Juniperus procumbens

Juniperus Procumbens

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Juniperus procumbens

Juniperus procumbens is a low-growing shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
by juniper

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the mountains of Central America....
native to the southern Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. Its status as a wild plant is disputed; some authorities treat it as endemic on high mountain

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s on Kyushu

Kyushu

or Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its Japanese Archipelago. Its alternate ancient names include Kyukoku , Chinzei , and Tsukushi-no-shima ....
and a few other islands off southern Japan, while others consider it native to the coast

Coast

The coast is defined as that part of the land adjoining or near the ocean or its saltwater arms. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the process of tides....
s of southern Japan (north to Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba, Chiba....
) and also the southern and western coasts of Korea

Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
. It is closely related to Juniperus chinensis
Juniperus chinensis

Juniperus chinensis is a shrub or tree, very variable in shape, reaching 1-20 m tall. It is native to northeast Asia, in China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea and the southeast of Russia....
, and is sometimes treated as a variety of it, as J.

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Encyclopedia

Juniperus procumbens is a low-growing shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
by juniper
Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the mountains of Central America....
native to the southern Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. Its status as a wild plant is disputed; some authorities treat it as endemic on high mountain
Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s on Kyushu
Kyushu

or Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its Japanese Archipelago. Its alternate ancient names include Kyukoku , Chinzei , and Tsukushi-no-shima ....
and a few other islands off southern Japan, while others consider it native to the coast
Coast

The coast is defined as that part of the land adjoining or near the ocean or its saltwater arms. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the process of tides....
s of southern Japan (north to Chiba Prefecture
Chiba Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba, Chiba....
) and also the southern and western coasts of Korea
Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
. It is closely related to Juniperus chinensis
Juniperus chinensis

Juniperus chinensis is a shrub or tree, very variable in shape, reaching 1-20 m tall. It is native to northeast Asia, in China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea and the southeast of Russia....
, and is sometimes treated as a variety of it, as J. chinensis var. procumbens.

It is a prostrate plant, which usually grows between 20-30 cm tall, although sometimes as high as 50 cm; while it does not get very tall it can get quite wide, 2-4 m across or more, with long prostrate branches. The branches tend to intertwine and form a dense mat. The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are arranged in decussate whorls of three; all the leaves are juvenile form, needle-like, 6-8 mm long and 1-1.5 mm broad, with two white stoma
Stoma

In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used forgas exchange. The pore is formed by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells which are responsible for regulating the size of the opening....
tal bands on the inner face. It is dioecious
Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
with separate male and female plants. The cones
Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
are berry-like, globose, 8-9 mm in diameter, dark blackish-brown with a pale blue-white waxy bloom, and contain two or three seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s (rarely one); they are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 3-4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is dioecious
Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, producing cones of only one sex on each plant.

Cultivation and uses

It is very a popular ornamental plant
Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
in Japan, and also occasionally elsewhere in temperate regions, used for ground cover in rockeries and as bonsai
Bonsai

Bonsai 'Bonsai' is a Japanese pronunciation of the earlier Chinese term penzai . The word bonsai is used in the West as an umbrella term for all miniature trees in containers or pots....
.

Several cultivar
Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s have been selected, the most widely grown being 'Nana', a slow-growing procumbent plant. Others include 'Bonin Isles', a strong-growing mat-forming plant collected on the Bonin Islands, and 'Green Mound', which may just be a re-naming of 'Nana'. A variegated plant sold under the name J. procumbens 'Variegata' is actually a cultivar of J. chinensis mis-named.