Juniperus cedrus
Encyclopedia
Juniperus cedrus is a species of juniper
, native to the western Canary Islands
(Tenerife
, La Palma
, Gran Canaria
, Gomera
) and Madeira
(J. cedrus Webb & Berthel. subsp. maderensis (Menezes) Rivas Mart. & al.) , where it occurs at altitudes of 500-2400 m. It is closely related to Juniperus oxycedrus
(Prickly Juniper) of the Mediterranean region and Juniperus brevifolia
(Azores Juniper) of the Azores
.
It is a large shrub
or tree
growing to a height of 5-20 m (rarely 25 m). The leaves
are evergreen
, needle-like, in whorls of three, green to glaucous-green, 8-23 mm long and 1-2 mm broad, with a double white stomatal band (split by a green midrib) on the inner surface. It is usually dioecious
, with separate male and female plants. The seed cones
are berry
-like, green ripening in 18 months to orange-red with a variable pink waxy coating; they are spherical, 8-15 mm diameter, and have six fused scales in two whorls of three; the three larger scales each with a single seed
. The seeds are dispersed when bird
s eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard seeds in their droppings. The male cones are yellow, 2-3 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen
in February-March.
It is endangered
in its native range due to a combination of historical felling for the valuable wood, and overgrazing by goat
s. It has been fully protected since 1953 and populations are very slowly recovering. Historical reports suggest trees up to 30 m tall occurred in the past; trees over 10 m are very rare now and confined to inaccessible cliffs.
It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in warm temperate climates, including New Zealand
, the British Isles
and California
, but is not common in cultivation. There are also some small experimental plantation
s on the Canary Islands, where it has shown fast growth in good conditions, reaching about 14-15 m tall in 40 years.
Extraction of the wood with acetone
, followed by analysis of the extract, indicate that the essential oil of Juniperus cedrus is particularly rich in thujopsene, which comprises around 2.2% of the weight of the heartwood.
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
, native to the western Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
(Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
, Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
, Gomera
Gomera
Gomera usually refers to La Gomera, the second-smallest of Spain's Canary Islands.Gomera may also refer to:-Places:* La Gomera, Escuintla, a municipality in the Escuintla department of Guatemala....
) and Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
(J. cedrus Webb & Berthel. subsp. maderensis (Menezes) Rivas Mart. & al.) , where it occurs at altitudes of 500-2400 m. It is closely related to Juniperus oxycedrus
Juniperus oxycedrus
Juniperus oxycedrus is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernmost Iran, and south to Lebanon and Israel, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level up...
(Prickly Juniper) of the Mediterranean region and Juniperus brevifolia
Juniperus brevifolia
Juniperus brevifolia is a species of juniper, endemic to the Azores , where it occurs at altitudes of 240-800 m, rarely up to 1,500 m...
(Azores Juniper) of the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
.
It is a large shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
growing to a height of 5-20 m (rarely 25 m). The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
, needle-like, in whorls of three, green to glaucous-green, 8-23 mm long and 1-2 mm broad, with a double white stomatal band (split by a green midrib) on the inner surface. It is usually dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, with separate male and female plants. The seed cones
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
are berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
-like, green ripening in 18 months to orange-red with a variable pink waxy coating; they are spherical, 8-15 mm diameter, and have six fused scales in two whorls of three; the three larger scales each with a single seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
. The seeds are dispersed when bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard seeds in their droppings. The male cones are yellow, 2-3 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
in February-March.
It is endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
in its native range due to a combination of historical felling for the valuable wood, and overgrazing by goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s. It has been fully protected since 1953 and populations are very slowly recovering. Historical reports suggest trees up to 30 m tall occurred in the past; trees over 10 m are very rare now and confined to inaccessible cliffs.
It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in warm temperate climates, including New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, but is not common in cultivation. There are also some small experimental plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s on the Canary Islands, where it has shown fast growth in good conditions, reaching about 14-15 m tall in 40 years.
Extraction of the wood with acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
, followed by analysis of the extract, indicate that the essential oil of Juniperus cedrus is particularly rich in thujopsene, which comprises around 2.2% of the weight of the heartwood.
General references and external links
- Gymnosperm Database: Juniperus cedrus
- Photos of tree and cones
- Farjon, A. (2005). A Monograph of Cupressaceae (p. 255). Listed as Endangered (EN B1+2c, D v2.3)
