Juniperus oxycedrus
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 Juniperus oxycedrus in southern France
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| Juniperus oxycedrus L. |
Juniperus oxycedrus, commonly known as Prickly Juniper, Cade Juniper, or Prickly Cedar, is a species of juniper, very variable in shape, forming a spreading shrub 2-3 m tall to a small erect tree 10-15 m tall. It is distributed across the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernmost Iran, and south to Israel, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level up to 1600 m altitude.
Prickly Juniper has needle-like leaves in whorls of three; the leaves are green, 5-20 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, 7-12 mm diameter, and have three or six fused scales in 1-2 whorls, three of the scales with a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds 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.
As to be expected from the wide range, it is very variable. One recent study (Adams 2000, 2004) splits it into three species, though other authorities (e.g. Farjon 2005) do not accept this:
- Juniperus oxycedrus L. - Western Prickly Juniper. Southwest Europe, in eastern Portugal and Spain east to southern France, northwest Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia, and northwest Africa from Morocco east to Tunisia. Leaves long (10-20 mm), narrow-based; cones smooth.
- Juniperus navicularis Gand. (syn. J. oxycedrus subsp. transtagana) - Portuguese Prickly Juniper. Coastal southwest Portugal. Leaves short (5-12 mm); cones smooth.
- Juniperus deltoides R.P.Adams - Eastern Prickly Juniper. Central Italy east to Iran and Israel. Leaves long (10-20 mm), broad-based; cones with raised scale edges.
A further species Juniperus macrocarpa, confined to Mediterranean coastal sands, is more distinct but has also often been treated as a subspecies of Prickly Juniper, as J. oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa; it differs in the broader leaves 2-3 mm wide, and larger cones 12-18 mm diameter.
Other close relatives of J. oxycedrus include Juniperus brevifolia on the Azores, Juniperus cedrus on the Canary Islands and Juniperus formosana in eastern Asia.
Cade oil is the essential oil obtained through destructive distillation of the wood of this shrub. It is a dark, aromatic oil with a strong tar-like smell which is used in some cosmetics and (traditional) skin treatment drugs.
 Juniperus oxycedrus leaves and cones, southern France |
 19th century illustration |
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Juniperus oxycedrus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- Adams, R. P. (2000). Systematics of Juniperus section Juniperus based on leaf essential oils and RAPD DNA fingerprinting. Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 28: 515-528 available online (pdf file)
- Adams, R. P. (2004). Juniperus deltoides, a new species and nomenclatural notes on Juniperus polycarpos and J. turcomanica (Cupressaceae). Phytologia 86: 49 - 53 available online (pdf file)
- Farjon, A. (2005). A Monograph of Cupressaceae (p. 330-335).
