Steve,

The tree's you're describing sound intriguing.  Your photo of var.
depressa looks very much like the individuals I typically see.
However, I have seen one site where individuals switch between that
growth form, and an upright, narrowed crown form.  I wonder if the
difference could be a moisture supply issue with switching to an
arborescent form if the have consistent soil moisture?  In any case,
I'm looking forward to hearing what I find out when you revisit the
site.

Jess

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 6:17 PM, Steve Galehouse <[email protected]> wrote:
> Jess-
>
> The area is a west facing clay slope with much slippage--I haven't been
> there for 30 years, but the attached Google Earth image shows the area. As I
> recall there are a number of disjunct prairie species there as well. The
> spot is about an hour from home; I'll try to get there yet this Fall and
> take some photos.
>
> Several references I have refer to Juniperus communis as native both in the
> arborescent form as well as the shrubby depressa form (Braun's "Woody Plants
> of Ohio", C.S. Sargent's "Manual of the Trees of North America", Britton &
> Brown's "An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada"),
> although the arborescent form is usually mentioned as being rare and local.
> I'm very familiar with depressa, and these aren't that. They also aren't
> escaped individuals of Irish or Swedish Junipers, J. c. hibernica or
> suecica, which were once used in ornamental plantings but have long ago
> fallen out of favor.
>
> Steve
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Jess Riddle <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Steve,
>>
>> Everything I've read says var. communis does not occur in N. America.
>> The site where I've seen tree form also included the more typical
>> shrub growth form.  In fact, I saw one individual that had been
>> growing as a shrub that sent up rapidly growing tree like sprout from
>> one of the branches, so var. depressa can be very plastic.
>>
>> Are the Ohio sites with J. communis alvars?  Sheperdia occurs with J.
>> communis on alvars in New York.
>>
>> Jess
>>
>> On 11/16/09, Steve Galehouse <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > Kouta, Jess, ENTS-
>> >
>> > There is a small population of Juniperus communis var. communis here in
>> > N
>> > Ohio, with individuals in the 15' to perhaps 20' range, growing with
>> > Sheperdia canadensis, Buffalo-berry. I know of no local examples of J.
>> > communis var. depressa, which is very common at our cabin in central
>> > Ontario.
>> >
>> > Steve
>> >
>> > 2009/11/16 Kouta Räsänen <[email protected]>
>> >
>> > > Jess,
>> > >
>> > > And how tall is the tallest J. communis var. communis of which you are
>> > > aware? Where is it growing?
>> > >
>> > > That 2000 year old juniper has been mentioned also by Jalas (1958) in
>> > > Finnish. Though, I am little bit suspicious about that, too. I will
>> > > search if I am able to find more about it.
>> > >
>> > > An addition to the language issue: My brother - a scientist in a
>> > > finnish university - said to me that more than half of scientific
>> > > papers in his department are published only in Finnish. And Finland is
>> > > a highly developed country. The proportion is supposedly much lower in
>> > > countries like Russia or China.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > - Kouta
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Eastern Native Tree Society
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>> >
>> >
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