| Geographic Range |
it has a wide areal, from southern Arctic
till the latitude of 30° North in Northern America, Europe, Asia. |
| Physical Characteristics |
evergreen shrub, it can also be a columnar
tree. It can be up to 15 meters tall. The bark is thin, oftern exfoliating
in thin strips. Little branches tend to be yellowish or green when young,
but they turn brown and harden with age. Leaves are simple, arranged in
whorls of 3. Younger leaves are needlelike. They are green . Male strobili
are sessile or stalked, while the female ones are made up of green ovate
scales. Berrylike cones are red at first, ripening to a bluish-black. |
| Notes |
it can develops adventitious roots when branches
that reach the ground are buried. |
| Habitat |
it can grow in a wide range of sites: wooded
and rocky hillsides, dunes, abandoned fields. It doesn't tolerate shade,
so it can be found only in open environments. |
| Reproduction |
male and female plants are separated. Female
cones are oval and contain 1 - 12 seeds without wings. Germination rates
for common juniper seed are relatively poor, because ideal conditions are
difficult to find: humidity and compact soil with sufficient oxygen diffusion
. Seeds ripen in 6 - 18 months after the pollination. Seeds are dispersed
by birds during the second growing season. Male cones are yellow, 2 - 3
millimeters long and they fall down in March - April after disperding their
pollen. Juniper seeds have a semipermeable and thick seedcoat and requires
a period of warm temperatures followed by a period of cold temperatures
lasting approximately 7 months . Strobili form during June or July, and
these structures fuse, generally during the 2nd year, to produce a berrylike
cone. Cones ripens from August through October of the 2nd or, more rarely,
3rd year. Cones generally remain on the plant for at least 2 years , with
dispersal occurring in August of the second season. |
Juniperus
communis
