Keyed Out #076 — Juniperus sabina 'Tamariscifolia'

Question 1

Its twigs are clothed rather than needled, every leaf reduced to a minute {appressed} {scale} set in {decussate} pairs with a raised {resin} {gland} on its back.

Accepted Answer

cypress family

Question 2

Old stems shed reddish-brown bark in long fibrous ribbons that strip away lengthwise, not in hard flaking plates.

Accepted Answer

Cupressaceae

Question 3

Its seed {cones} never open. The {scales} thicken and fuse into a soft blue-black ball a quarter of an inch (5 to 9 mm) across, {pruinose} with waxy bloom and some eighteen months in the ripening.

Accepted Answer

Juniperus

Question 4

Mature branches carry two kinds of leaf at once, sharp narrow ones persisting among the flattened {scales} on shaded inner wood, a {heterophylly} its relatives shed with the seedling stage.

Accepted Answer

Juniperus

Question 5

It sprawls, its {prostrate} layered branches running out sideways with upturned tips into a low mound, only rarely rising into a small tree of 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m).

Accepted Answer

Juniperus sabina

Question 6

Through hard winter cold its dark green foliage stays dark green, never flushing the plum-purple that some low creeping relatives take on.

Accepted Answer

Juniperus sabina