''Juniperus saxicola'' is a species of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

in the family

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdio ...

. It is found only in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. This is one of about 40 species in ''Juniperus'' section ''Sabina'', and one of four closely related species of Caribbean junipers (the others are ''J. barbadensis, J. bermudiana'', and ''J. gracilior''). Both terpene data and nuclear ribosomal DNA data tie ''J. saxicola'' most closely to ''J. barbadensis'' var. ''barbadensis'' and ''J. barbadensis'' var. ''lucayana'', the former species found in St. Lucia, the latter in Bahamas and western Cuba (Adams 2008). The relationship is close enough that this taxon could reasonably be treated at the subspecies rank, but is not as close as the relationship between the varieties of ''J. barbadensis''. Also, since ''J. saxicola'' does not develop scale-leaved foliage, it is very different in appearance from the other Caribbean junipers.

Description

Tree or shrub 3–8 m tall. Leaves always needle-like, decurrent, spreading, 5–7 mm long and ca. 1 mm wide, scale leaves never present on adult trees (see Remarks). Seed cones dark blue with bloom, subglobose to reniform, 5 mm long, 3–4 mm diameter, 2 seeds per cone (Adams 1995).

References

saxicola ''Saxicola'' (Latin: ''saxum'', rock + ''incola'', dwelling in.), the stonechats or chats, is a genus of 15 species of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World. They are insectivores occurring in open scrubland and grassland with scatte ...

Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub