Juniperus horizontalis

Last updated

Juniperus horizontalis
JuniperBerry.jpg
Foliage and cones
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [2]
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. horizontalis
Binomial name
Juniperus horizontalis
Moench 1794
Juniperus horizontalis range map 1.png
Natural range of Juniperus horizontalis
Synonyms [3]
  • Juniperus prostrataPers. 1807
  • Juniperus repensNutt. 1818
  • Juniperus racemosa Risso 1826
  • Juniperus hudsonicaForbes 1839
  • Sabina prostrata(Pers.) Antoine 1857
  • Sabina racemosa(Risso) Antoine 1857
  • Sabina horizontalis(Moench) Rydb. 1912

Juniperus horizontalis, the creeping juniper or creeping cedar, [4] 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.

Contents

Description

Living up to both its scientific and common names, the species reaches only 10–30 centimetres (3+7811+34 in) tall but often spreading several metres wide. The shoots are slender, 0.7–1.2 millimetres (132116 in) diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, or occasionally in whorls of three; the adult leaf blades are scale-like, 1–2 mm long (to 8 mm on lead shoots) and 1–1.5 mm (132116 in) broad, and derive from an adnate petiole. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5–10 mm (31638 in) long. The cones are berry-like, globose to bilobed, 5–7 mm (316932 in) in diameter, dark blue with a pale blue-white waxy bloom, and contain two seeds (rarely one or three); they usually have a curved stem and are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 2–4 mm (332532 in) long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is dioecious, producing cones of only one sex on each plant.

It is closely related to Juniperus virginiana , and often hybridizes with it where their ranges meet in southern Canada. Hybrids with Juniperus scopulorum also occur.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to northern North America, throughout most of Canada from Yukon east to Newfoundland, and in the United States in Alaska, and continentally from Montana east to Maine, reaching its furthest south in Wyoming and northern Illinois. Amongst the sites it occupies are rocky areas of the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains. [5]

Cultivation and uses

Well over 100 different cultivars have been selected for use as ornamental plants in gardens, their strictly prostrate growth habit being valued for ground cover. Popular examples include 'Bar Harbor', 'Blue Acres', 'Emerald Spreader', 'Green Acres', and 'Wiltonii' ("Blue Rug Juniper"). Many of the most popular cultivars have strikingly glaucous foliage, while others are bright green, yellowish or variegated.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juniper</span> Genus of plants

Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa, throughout parts of western, central and southern Asia, east to eastern Tibet in the Old World, and in the mountains of Central America. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) in southeastern Tibet and the northern Himalayas, creating one of the highest tree lines on earth.

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

Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere.

<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> Species of conifer tree

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>Juniperus ashei</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus ashei is a drought-tolerant evergreen tree, native from northeastern Mexico and the south-central United States to southern Missouri. The largest areas are in central Texas, where extensive stands occur. Ashe juniper grows up to 10 metres tall, and over time can reach 15 m (49 ft), and provides erosion control and year-round shade for wildlife and livestock.

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

Juniperus chinensis, the Chinese juniper, is a species of plant in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to China, Myanmar, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. Growing 1–20 metres tall, it is a very variable coniferous evergreen tree or shrub.

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

Juniperus oxycedrus, vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level. The specific epithet oxycedrus means "sharp cedar" and this species may have been the original cedar or cedrus of the ancient Greeks.

<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> Western North American species of juniper

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 and small areas of northern Mexico. They are the most widespread of all the New World junipers. They are relatively small trees, occasionally just a large bush or stunted snag. They tend to be found in isolated groves or even as single trees rather than as the dominant tree of a forest. Though they can survive fires, they are vulnerable to them especially when young and this is one of the factors that can limit their spread into grasslands.

<i>Juniperus sabina</i> Species of Juniper

Juniperus sabina, the savin juniper or savin, is a species of juniper native to the mountains of central and southern Europe and western and central Asia, from Spain to eastern Siberia, typically growing at altitudes of 1,000–3,300 metres.

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

Juniperus thurifera is a species of juniper native to the mountains of the western Mediterranean region, from southern France across eastern and central Spain to Morocco and locally in northern Algeria.

<i>Juniperus recurva</i> Species of juniper

Juniperus recurva, commonly named the Himalayan juniper or drooping juniper, is a juniper native to the Himalaya, from northern Pakistan, through India, Nepal and Bhutan, to western Yunnan in southwestern China. It grows at altitudes of 3,000–4,000 metres.

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

Juniperus procumbens is a species of shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to Japan. This low-growing evergreen conifer is closely related to the Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, and is sometimes treated as a variety of it, as J. chinensis var. procumbens.

<i>Juniperus squamata</i> Species of Juniper

Juniperus squamata, the flaky juniper, or Himalayan juniper is a species of coniferous shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the Himalayas and China.

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

Juniperus procera is a coniferous tree native to mountainous areas in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a characteristic tree of the Afromontane flora.

<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.

<i>Juniperus pseudosabina</i> Species of juniper

Juniperus pseudosabina, the Turkestan juniper or dwarf black juniper is a species of juniper.

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

Juniperus tibetica, the Tibetan juniper, is a species of juniper, native to western China in southern Gansu, southeastern Qinghai, Sichuan, and Tibet Autonomous Region, where it grows at high to very high altitudes of 2,600–4,900 metres. This species has the highest known elevation treeline in the northern hemisphere.

References

  1. Farjon, A. (2013). "Juniperus horizontalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T42237A2965318. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42237A2965318.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. NatureServe (2024). "Juniperus horizontalis". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  3. Juniperus horizontalis The Plant List (2010). Version 1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ 22 Nov. 2011
  4. Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York.
  5. Arno, Stephen F.; Hammerly, Ramona P. (2020) [1977]. Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees (field guide ed.). Seattle: Mountaineers Books. p. 174. ISBN   1-68051-329-X. OCLC   1141235469.

Further reading