Juniperus virginiana var. silicicola

(Small) E. Murray 1983

Common names

Southern redcedar, coastal redcedar (Adams 1993), sand cedar.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Sabina silicicola Small 1923; J. silicicola (Small) Bailey (Silba 1986).

"These taxa are distinct from the Caribbean junipers J. lucayana Britton of the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Cuba, and J. bermudiana Linnaeus of Bermuda (Adams et al. 1987). Reports of J. virginiana var. silicicola from west of Florida are questionable" (Adams 1993).

Description

"Trees to 10 m; crown flattened or conic (when young and protected or crowded). Bark cinnamon reddish. Branches spreading to pendulous. Scalelike leaves bluntly obtuse to acute at apex. Pollen cones 4-5 mm. Seed cones 3-4 mm. Seeds 1.5-3 mm." Apart from its restricted range, the variety "differs little in morphology or leaf terpenoids from upland J. virginiana and appears to intergrade with that variety in Georgia" (Adams 1993).

Distribution and Ecology

USA: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina at 0-15 m elevation on coastal foredunes and coastal river sandbanks (Adams 1993). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001). See also Thompson et al. (1999).

Big tree

Diameter 158 cm, height 23 m, crown spread 16 m, located in Archer, FL (American Forests 1996).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Citations

See also

Burns and Honkala (1990) (as J. silicicola).

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