Photos browser at iNaturalist.
Line drawing at the Flora of China.
Juniperus indica
Black juniper, Wallich's juniper, 滇藏方枝柏 dianzang fangzhibai [Chinese], کالا صنوبر [Western Punjabi].
This is one of the central Asian turbinate-cone junipers, a taxonomically complex group subdivided mainly on the basis of molecular studies that have almost all been performed by R. P. Adams and coworkers; the principal such studies were by Adams and Schwarzbach (2012, 2013); see the cladogram of Juniperus for a summary of relationships in the group. Although formerly treated as a synonym of J. pseudosabina, RAPD analysis has shown it to be quite distinct from that taxon (Adams and Turuspekov 1998). There are two varieties, the type and J. indica var. caespitosa Farjon 2005. The most closely-related species, J. rushforthiana, could reasonably be treated as a third variety, or as a synonym of the otherwise-monoecious var. indica; it differs in being a dioecious tree restricted to western Bhutan.
Syn. for var. indica: Juniperus wallichiana Hook. f. et Thomson in Brandis 1874.
Type of var. indica is the illustration following page 232 in Bertolini (1862) (Lectotype).
Type of var. caespitosa: Nepal, Dhaulagiri Himal, Dolpo, Mugu Karnali, S of Mugu, S. Miehe 99-03001.
Dioecious shrubs, often decumbent, usually multistemmed; sometimes small trees up to 20 m tall. Bark on larger stems exfoliating in sheets or longitudinal strips, weathering dull brown. Branches ascending or spreading, foliage branches dense, short, stiff and spreading or erect, forming a dense, broad pyramidal to eventually rounded or irregular crown. Twigs stout, quadrangular, sometimes more or less terete, 1.2-1.5 mm thick, covered with scale-like or decurrent leaves, persistent. Leaves on mature plants scale-like, decussate, sometimes 3-whorled, imbricate, 1.2-2 × 1-1.2 mm, triangular-rhombic, obtuse; margins entire; scale leaves amphistomatic, stomata in 2 inconspicuous lines on each side mostly near base; glands central in a groove, elliptic or oblong, sometimes absent; leaf green, sometimes slightly glaucous. Pollen cones numerous, solitary, terminal on short branchlets, subglobose, 2-3 mm long; microsporophylls 6-8, decussate, peltate-cordate, with rounded entire hyaline margins, bearing 2-3 abaxial pollen sacs. Seed cones terminal on short erect twigs, maturing in the second season to subglobose, 5-13 × 4-8 mm, lustrous blue-black or brownish black, soft cones. Bract-scale complexes 3-6, decussate or 3-whorled, entirely fused, sometimes incompletely covering the seed; bract tip small, ca. 0.5 mm; surface smooth; scale tissue succulent, resinous. Seeds single, ovoid, more or less flattened, 5-6 × 4 mm, shallowly grooved, pale yellowish brown (Farjon 2010).
Var. indica are monoecious erect shrubs to small trees, the foliage branches spreading or more or less erect, dense with short twigs; seed cones when mature mostly broad-ovoid, 8-13 × 5-8 mm, blue-black or brownish black (Farjon 2010).
Var. caespitosa are decumbent or ascending shrubs 50-100 cm tall, the foliage branches (nearly) erect, very dense with short twigs; seed cones when mature (sub)globose to broad-ovoid, 5-8 × 4-6.5 mm, blue-black (Farjon 2010).
India: Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh; Nepal; Bhutan; China: Xizang [Tibet], Sichuan, Yunnan. Found primarily on siliceous substrates at 3600 to 4800 m elevation, in a monsoonal climate regime with most precipitation from May to October. Ranges from upper montane coniferous forest and woodland to above timberline. At lower elevations may occur in pure stands; or with conifers including Abies, Pinus, Cupressus, and Juniperus; or with Betula utilis, commonly with an understory of Rhododendron, Rosa and Cotoneaster. Above timberline associates include Rhododendron, Kobresia, Stipa, Salix (Farjon 2010).
Var. caespitosa is so far only known from Nepal and Tibet, but may be more widespread. It occupies similar habitat to the typical variety, but is primarily restricted to the high subalpine and alpine (Farjon 2010).
No data as of 2023.03.03.
As the typical variety, at least, is common and widespread, it is used for fuel and burned as incense at Buddhist temples (Farjon 2005).
The epithet indica is a Latinization of India.
Adams, Robert P. and Yerlan Turuspekov. 1998. Taxonomic reassessment of some Central Asian and Himalayan scale-leaved taxa of Juniperus (Cupressaceae) supported by random amplification of polymorphic DNA. Taxon 47: 75-83.
Adams, R. P., and A. E. Schwarzbach. 2012. Taxonomy of the turbinate shaped seed cone taxa of Juniperus, section Sabina: sequence analysis of nrDNA and four cpDNA regions. Phytologia 94(3):388-403.
Adams, R. P., and A. E. Schwarzbach. 2013. Taxonomy of the turbinate shaped seed cone taxa of Juniperus, section Sabina: Revisited. Phytologia 95:122–124.
Bertoloni, A. 1862. Memorie Della Accademia Delle Scienze Dell' Istituto di Bologna, Serie 2, T. 1, p. 228. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2020.01.22.
Farjon, Aljos. 2010. A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.
Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library (as J. wallichiana). This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.
Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.
Grierson, A.J.C. and D.G. Long. 1983. Flora of Bhutan. Edinburgh (as J. pseudosabina).
Last Modified 2023-03-03
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