Scientific name: Juniperus pseudosabina F.E.L.Fischer & C.A.Meyer 1842

Synonyms:Juniperus centrasiatica Kom., Juniperus dumosa Lindl. & Gordon, Juniperus lycia Siev., Juniperus sabina Pall., Juniperus turkestanica Kom., Sabina centrasiatica (Kom.) W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu, Sabina centrasiatica (Kom.) Kom., Sabina fischeri Antoine, Sabina pseudosabina (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) W.C.Cheng & W.T.Wang, Sabina turkestanica Kom.

Common names:Turkestan juniper, Arsa (Altaic)

Description

Trailing shrub to small tree to 10(-18) m tall, with trunk to 0.5(-1) m in diameter. Bark dark to light reddish brown, weathering grayish brown, fibrous, flaking and then partially peeling in short strips. Crown dense, with spreading or ascending branches. Branchlets four-angled, 1.5-2 mm thick. Juvenile needlelike leaves sometimes persisting on adult plants. Adult leaves in alternating pairs, scalelike, 1.5-2(-3) mm long, gray-green to yellowish green, usually with a prominent oblong gland, the edges minutely toothed, the tip broadly triangular, separated from the twig. Pollen and seed cones on the same plant. Pollen cones single at the tips of branchlets, slightly oblong, 2-3 mm long, with three or four alternating pairs of pollen scales. Seed cones single at the tips of short branchlets, slightly elongate, (5-)8-15 mm long, brownish black to black, glossy in the absence of a waxy coating, maturing in 1 year. Seeds one (or two), 5-10 mm long, brown, the light brown attachment scar very large.

Mountains of central Asia from the Pamir Alai and Tian Shan Ranges of Tadzhikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the Yablonony Range east of lake Baikal in the Buryatia region of Russia and the Hentiyn Range in adjacent Mongolia. Forming juniper woodlands and scrublands on rocky soils in the alpine and subalpine zones; (900-)2,500-3,200(-4,100) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(Juniperus pseudosabina is too widespread, and probably increasing due to changes in land use and forest cover, to be threatened with extinction in the foreseeable future)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland