Rocky Mountain Juniper
| Rocky Mountain Juniper | ||||||||||||
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Rocky Mountain Juniper ( Juniperus scopulorum ) |
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| Juniperus scopulorum | ||||||||||||
| Coffin. |
The Rocky Mountain juniper ( Juniperus scopulorum ) is a plant from the family of the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is native to western North America.
description
The Rocky Mountain Juniper grows as an evergreen , single-stemmed or rarely multi-stemmed tree that can reach heights of growth of up to 20 meters and diameters of up to 2 meters at chest height . The straight or ascending branches from the trunk form a conical to rounded crown . The branches go straight or downward from the branches and have a triangular to square cross-section. The brown bark peels off in thin strips. The bark of thin twigs is smooth, while that of the thicker branches flakes off in plates.
Two different shapes of leaves are formed. Both forms are light to dark green or bluish green to blue gray in color and have an inconspicuous, elliptically shaped leaf gland on the underside of the leaf . The leaf margins are entire. The needle-shaped leaves are 3 to 6 millimeters long. The scale sheets are keel-shaped to rounded with a length of 1 to 3 millimeters and can overlap each other up to a fifth of their total length. Your protruding or adjacent leaf tip is blunt or pointed.
The Rocky Mountain juniper is dioecious-segregated ( diocesan ). The berry cones are usually on a straight stem and are spherical to bilobed in shape with a diameter of 6 to 9 millimeters. They are initially light brown in color and when they are ripe they turn dark blue-black in the second year and are frosted. Heavily frosted cones appear to be light blue in color. Each of the resinous and fibrous cones bears one to three seeds. The seeds are 4 to 5 millimeters long.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.
Distribution and location
The natural range of the Rocky Mountain Juniper is in western North America. It extends there from British Columbia in the north along the Rocky Mountains to Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico in the south. To the east it also occurs in some of the mountain ranges upstream of the Rocky Mountains.
The Rocky Mountain Juniper thrives at altitudes from 0 to 2,700 meters. It grows mainly on rocky and eroded soils on slopes.
use
The Rocky Mountain Juniper is used as an ornamental wood.
Systematics
The first description as Juniperus scopulorum was in 1897 by Charles Sprague Sargent in Garden & Forest , Volume 10 (505), page 420. Synonyms for Juniperus scopulorum coffin. are Juniperus virginiana subsp. scopulorum (coffin) AE Murray , Juniperus virginiana var. scopulorum (coffin) Lemmon and Sabina scopulorum (coffin) Rydb.
Where the distribution area of the Rocky Mountain juniper with the Virginian juniper ( Juniperus virginiana ) and of creeping juniper ( Juniperus horizontalis ) overlaps, in the formation of hybrids . The hybrid with the creeping juniper is called Juniperus x fassettii .
Hazard and protection
The Rocky Mountain Juniper is classified as "not endangered" in the IUCN Red List . It is pointed out, however, that a new review of the hazard is necessary.
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Juniperus scopulorum. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, November 28, 2012, accessed January 1, 2013 .
- Frank D. Watson, James E. Eckenwalder: Cupressaceae . Juniperus . In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Volume 2. Oxford University Press, New York a. a. 1993, ISBN 0-19-508242-7 , Juniperus scopulorum (English, Juniperus scopulorum - online - this work is online with the same text).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Christopher J. Earle: Juniperus scopulorum. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, November 28, 2012, accessed January 1, 2013 .
- ↑ Juniperus scopulorum. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network. www.ars-grin.gov, accessed on January 1, 2013 (English).
- ^ A b Frank D. Watson, James E. Eckenwalder: Cupressaceae . Juniperus . In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Volume 2. Oxford University Press, New York a. a. 1993, ISBN 0-19-508242-7 , Juniperus scopulorum (English, Juniperus scopulorum - online - this work is online with the same text).
- ↑ Juniperus scopulorum at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed January 1, 2013.
- ↑ Juniperus scopulorum in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 1998. Retrieved on January 1, 2013.
