Juniperus rigida

Temple juniper
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Foliage and immature cones
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Cupressaceae
Genus:	Juniperus
Species:	J. rigida
Binomial name
Juniperus rigida Siebold & Zucc.

Juniperus rigida (temple juniper) is a species of juniper, native to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far southeast of Russia (Sakhalin and Primorsky Krai), occurring at altitudes of 10-2,200 m. The species is also naturalized in California and Alabama. It is closely related to Juniperus communis (Common Juniper) and Juniperus conferta (Shore Juniper), the latter sometimes treated as a variety or subspecies of J. rigida.

File:Juniperus rigida4.jpg

Tree

It is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of 6–10 m and a trunk diameter up to 50 cm. The leaves are evergreen, needle-like, in whorls of three, bright green to yellowish-green, 10–23 mm long and 1-1.3 mm broad, with a single white stomatal band on the inner surface. It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The seed cones are berry-like, green ripening in 18 months to dark purple or brownish with a variable whitish waxy coating; they are spherical, 5–9 mm diameter, and have three (rarely six) fused scales in one (rarely two) whorls of three, each with a single seed (when six scales, only the three larger scales with seeds). The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard seeds in their droppings. The pollen cones are yellow, 3–5 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in spring.

It is grown as an ornamental tree, often planted in temple grounds in Japan. It is also often grown as bonsai.

Gallery

• Juniperus rigida5.jpg

  Foliage and pollen cones

• Juniperus rigida1.jpg

  Bark

• Juniperus rigida-Bonsai.jpg

  Bonsai specimen