with common names foetid juniper or stinking juniper, is a juniper tree species in the family Cupressaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-throated woodrat</span> Species of rodent

The white-throated woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California. Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat.

<i>Juniperus pinchotii</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus pinchotii, commonly known as Pinchot juniper or redberry juniper, is a species of juniper native to south-western North America, in Mexico: Nuevo León and Coahuila, and in the United States: south-eastern New Mexico, central Texas, and western Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinyon–juniper woodland</span> Biome of Western United States higher elevation deserts

Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a biome found mid-elevations in arid regions of the Western United States, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers, pinyon pines, and their associates. At lower elevations, junipers often predominate and trees are spaced widely, bordering on and mingling with grassland or shrubland, but as elevation increases, pinyon pines become common and trees grow closer, forming denser canopies. Historically, pinyon-juniper woodland has provided a vital source of fuel and food for peoples of the American Southwest.

<i>Quercus arizonica</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus arizonica, the Arizona white oak, is a North American tree species in the beech family. It is found in Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, and Durango.

<i>Quercus pungens</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus pungens, commonly known as the sandpaper oak or scrub oak, is a North American species evergreen or sub-evergreen shrub or small tree in the white oak group. There is one recognised variety, Quercus pungens var. vaseyana, the Vasey shin oak. Sandpaper oak hybridizes with gray oak in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas.

<i>Quercus oblongifolia</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus oblongifolia, commonly known as the Mexican blue oak, Arizona blue oak, Blue live oak or Sonoran blue oak, is an evergreen small tree or large shrub in the white oak group.

<i>Mimosa aculeaticarpa</i> Species of plant

Mimosa aculeaticarpa is a species of woody shrub in the family Fabaceae. It is commonly known as the catclaw mimosa or the wait-a-minute bush, and is endemic to upland regions of Mexico and the Southwestern United States, particularly Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

<i>Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus</i> Species of flowering plant

Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name rayless goldenhead. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it occurs in southern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, and Arizona.

<i>Lycium pallidum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lycium pallidum is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common names pale wolfberry and pale desert-thorn. It is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. In Mexico it can be found in Sonora, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi. In the United States it occurs from California to Texas and as far north as Utah and Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora of the Colorado Desert</span>

Flora of the Colorado Desert, located in Southern California. The Colorado Desert is a sub-region in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion of southwestern North America. It is also known as the Low Desert, in contrast to the higher elevation Mojave Desert or High Desert, to its north.

References

  1. 1 2 Farjon, A. (2020). "Juniperus coahuilensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T16335864A179047839. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T16335864A179047839.en . Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Juniperus coahuilensis". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Google Books.com: Trees of Western North America; by Richard Spellenberg, Christopher J. Earle, Gil Nelson; pg 44-45, Juniperus coahuilensis treatment.
  4. 1 2 IUCN Red List: Juniperus coahuilensis . accessed 2 February 2017.
  5. C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Elephant Tree: Bursera microphylla, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg