Juniperus jaliscana

Martínez (1946)

Common names

Jalisco juniper, cedro, enebro (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Taxonomic notes

Type: Mexico, Jalisco, Cuale, Gonzales 7002 (Holotype MEXU!) (Zanoni and Adams 1979). Syn. Sabina jaliscana (Martínez) Y.Yang & K.S.Mao in Pl. Diversity 44:348 (2022).

Description

Tree to 10 m tall with straight stems, branches ascending to erect, forming a conic or round crown. Bark 1-2 cm thick, of fibrous, interconnected strips, gray-brown over a cinnamon-brown inner bark. Bark on branches is red-brown, scaly. Terminal whip branches erect to strict, their tips very flexible and curved but not recurved. Angle of branching on ultimate twigs is 50-60°. Mature leaves scale-type, opposite (rarely ternate), ovate or ovoid, obtuse, appressed tips with resin gland on center of leaf, 0.7-1.0 mm long, margins finely toothed, green. Female cones with soft, fleshy pulp, irregular and gibbous, red-brown, with a light coat of bloom, 7-8 mm diameter, peduncles straight, seeds (2-)4-9(-11) per cone, subovoid, angular, with resin grooves, 3-4 mm long, 2 mm wide; hilum about one-half the length of the seed. Critical factors in identification include the finely serrate leaf margins (need a 30X lens to see clearly), the cone's appearance, and the number of seeds in the cones (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Distribution and Ecology

Mexico: Southern Durango and northwest Jalisco (Farjon 1998). Can be found in Durango at El Puerto de las Víbroras, Bosques de San Francisco, and Pueblo Nuevo, at about 2670 m elevation in the pine-oak forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental. In Jalisco, it occurs on the hills at Cuale in the pine-oak-juniper forest at 1335-1600 m elevation (Zanoni and Adams 1979).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-30.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-01-30.

Observations

No data as of 2026-01-30.

Remarks

The epithet refers to Jalisco.

Citations

Martínez. 1946. Los Juniperus Mexicanos. Anal. Inst. Biol. Mexico 17(1-2):3-128 (p. 69).

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.