Common Names

Nezu, nezumi-sashi, muro [Japanese] (Iwatsuki et al. 1995), 杜松 du song [Chinese] (Fu et al. 1999), needle juniper (Vidakovic 1991).

Taxonomic notes

Two subspecies, the type and subsp. conferta.

Synonymy for the type (Farjon 1998):

• J. communis Thunb. 1784 non L. 1753;
• J. nipponica Maxim. 1868;
• J. rigida subsp. nipponica (Maxim.) Franco 1962;
• J. communis var. nipponica (Maxim.) E.H. Wilson 1916;
• J. seoulensis Nakai 1917;
• J. utilis Koidz. 1930;
• J. utilis var. modesta Nakai 1938;
• J. rigida f. modesta (Nakai) Y.C. Zhu 1989.

Description

[For the typical subspecies:] Dioecious (rarely monoecious) evergreen shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall and 45 cm dbh with ascending or horizontally spreading branches and pendulous branchlets. Bark thin and scaly, red-brown, later gray, furrowed on old trees. Branchlets slender, triangular, red-brown, glabrous, with scattered spreading leaves. Leaves dark green, needle-like, in whorls of 3, not decurrent, rigid, sharply pointed and prickly, with a V-shaped cross-section, (10-)12-20(-28) mm long, about 1 mm wide, deep green on lower surface with a narrow white stomatal band above. Flowers April, solitary in axils of previous year's shoots. Pollen cones in whorls of 3, ellipsoid or subglobose, yellowish green, 3-5 mm long, with 9-12 (or more) microsporophylls each with 4-7 pollen sacs. Seed cones axillary on very short stalks, stalks densely clothed with small scaly leaves, young cones green, ripening to light brown-blue or blue-black with a strong resinous odor, globose to ovoid, 6-10 mm across with (2-)3 seeds. Seeds oblong or triangular, resinous, brown, 3(-4)-ridged, ca. 6 mm long, 3 mm wide. Sources report seeds ripening from late in the second year to late summer in the third year. Chromosome number: 2n = 22 (Harkevich and Kachura 1981, Vidakovic 1991, Iwatsuki et al. 1995, Fu et al. 1999).

Range

Japan, Korea, China, Russia. In Japan, found in Honshu (southward from Iwate Prefecture), N Shikoku, and N and C Kyushu at 100-1000 m elevation (Iwatsuki et al. 1995). In China, found in Gansu, N Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Shaanxi in dry mountainous areas at up to 2200 m elevation (Fu et al. 1999). Rare in Russia, where in only occurs in S Ussuriland, on limestone rocks and sandy seashores (Harkevich and Kachura 1981).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

In Russia, easy to see in Lazovsky Zapovednik (Harkevich and Kachura 1981).

Remarks

Citations

Siebold and Zuccarini. 1844. Fl. Jap. 2: 56, t. 125.

See Also

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