| Juniperus communis L. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | L., Sp. Pl.: 1040 (1753). Lectotype (BM): Europe. Herb. Clifford: 464, Juniperus 1 (Farjon and Jarvis in Jarvis et al. 1993: 58). |
| Notes | On morphological evidence, Franco (1962) recognized three northern subspecies of Juniperus communis: the temperate to boreal Eurasian subsp. communis, the temperate to boreal North American subsp. depressa, and a disjunct arctic-alpine subsp. alpina. Adams (1993) did the same except that he treated them as varieties and the last-mentioned as var. montana, subsequently (Adams 2004) as var. saxatilis. For the various names of this third, arctic-alpine taxon, see below. We accept the name subsp. nana for it. The diagnostic morphological characters of the races are not discontinuous. Studies based on molecular markers suggest that the taxonomic solution above should be re-considered. Adams et al. (2003) and Adams and Pandey (2003) found two major groups of populations based on RAPDs: one amphi-Atlantic and Eurasian from Greenland east to Kamtchatka consisting of J. communis var. communis and var. saxatilis, and one North American from Alaska east to northeastern U.S.A. and eastern Canada of var. depressa. Subsequent studies (Adams and Nguyen 2007; Adams 2008) suggest that there is a separation within both major groups between the lowland plants (Eurasian subsp. communis, North American subsp. depressa) and the (arctic-)alpine ones, by Adams and Nguyen (2007) and Adams (2008) considered to be var. saxatilis in both Eurasia and western North America. |
| Chromosomes | 24 (2x). - Siberia (E), Far East (N). - Several reports. |
| Geography | Circumboreal-polar. |
| Parent taxon | Juniperus L. |
| Child taxa |
Juniperus communis subsp. communis Juniperus communis subsp. depressa (Pursh) Franco Juniperus communis subsp. nana (Willd.) Syme |
| PAF ID | 140101 |