Juniperus bermudiana
Authors: TunyaLee Morisawa, Global Invasive Species Team, The Nature Conservancy
Identifiers
Latin Name: Juniperus bermudiana L.
Common Name: Bermuda Juniper. Sometimes inaccurately called a "cedar" (Cedrus, Pinaceae), a misapplication that should not be used.[1]
Natural history
Juniperus bermudiana is native to the Bermuda Islands where the berries were used by early settlers for food and drink. The wood was used to make furniture, houses and ships.[2]
Juniperus bermudiana in Bermuda can grow 15 m tall. The thin bark exfoliates in strips. The leafy branchlets are 2-4 cm in length and 1.3-1.6 mm wide. Leaves are opposite, forming strongly quadriform (four sided) branchlets. Green leaves are decurrent (winged or ridge-like) on young plants and on rapidly growing shoots. Otherwise the leaves are scale-green and 1 mm in length. Glands on scale-like leaves are inconspicuous. Cones are dark blue, 4-5 mm long and 6-8 mm wide. It is believed that the pollen is shed in the spring.[3]
Horticulturists find that the tree does not grow as large (4 m high and 3 m wide after 10 years) as in its native Bermuda (15 m tall). Juniperus bermudiana is recommended for planting in zone 9.[4]
During the early 1940s, two scale insects were apparently introduced from the US mainland. Lepidosaphes newsteadi and Carulaspis minima killed 90% of J. bermudiana trees by 1955. By 1978 it was estimated that 99% of the trees were dead.[3] Predatory insects were released but tree mortality still occurred. The 1% of J. bermudiana trees remaining demonstrated some resistance to the scale insects. Progeny from these resistant trees are being replanted.[5]
Bermuda Juniper has been introduced to Hawaii, where it has become invasive on Maui and Midway Atoll.[6][7][8]
Management/Monitoring
No control methods are published for J. bermudiana. However, it is closely related to J. virginiana, and control methods effective for J. virginiana should also be effective for J. bermudiana.[3]
Information sources
Bibliography
- ↑ Kelsey, H.P. & Dayton, W.A. 1942. Standardized Plant Names, ed.2. American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature. J. Horace McFarland Company, Harrisburg, Pa.
- ↑ Anonymous. 1999a. broken link, accessed 11/1999.
- ↑ Adams, R.P. 1995. Revisionary study of Caribbean species of Juniperus (Cupressaceae). Phytologia 78(2):134-150. 3.0 3.1 3.2
- ↑ Anonymous. 1999b. broken link, accessed 11/1999.
- ↑ Anonymous. 1999c. broken link, accessed 11/1999.
- ↑ Woo, E. 2005. The role of avian seed dispersal on the invasion of Juniperus bermudiana in Hawaii: Facilitation or Inhibition? Presentation, Ecological Society of America 2005 Annual Meeting, Montréal, Canada. Abstract.
- ↑ Starr, F. & Starr, K. 2008. Plants of Hawaii website.
- ↑ Little, E.L. Jr., & Skolmen, R.G. 1989. Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced). U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service Agriculture Handbook no. 679.
