Juniperus comitana

Martínez 1944

Common names

Cedro, cipres, sicop [Baja Verapaz, Guatemala], bac'il nuhkupat [Tzeltal at Tenejapa, Chiapas], Comitan juniper (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Taxonomic notes

Type locality in Chiapas, 12 km S of Comitan; hence the epithet (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Description

Trees to 10 m tall, usually with a single trunk branching several meters above base. Crown rounded or broadly pyramidal. Bark light ash-brown, about 5 mm thick, exfoliating in long strips. Terminal branchlets ascending to erect, branch tips straight, red-brown with scaly bark. Angle of branching on ultimate twigs 35-45°. Scale leaves green, mostly opposite, ovate with appressed acuminate tips, 1.5-2 mm long, margin finely toothed (requires a 20X hand lens); very slender ultimate branchlets (less than 1 mm thick); very weak odor due to unusually low terpenoid content (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Distribution and Ecology

Mexico: Chiapas, Hidalgo; Guatemala: Baja Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Zacapa. Occurs at 1300-1775(-2300) m elevation on dry, rocky slopes or canyons with shrubs or in sparse woodland, usually on limestone or dolomite. Commonly in Pinus-Quercus or Acacia-Ficus woodlands (Zanoni and Adams 1979, Farjon 2005).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.03.03.

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

The epithet refers to the type locality near Comitan, Chiapas.

Citations

Martínez. 1944. Anal. Inst. Biol. Mexico 15:12-13.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.