Ashe's Juniper

(Juniperus ashei)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Bio 406d and the Plant Resources Center, University of Texas at Austin

Ashe's Juniper (Juniperus ashei)

Identifying Characters: Ashe's Juniper can be identified by a combination of the distinctive raised hemispherical glands on the scales, the toothed fringe of the scale, and the dark blue berries with their whitish bloom.

Similar Species: Within its range Ashe's Juniper is most likely to be confused with Pinchot's Juniper. The raised hemisperical scale gland is present in Ashe's Juniper, but absent in Pinchot's Juniper. The berries of Ashe's Juniper are dark blue, but those of Pinchot's Juniper are reddish.

Measurements: The crown is wide and spreads and the trunk is short. Mature trees are between 20 to 30 feet in height, although sometimes considerably higher in parts of its range. The diameter at breast height is about 1 foot.

Female Cones: Globular and berry-like, between 0.25 and 0.5 inches in diameter; color dark blue with a thin skin covered with a whitish bloom; 1 to 2 seeds.

Leaves: Leaves scale-like, opposite, thickened with a ridge on the back; apex of scale obtuse or acute, with a toothed fringe at 20x; scales with a conspicuous raised, separated, hemisperhical gland (see figure); color dark blue-green; leaves on young shoots and seedlings elongate, pointed, rigid, about 0.25 to 0.5 inches long.

Bark: Bark on mature trees thick, red-brown, divided into long, narrow, slightly attached scales, and covering the trunk with a loose thatch-like mat.

Native Range: Ashe's Juniper has a unique distribution concentrated in central Texas, but reaching northward to northwestern Arkansas and south-central Oklahoma. The species is concentrated on the Edwards Plateau of central Texas reaching southward to northern Mexico just across the Rio Grande border.

Habitat: This species of juniper occupies limestone hills, sometimes forming great thickets.