Juniperus recurva

Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don 1825

Common names

Drooping juniper, sacred juniper, pama [Hindi], 垂枝柏 chui zhi bai [Chinese] (Farjon 2010).

Taxonomic notes

Syn.: J. butanensis Wender. 1851; Sabina recurva (Buch.-Ham.) Antoine 1857; J. recurva Buch.-Ham. var. typica Patschke 1913, nom inval.; Sabinella recurva (Buch.-Ham.) Nakai 1938 (Adams 2004). Type: "Nepal", F. Buchanan-Hamilton s.n.

J. coxii A.B. Jacks. is sometimes treated as a variety of J. recurva. Both junipers belong to the turbinate seed cone clade, which includes about 15 central Asian species of, generally, very similar appearance, as discussed in Juniperus. Taxonomic relationships within the clade are founded mainly on molecular evidence, and indicate that J. recurva is sister to J. indica in a clade that also includes J. coxii and J. fargesii (Adams and Schwarzbach 2012, 2013).

Description

Monoecious (rarely dioecious) shrubs or trees to 15 m tall. Crown conical to broadly pyramidal. Branches spreading and slightly recurved. Twigs pendulous, curved. Bark gray-brown, peeling off in thin strips. Foliage needle-like, decurrent, incurved, loosely appressed, in whorls of 3, 2-3(-5) × 1.0-1.2 mm, mucronate, greenish-white or slightly glaucous on inner (adaxial) surface. Pollen cones numerous, solitary, axillary, 5-6 × 2-3 mm. Seed cones axillary, slightly glaucous at first, maturing purple-black and not glaucous, ovoid, 6-12 × 5-9 mm. Seeds 1 per cone, ovoid or conical-ovoid, 5-9 × 3-6 mm (Adams 2004, Farjon 2010, Vidakovic 1991).

Distribution and Ecology

India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh; Nepal; Bhutan; Myanmar; China: Sichuan, Xizang [Tibet], Yunnan. Occupies rocky areas at elevations of 2,500 to 4,500 m (Adams 2004, Farjon 2010, Farjon and Filer 2013). Climate includes long periods of deep snow cover. Commonly grows with species of Abies or Picea and an understory of Rhododendron; also in mixed shrub communities with species of Rhododendron, Salix, Cotoneaster, Berberis, Lonicera, Spiraea, Potentilla, etc. Usually on silicate parent materials; in Yunnan, seems to be a pioneer species after stand-destroying fire (Farjon 2010).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.03.03.

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

The epithet refers to the recurved leaves.

Citations

Adams, R. P. 2004. Junipers of the World, 2nd ed. Vancouver, BC: Trafford Publ. Co. 402pp.

Adams, R. P., and A. E. Schwarzbach. 2012. Taxonomy of the turbinate shaped seed cone taxa of Juniperus, section Sabina: sequence analysis of nrDNA and four cpDNA regions. Phytologia 94(3):388-403.

Adams, R. P., and A. E. Schwarzbach. 2013. Taxonomy of the turbinate shaped seed cone taxa of Juniperus, section Sabina: Revisited. Phytologia 95:122–124.

Don, D. 1825. Prodromus Florae Nepalensis, v. 2, Dicotyledones; Coniferae. P. 55. London: J. Gale. Available https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/392952, accessed 2019.06.28.

Farjon, Aljos. 2010. A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.

Farjon, Aljos and Denis Filer. 2013. An Atlas of the World's Conifers. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.

See also

Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.

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

Threatened Conifers of the World.