''Juniperus coahuilensis'', commonly known as redberry juniper, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae.

Description

''Juniperus coahuilensis'' grows as a large shrubby tree up to tall. It is usually multi-trunked.Google Books.com: ''Trees of Western North America''
by Richard Spellenberg, Christopher J. Earle, Gil Nelson; pg 44-45, ''Juniperus coahuilensis'' treatment. The bark is brown to gray, exfoliating in long strips on mature trunks and branches. The leaves are green to light green, and have glands that can produce a white crystalline exudate. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are a fleshy glaucous yellow-orange to dark red, in diameter, and mature in one year. This species is unusual in that it sprouts from the stump when cut or burned, which has probably allowed it to remain in the grasslands in spite of periodic grass fires that kill all other juniper species.IUCN Red List: ''Juniperus coahuilensis''
. accessed 2 February 2017.

Fossil record

The species is known to have been present during the Late Wisconsin Glacial Episode of the last glacial period, in North American latitudes defined by fossils from the Waterman Mountains in present-day Arizona.C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Elephant Tree: Bursera microphylla'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
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Distribution

The shrubby tree is found in northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and areas of the Southwestern United States within central and southeastern

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, southwestern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, and

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

including Big Bend National Park. This species occurs in high desert

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s at elevations of , in ''

Bouteloua ''Bouteloua'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass. Taxonomy and systematics The genus was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists. David Griffiths ...

'' spp. grasslands and adjacent rocky areas. In Mexico, it can also occur in canyons or

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

s. In the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...

and

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...

ecoregions, it often in association with '' Opuntia'' spp. and/or ''

Yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...

'' spp.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1899488 coahuilensis Trees of Northeastern Mexico Trees of Northwestern Mexico Flora of Arizona Flora of Coahuila Flora of Jalisco Flora of New Mexico Flora of Texas Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Trees of the South-Central United States Trees of the Southwestern United States Least concern flora of North America Least concern flora of the United States Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1946