Red berry juniper
| Red berry juniper | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Juniperus coahuilensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Martínez ) Gaussen |
The red berry juniper ( Juniperus coahuilensis ) is a plant from the family of the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is native to the southern United States and northern Mexico.
description
The red berry juniper grows as an evergreen shrub or tree that can reach heights of growth of up to 8 meters and diameters of up to 1 meter at chest height . As a tree, it is single-stemmed, while the shrub form branches out on the ground. The branches go straight or ascending from the trunk and form a flat-spherical to irregular crown . The gray to brown bark flakes off in long strips. The bark of the thinner branches is smooth, while that of the thicker branches flakes in strips or occasionally in flakes.
The species forms two different types of needles . The green to light green, scale-like leaves reach a length of 1 to 3 millimeters. They are keeled and their tip is pointed. They never overlap or only up to a quarter of their total length. The flagellated needles are colored blue-green on the top of the needle and are 4 to 6 millimeters in size. All needles have serrated leaf margins and on their underside are elliptical or ovoid glands, some of which secrete a conspicuously white, crystalline fluid.
The red berry juniper is dioecious-segregated ( diocesan ) and the cones ripen after one year. The berry-shaped cones stand on straight stems and are spherical to egg-shaped with a size of 6 to 7 millimeters. As they ripen, they are pink, yellow-orange, orange or dark red in color and covered by a blue-green layer. Each of the fleshy and sweet-tasting cones bears one or two seeds. The seeds reach a length of 4 to 5 millimeters.
Distribution and location
The natural range of the red berry juniper is in the south of the USA and in the north of Mexico. In the United States, it includes the states of Arizona , New Mexico and southwest Texas . In Mexico, the species is only found in the state of Coahuila .
The red berry juniper thrives at altitudes of 980 to 2200 meters. The species is mainly found in grass steppes and on adjacent rocky mountain slopes. Especially in Arizona there is the formation of mixed stands with the Utah juniper ( Juniperus osteosperma ). Opuntia ( Opuntia ) and palm lilies ( Yucca ) can also appear as other associated species .
use
In the past, the wood was used to make fence posts.
Systematics
The first description as Juniperus erythrocarpa var. Coahuilensis was in 1946 by Maximino Martínez in Anales del Institutó de Biología de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Series Biologia , Volume 17, Number 1, Pages 115-116. Henri Marcel Gaussen described the variety in 1968 in Travaux du Laboratorie Forestier de Toulouse , number 1 (2/10), page 154 as an independent species Juniperus coahuilensis .
The species is divided into two varieties :
- Juniperus coahuilensis var. Arizonica R.P. Adams is found in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and the Mexican state of Sonora. A work published by Robert Phillip Adams in 2006 supports the assumption that the variety should be considered as a separate species Juniperus arizonica R.P. Adams using DNA analysis .
- Juniperus coahuilensis var. Coahuilensis is the nominate form and occurs from southwest Texas to northeast Mexico.
In Big Bend National Park and probably near Saltillo it comes to hybrid formation with Juniperus Pinchotii .
Hazard and protection
The red berry juniper is listed on the IUCN Red List as “not endangered”. The arizonica variety is also listed as “not endangered”. Both varieties are common and populations appear to be increasing.
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Juniperus coahuilensis. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, December 12, 2010, accessed April 15, 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Christopher J. Earle: Juniperus coahuilensis. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, December 12, 2010, accessed April 15, 2012 .
- ↑ a b Juniperus coahuilensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Bachman, S., Farjon, A. Gardner, M., Thomas, P. Luscombe, D. & Reynolds, C., of 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
- ↑ a b Juniperus coahuilensis at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed April 15, 2012.
- ↑ a b Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Juniperus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved March 27, 2019.
- ↑ Juniperus arizonica . In: Phytologia . Volume 90, No. 3 . Texensis Publishing, December 2008, ISSN 0031-9430 , p. 260-261 ( online [accessed April 15, 2012]).
- ↑ Juniperus arizonica in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Bachman, S., Farjon, A. Gardner, M., Thomas, P. Luscombe, D. & Reynolds, C., 2007. Retrieved on April 15, 2012.