Juniperus

Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south as tropical Africa, as far north as the Arctic, and parts of Asia and Central America. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) in southeastern Tibet and the northern Himalayas, creating one of the highest tree lines on earth.

Juniperus

Fcb981 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
juniperPBDB
Sits inside
CupressoideaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 29 occurrencesPleistocene — about 8 of 29 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–8.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences8.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.5–6.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences6.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.0–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–2.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.5–1.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka37.7 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Juniperus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

29 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Olduvai — 2.96°S, 35.31°EMiddlegate — 39.25°N, 117.88°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.35°WChloropagus — 39.79°N, 118.94°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.16°WLusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°EBuffalo Canyon — 39.20°N, 117.78°WDisaster Peak — 38.50°N, 120.00°WDesert Peak — 39.39°N, 118.97°WDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°W

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The named rock units Juniperus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Juniperus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Juniperus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

961 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Juniperus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 29 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Juniperus

Credit
Fcb981
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Juniperus oxycedrus · FMNH:Botany:2110159

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCupressoideae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753