FNA: Juniperus ashei vs. Juniperus californica

	Juniperus ashei	Juniperus californica
	Ashe juniper, Ashe's juniper, enebro de monte, mountain-cedar	California juniper, cedro, huata
Habit	Trees dioecious, to 15 m, single-stemmed to 1–3 m, occasionally branching at base; crown rounded to irregular and open.	Shrubs or trees dioecious (rarely monoecious), to 8 m, multistemmed (seldom single-stemmed); crown rounded.
Bark	brown, exfoliating in thin strips, that of small branchlets (5–10 mm diam.) smooth, that of larger branchlets exfoliating in strips.	gray, exfoliating in thin strips, that of smaller and larger branchlets smooth.
Branches	spreading to ascending; branchlets erect, 3–4-sided in cross section, ca. 2/3 or less as wide as length of scalelike leaves.	spreading to ascending; branchlets erect, terete, about as wide as length of scalelike leaves.
Leaves	dark green, abaxial glands hemispheric, raised (particularly obvious on whip leaves), exudate absent, margins denticulate (at 20x); whip leaves 3–6 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–2 mm, not overlapping or overlapping to 1/4 their length, keeled, apex acute to obtuse, spreading.	light green, abaxial glands elliptic to ovate, conspicuous, exudate absent, margins denticulate (at 20x); whip leaves 3–5 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–2 mm, not overlapping, or rarely overlapping by ca. 1/5 their length, generally flattened, apex acute to obtuse, closely appressed.
Seed(s)	cones maturing in 1 year, of 1 size, with straight peduncles, ovoid to nearly globose, 6–9 mm, dark blue, glaucous, fleshy and resinous, with 1(–3) seeds.	cones maturing in 1 year, of 1 size, with straight peduncles, globose, (7–)9–10(–13) mm, bluish brown, glaucous, fibrous, with 1(–2) seeds.
2n	= 22.

	Juniperus ashei	Juniperus californica
Habitat	Limestone glades and bluffs	Dry, rocky slopes and flats
Elevation	150–600 m (500–2000 ft)	750–1600 m (2500–5200 ft)
Distribution	AR; MO; OK; TX; Mexico [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	AZ; CA; NV; Mexico in Baja California [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	The name Juniperus mexicana Sprengel has been misapplied to this species. Reports of hybridization with J. virginiana and J. pinchotii have been refuted using numerous chemical and morphologic characters (R. P. Adams 1977). Ashe juniper is a source of Texas-cedarwood oil and fence posts. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)	Although two races, differing in volatile leaf oils, were described by F. C. Vasek and R. W. Scora (1967) and confirmed by R. P. Adams et al. (1983), no differences were found in volatile wood oils (R. P. Adams 1987). To date, no morphological characters appear to be correlated with the chemical races. No other Western Hemisphere species of Juniperus has been found to have leaf-oil races. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 2.	FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa	Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina	Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina
Sibling taxa	J. californica, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana	J. ashei, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana
Synonyms		Sabina californica
Name authority	J. Buchholz: Bot. Gaz. 90: 329. (1930)	Carrière
Web links	Local Web sites: MO Plants WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Juniperus californica

Ashe juniper, Ashe's juniper, enebro de monte, mountain-cedar

California juniper, cedro, huata

Habit

Trees dioecious, to 15 m, single-stemmed to 1–3 m, occasionally branching at base; crown rounded to irregular and open.

Shrubs or trees dioecious (rarely monoecious), to 8 m, multistemmed (seldom single-stemmed); crown rounded.

Bark

brown, exfoliating in thin strips, that of small branchlets (5–10 mm diam.) smooth, that of larger branchlets exfoliating in strips.

gray, exfoliating in thin strips, that of smaller and larger branchlets smooth.

Branches

spreading to ascending;

branchlets erect, 3–4-sided in cross section, ca. 2/3 or less as wide as length of scalelike leaves.

spreading to ascending;

branchlets erect, terete, about as wide as length of scalelike leaves.

Leaves

dark green, abaxial glands hemispheric, raised (particularly obvious on whip leaves), exudate absent, margins denticulate (at 20x);

whip leaves 3–6 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–2 mm, not overlapping or overlapping to 1/4 their length, keeled, apex acute to obtuse, spreading.

light green, abaxial glands elliptic to ovate, conspicuous, exudate absent, margins denticulate (at 20x);

whip leaves 3–5 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–2 mm, not overlapping, or rarely overlapping by ca. 1/5 their length, generally flattened, apex acute to obtuse, closely appressed.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 1 year, of 1 size, with straight peduncles, ovoid to nearly globose, 6–9 mm, dark blue, glaucous, fleshy and resinous, with 1(–3) seeds.

cones maturing in 1 year, of 1 size, with straight peduncles, globose, (7–)9–10(–13) mm, bluish brown, glaucous, fibrous, with 1(–2) seeds.

= 22.

Juniperus californica

Habitat

Limestone glades and bluffs

Dry, rocky slopes and flats

Elevation

150–600 m (500–2000 ft)

750–1600 m (2500–5200 ft)

Distribution

AR; MO; OK; TX; Mexico

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

AZ; CA; NV; Mexico in Baja California

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

The name Juniperus mexicana Sprengel has been misapplied to this species. Reports of hybridization with J. virginiana and J. pinchotii have been refuted using numerous chemical and morphologic characters (R. P. Adams 1977).

Ashe juniper is a source of Texas-cedarwood oil and fence posts.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Although two races, differing in volatile leaf oils, were described by F. C. Vasek and R. W. Scora (1967) and confirmed by R. P. Adams et al. (1983), no differences were found in volatile wood oils (R. P. Adams 1987). To date, no morphological characters appear to be correlated with the chemical races. No other Western Hemisphere species of Juniperus has been found to have leaf-oil races.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source

FNA vol. 2.

Parent taxa

Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina

Sibling taxa

J. californica, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana

J. ashei, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana

Synonyms

Sabina californica

Name authority

J. Buchholz: Bot. Gaz. 90: 329. (1930)

Carrière

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

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Juniperus ashei

Juniperus californica

Juniperus ashei

Juniperus californica