Juniperus Coahuilensis
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''Juniperus coahuilensis'', commonly known as redberry juniper, is a species of
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
in the family
Cupressaceae Cupressaceae or the cypress family is a family of conifers. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecio ...
.


Description

''Juniperus coahuilensis'' grows as a large shrubby tree up to tall. It is usually multi-trunked.Google Books.com: ''Trees of Western North America''
by Richard Spellenberg, Christopher J. Earle, Gil Nelson; pg 44-45, ''Juniperus coahuilensis'' treatment.
The
bark Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...
is brown to gray, exfoliating in long strips on mature trunks and branches. The leaves are green to light green, and have glands that can produce a white crystalline exudate. The
cones In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...
are a fleshy glaucous yellow-orange to dark red, in diameter, and mature in one year. This species is unusual in that it sprouts from the stump when cut or burned, which has probably allowed it to remain in the grasslands in spite of periodic grass fires that kill all other juniper species.IUCN Red List: ''Juniperus coahuilensis''
. accessed 2 February 2017.


Fossil record

The species is known to have been present during the Late Wisconsin Glacial Episode of the last glacial period, in North American latitudes defined by fossils from the Waterman Mountains in present-day Arizona.C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Elephant Tree: Bursera microphylla'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
/ref>


Distribution

The shrubby tree is found in northern
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and areas of the
Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
within central and southeastern
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, southwestern
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, and
West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...
including
Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topograph ...
. This species occurs in high desert
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
s at elevations of , in ''
Bouteloua ''Bouteloua'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass. Description ''Bouteloua'' includes both annual and perennial grasses, which frequently form stolons. Species have an inflo ...
'' spp. grasslands and adjacent rocky areas. In Mexico, it can also occur in canyons or
alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...
s. In the Chihuahuan Desert and
Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...
ecoregions, it often in association with ''
Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...
'' spp. and/or ''
Yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...
'' spp.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1899488 coahuilensis Flora of Arizona Flora of Coahuila Flora of Jalisco Flora of New Mexico Flora of Texas Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Trees of Northern America Least concern flora of North America Least concern flora of the United States Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1946