Juniperus flaccida Schlecht.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Juniperus flaccida' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/juniperus/juniperus-flaccida/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Common Names

  • Mexican Juniper

Glossary

appressed
Lying flat against an object.
bloom
Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
decussate
Leaf arrangement where the leaves are in opposite pairs each pair at right angles to the preceding pair (as e.g. the scale leaves of Cupressaceae).
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Juniperus flaccida' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/juniperus/juniperus-flaccida/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A tree of distinct habit, producing long, weeping, graceful branches; young shoots very thin and slender. Adult leaves in opposite, decussate pairs, narrowly lanceolate, appressed to the twigs at the base, slightly spreading at the end, sharply pointed, 112 to 110 in. long. Juvenile leaves often in threes, sometimes in pairs, awl-shaped, 14 in. long, spine-tipped. Fruits up to 12 in. wide, angular-globose, reddish brown, covered at first with glaucous bloom, carrying six to twelve seeds.

A native mainly of Mexico, whence it was introduced by Hartweg in 1838. It is found throughout the country, except the extreme south-east, and is one of its most beautiful and distinctive trees. At the northern end of its range it extends into the Chisos mountains of Texas. The most notable specimen in the British Isles, at Bicton in Devon, was blown down in 1967; in 1959 it measured 39 × 414 ft. There are two small trees at Westonbirt, Glos.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The larger of the two examples at Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, in Broad Drive, measures 30 × 214 ft (1983).