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Juniperus L. (Cupressaceae)

A genus of about sixty species of trees and shrubs; temperate, boreal, and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Various species of Juniperus, especially creeping species, are frequently used in landscaping.

Two species occur in North Carolina, both are considered native.

Key to Juniperus in North Carolina

1. Leaves flat-acicular, 5-20 mm long, never scale-like, with a white line on the upper surface; leaves borne in whorls of 3, spreading at 45-90 degrees from the twig; female cones ("berries") axillary, maturing in 2-3 years...J. communis (Ground juniper)

1. Leaves primarily scale-like, ca. 1-2 mm long, though acicular and 2-10 mm long on young trees and some lower branches of larger trees, without a white line on the upper surface (though generally somewhat glaucous); leaves of mature twigs borne in opposite pairs of 2, decussate (thus 4-ranked), appressed to the twig (leaves of immature twigs sometimes in whorls of 3, spreading at 10-45 degrees from the twig); female cones ("berries") terminal on short branches, maturing the first year...J. virginiana (Eastern red cedar)