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International Dendrology Society

Juniperus wallichiana Parl.

Black Juniper

Modern name

Juniperus indica Bertol.

Synonyms

J. pseudosabina Hook. f., not Fisch. & Mey.

A tree 60 ft high in Sikkim, according to Brandis, with spreading branches. Leaves of two types: (1) juvenile, in whorls of threes, 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. long, sharply pointed, pointing forwards, concave and very glaucous above, green and keeled below, all very closely set upon the branchlet, with the stalk extending down and attached to it (decurrent); and (2) adult leaves 1⁄16 in. long, scale-like, arranged in opposite pairs overlapping each other and appressed to the branchlet, pointed with the points incurved, grooved outside, bright green. Male and female flowers on separate trees. Fruits egg-shaped, tapered at the top, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, at first dark brown, blue when ripe, one-seeded.

Native of the Himalaya, up to 15,000 ft elevation; introduced by Sir Joseph Hooker to Kew in 1849, but no longer represented in the collection. It is rare in cultivation, and the trees considered to belong to it are 20 to 35 ft high and up to 2 ft in girth. There are specimens in this range of size at Wakehurst, Leonardslee, and Borde Hill, Sussex; National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent; Bodnant, Denbighs; East Bergholt, Suffolk; and Castlewellan, Co. Down.

J. pseudosabina Fisch. & Mey. – This allied species has been confused with J. wallichiana but is shrubby and has the scale-like leaves blunt or rounded at the end; the fruits are like those of J. wallichiana in being one-seeded, but are more globose and smaller. Native of Siberia and parts of central Asia.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The name J. wallichiana started in a herbarium annotation by Hooker and Thomson, and was first validly published by Brandis, who should have been given as the author and not Parlatore. The latter cited the name only as a synonym of J. pseudosabina Fisch. & Mey., for which see Volume II, page 497.

J. wallichiana is typically a tree. Ground-hugging shrubs occurring at altitudes of up to 15,000 ft in the Himalaya are usually considered to be conspecific with it, but it is not impossible that these are J. pseudosabina, which is of similar habit to these high-altitude Himalayan plants.

The name J. indica Bertoloni has priority over J. wallichiana (though not over J. pseudosabina), but it is poorly founded and best left in abeyance until the Himalayan junipers have been more closely studied. Both J. indica and J. wallichiana are given as synonyms of J. pseudosabina in Flora of Bhutan, Vol. I(1), p. 55 (1983).

Genus

Juniperus

Other species in the genus

Modern name

Some names used by Bean have now been superseded and are no longer familiar. To ensure that all plants can be easily found, under any name, we have cross-referenced to The Plant List, a collaboration between RBG Kew, Missouri Botanical Gardens and other organisations, which aims to provide a currently accepted name for any plant. Not all taxonomists will agree with all Plant List nomenclature, but it provides a baseline to compare names. For each species above, clicking on the Modern Name will link to the entry for that name on The Plant List website.

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