Species: Juniperus communis

(Juniperus communis L.)

Habitus

  • shrub to a small tree growing to a height of about 10 m (often a multi-stemmed shrub)
  • the crown is variable - from narrow conical (columnar) to wide-spreading, multi-stemmed
  • the bark is grayish-brown when young, later reddish-brown peeling off in stripes

Shoots

  • annual growths are triangular, reddish-brown

Leaves (assimilation organs)

  • assimilation organs are needle-like in trifoliate pistils
  • stiff, prickly, 1.0-1.5 cm long, with a silvery stripe in the grooves on the obverse side

Flowers

  • dioecious woody plant, blooms IV – V
  • male (♂) cones are 3-4 mm in size, ovate, yellow
  • female (♀) yellow-green cones - similar to buds

Fruits – seeds

  • the fruit is a spherical (berry-shaped) cone, bluish-black, grey-intense, formed by the union of 3 - 6 fleshy fruit scales
  • the diameter of the berry is 5-8 mm, contains 1-3 triangular seeds
  • ripens in the second to third year !

Extension

  • temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere
  • in Slovakia from the lowlands to the mountains (1,000 m above sea level)
  • most often as undergrowth in well-lit dry forests, on former neglected pastures, devastated areas, but always with limestone content

Ecology

  • light-loving wood, completely resistant to frost
  • grows mainly on poor - extreme soils
  • has a pioneering character
  • it is a woody plant of a continental climate

Significance

  • pioneering woody plants in extreme (difficult to forest) habitats
  • park woody plant, mainly its shape and colour cultivars
  • fruit-bearing

From history