Juniperus comitana
| Juniperus comitana | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Phylum: | Tracheophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Cupressaceae |
| Genus: | Juniperus |
| Species: | J. comitana |
| Binomial name | |
| Juniperus comitana Martínez, 1944 | |
Juniperus comitana is a species of conifer in the Cupressaceae family.
Location:
It is found in three locations stretching from Comitan in Chiapas, Mexico to Northern Guatemala. Not all sites have been collected but this is 90% of the population.
Description:
Height: 10 meters tall. With a single trunk branching several meters above base.
Physical Appearance: The bark is a light ash-brown and about 5 mm thick. They are evergreen with needle-like and/or scale-like leaves. They can be either monoecious or dioecious. The female seed cones are very distinctive, with fleshy "berry"-like structures and hard-shelled seeds. In some species these "berries" are red-brown or orange but in most they are blue; they are often aromatic and can be used as a spice but the Juniperus Comitana has a unusually low terpenoid content.
Environment: Juniperus conitana's are found on dry, rocky slopes, or in canyons with shrub or open woodland. They grow with Acacias and Ficus in forest pastures on dolomite and other rock types with thin soil. The altitudinal range is from 1,300m to 1,800m.
Uses: These trees are mainly used as firewood and fencing poles.
Endangered: The continuous decline by deforestation and the rapid growth the need for farming land has put the Juniperus comitana on the engendered list for IUCN'S Red List of Threatened Species in 2013. In 1998 it was added to this list as vulnerable and has been now moved to endangered. This species is also listed as endangered on the Guatemalan Red List as of 2006. . [1]
Source
Earle, Christopher. "Juniperus Comitana (cedro) Description." Juniperus Comitana (cedro) Description. The Gymnosperm Database, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
"Juniper." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Farjon, A. (2013). "Juniperus comitana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 20 December 2014.