Juniperus communis L.
Common juniper
Other names
| International recognized trade name (ATIBT) | ||
| Deutsch | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| English | Common juniper | |
| Français | genévrier commun | |
| Italiano | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Suomi | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Norsk | Einer | |
| Čeština | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Español | enebro común; enebro real | |
| Svenska | En | |
| Polski | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Український | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Român | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| Русский | можжевельник обыкновенный (mozhzhevel'nik obyknovennyy) (mozzevel'nik obyknovennyj (mozhzhevel'nik obyknovennyy)); | |
| Български | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| EESTI | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| 日本語 | Gemeiner Wacholder | |
| 中文 | 欧洲刺柏 (ou zhou ci bai) (ou zhou ci bai (ou zhou ci bai)) | |
| Other names | Adi ardiç [Turkish]; Gewone jeneverbes [Dutch]; Jeneverstruik [Dutch]; Közönséges boróka (Koezoenseges boroka) [Hungarian]; ene [Dan]; enebaer [Dan] ; jalovec obecný [Czech]; jalowiec pospolity [Polish]; kleka; obicna borovica |
Origin
| States and Territories | Temperate Eurasia, North Africa, North America N of Mexico. Juniperus communis is the most widely distributed conifer species in the world, with a circumpolar distribution extending from ca. 70° N in Alaska, Scandinavia and Siberia to ca. 28° N in the Himalaya. Comprehensive area maps are given in Hegi's Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa (Zoller, 1981) and Hultén & Fries (1986). Zoller presents an inclusive outline map of the species; Hultén & Fries map six varieties separately, one of these is not here recognised (var. hemisphaerica in the Mediterranean and W Asia). Both maps show some scattered dots in central China, but the species is not recorded in Flora of China (Fu & al., 1999). In this study, it has been found to occur in border mountains of Xinjiang in NW China and in Jilin in NE China. The subalpine form, var. saxatilis (var. montana in Hultén & Fries, 1986, subsp. nana in Flora of Alaska, Hultén, 1968) does extend into the W Himalaya but not (far) into Xizang (Tibet). Confusion with J. pingii and J. squamata is the likely source of these errors. This variety has the widest distribution, in Eurasia it is almost coincident with the species as a whole. In the colder parts of the boreal forest zone and in the subarctic and arctic tundras it occurs in lowlands as well as mountains and only in lower latitudes does it retreat to similar climatic zones in mountain systems, with the W Himalaya as its most southern outlier. Juniperus communis var. communis extends from Spain eastward accross Europe to central Siberia and is essentially a lowland form reaching higher altitudes only along its southern fringe in the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Elburz mountains. It is more polymorphic than var. saxatilis as it occurs in more diverse habitats. Distribution patterns are still only vaguely outlined in NE Asia, but it seems that var. nipponica is indeed geographically separated, occurring only in Japan and the southern Kuriles. In North America three varieties occur (Flora of North America, Adams, 1993). Hultén & Fries (1986) map J. communis var. montana (= var. saxatilis) across Canada, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, but in Flora of North America most of that range is instead assigned to var. depressa, with var. montana restricted to S Greenland and from British Columbia in Canada south to California. However, it does occur in coastal Alaska. Sometimes the distinction between the two varieties is difficult to make out in herbarium specimens. The W American populations of var. saxatilis are then quite disjunct from the E Asian ones as nearly all of the dots in Flora of Alaska (Hultén, 1968) should be assigned to var. depressa. This variety reaches its southernmost limits in N Georgia and W Texas. The much more restricted var. megistocarpa appears to be limited to the maritime region of E Canada.; Northern Europe; Denmark; Finland; Faroe Islands; Great Britain; Iceland; Ireland; Norway; Sweden; Middle Europe; Austria; Liechtenstein; Belgium; Luxembourg; Czech Republic; CZE-SK; Germany; Hungary; Netherlands; Poland; Switzerland; Southwestern Europe; Baleares; Corsica; Channel Islands; France; Portugal; Sardinia; Andorra; Gibraltar; Spain; Southeastern Europe; Albania; Bulgaria; Greece; Italy; Crete; Romania; Sicilia; European Turkey; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Kosovo; Macedonia; Montenegro; Serbia; Slovenia; Eastern Europe; Belarus; Estonia; Kaliningrad; Latvia; Lithuania; Krym; Central European Russia; East European Russia; North European Russia; South European Russia; Northwest European Russia; Moldova; Ukraine; Northern Africa; Algeria; Morocco; Siberia; Altay; Buryatiya; Chita; Irkutsk; Krasnoyarsk; Tuva; West Siberia; Yakutskiya; Russian Far East; Amur; Kamchatka; Khabarovsk; Kuril Islands; Magadan; Primorye; Sakhalin; Central Asia; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Turkmenistan; Tajikistan; Uzbekistan; Caucasus; North Caucasus; Transcaucasus; Western Asia; Afghanistan; Cyprus; East Aegean Is.; Iran; Iraq; Lebanon; Syria; Turkey; China; Nei Mongol; Manchuria; Xinjiang; Mongolia; Mongolia; Eastern Asia; Hokkaido; Honshu; North Korea; South Korea; Indian Subcontinent; Nepal; Pakistan; Himachal Pradesh; Jammu-Kashmir; Uttaranchal; Subarctic America; Alaska; Greenland; Nunavut; Northwest Territories; Yukon; Western Canada; Alberta; British Columbia; Manitoba; Saskatchewan; Eastern Canada; Labrador; New Brunswick; Newfoundland; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Nova Scotia; Ontario; Prince Edward Island; Québec; Northwestern U.S.A.; Colorado; Idaho; Montana; Oregon; Washington; Wyoming; North-Central U.S.A.; Illinois; Iowa; Kansas; Minnesota; Missouri; North Dakota; Nebraska; Oklahoma; South Dakota; Wisconsin; Northeastern U.S.A.; Connecticut; Indiana; Maine; Massachusetts; Michigan; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont; West Virginia; Southwestern U.S.A.; Arizona; California; Nevada; Utah; South-Central U.S.A.; New Mexico; Southeastern U.S.A.; Georgia; Kentucky; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee; Virginia | |||
| Swiss wood | Native in Switzerland (Label Swiss Wood) | |||
Botany
| Reich | Plantae | |||
| Tribe | Tracheophyta | |||
| Gymnosperm | Gymnosperm | |||
| Class | Pinopsida | |||
| Order | Pinales | |||
| Family | Cupressaceae | |||
| Genus | Juniperus | |||
| Species | communis | |||
| Author citation | L. | |||
| Scientific name | Juniperus communis L. | |||
Habitus
| Wood type | Softwood | |||
Natural durability
(according to EN 350)
| Mushrooms field | DC | |||
Appearances
Wood
Juniperus communis , ©Dennis Wilson
Bark
, Bark , ©Dennis Wilson
Cones
, 2, Cones , ©Michael P. Frankis
, Cones , ©Michael P. Frankis
, Cones , ©Michael P. Frankis