The jabiru lives in large groups near rivers and ponds, and eats prodigious quantities of fish, molluscs, insects, other invertebrates, and amphibians. It will occasionally eat reptiles, bird eggs and small mammals. It will even eat fresh carrion and dead fish, such as those that die during dry spells, and thus help maintain the quality of isolated bodies of water. They feed in flocks and usually forage by wading in shallow water. Jabirus detect prey more through tactile sensation than vision. They feed by holding their open bill at a 45 degree angle to the water. When prey is contacted, the storks close their bill, draw it out of the water, and throw their head back to swallow. It is an opportunistic feeder. In one instance when house mice experienced a population explosion in an agricultural area, several hundred jabirus could be seen in each field feeding on the rodents (unusual for a bird that's rarely seen in large numbers anywhere). On rare occasions, jabirus have been seen attempting to kleptoparasitize the two smaller storks it co-exists with, the wood and maguari storks.


The nest of sticks is built by both parents around August–September (in the Southern Hemisphere) on tall trees, and enlarged at each succeeding season growing to several meters in diameter. Nests are often deeper than they are wide, they can be up to 1 m (3.3 ft) wide and 1.8 m (5.9 ft) deep. Half a dozen nests may be built in close proximity, sometimes among nests of herons and other birds. The parents take turns incubating the clutch of two to five white eggs and are known to more territorial than usual against other jabirus during the brooding period. Raccoons and other storks (including their own species) are occasion predators of jabiru eggs, but most nest predators appear to avoid these huge-billed birds and there are no known predators of healthy adult jabirus. Although the young fledge around 110 days old, they often spend around another 3 months in the care of their parents.  Because of this long length of time spent brooding, pairs have difficulty breeding in successive years. Less than half of active pairs in one season are active the next season. Only 25% of successful pairs are successful the next season. The lifespan average is 36 years. The Jabiru has a diploid number of 2n = 56.


Jabiru are widespread but not abundant in any area. They are considered a species of least concern by the IUCN, an improvement from a status of near threatened in 1988. Jabiru gained protected status in Belize in 1973. Since then, their numbers in that area have slowly risen. They have been granted protected status by the U.S. Migratory Bird Act.


The wattled jacana (Jacana jacana) is a wader which is a resident breeder from western Panama and Trinidad south through most of South America east of the Andes.


The wattled jacana lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest. The male, as with other jacanas and some other wader families like the phalaropes, takes responsibility for incubation, with two eggs held between each wing and the breast. The females are polyandrous and will help to defend the nests of up to four mates.


There are six subspecies, with the nominate J. j. jacana being the most widespread. Several of the other subspecies are similar, but J. j. hypomelaena of western Panama and northern Colombia has all the chestnut plumage replaced by black, and J. j. scapularis of western Ecuador has some black feathers on its chestnut shoulders, and white outer primary feathers.


J. j. hypomelaena (Gray, 1846): west-central Panama to northern Colombia
J. j. melanopygia (Sclater, 1857): western Colombia to western Venezuela
J. j. intermedia (Sclater, 1857): north & central Venezuela
J. j. jacana (Linnaeus, 1766): Trinidad, southern Colombia & southern Venezuela through the Guianas south to eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina & Uruguay
J. j. scapularis (Chapman, 1922): western Ecuador & northwestern Peru
J. j. peruviana (Zimmer, 1930): northeastern Peru & northwestern Brazil
This species produces a range of noisy rattling calls.


The wattled jacana's food is insects (such as beetles, grasshoppers and crickets), other invertebrates (e.g. ticks and mollusks), small fish, roots and seeds picked from the floating vegetation or the water's surface.


Jacaranda mimosifolia is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting violet-colored flowers.  It is also known as the jacaranda, blue jacaranda, black poui, Nupur or fern tree. Older sources call it J. acutifolia, but it is nowadays more usually classified as J. mimosifolia. In scientific usage, the name "jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the blue jacaranda.
In its native range in the wild, J. mimosifolia is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.


The tree grows to a height of up to 20 m (66 ft). Its bark is thin and grey-brown, smooth when the tree is young but eventually becoming finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag; they are a light reddish-brown. The flowers are up to 5 cm (2 in) long, and are grouped in 30 cm (12 in) panicles. They appear in spring and early summer, and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seed pods, about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter, which contain numerous flat, winged seeds. The blue jacaranda is cultivated for the sake of its large compound leaves, even in areas where it rarely blooms. The leaves are up to 45 cm (18 in) long and bi-pinnately compound, with leaflets little more than 1 cm (0.4 in) long. There is a white form available from nurseries.
The unusually shaped, tough pods, which are 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 in) across, are often gathered, cleaned and used to decorate Christmas trees and dried arrangements.


The wood is pale grey to whitish, straight-grained, relatively soft and knot-free. It dries without difficulty and is often used in its green or wet state for turnery and bowl carving.


Jacaranda mimosifolia is native to northwestern Argentina (Salta, Jujuy, and Catamarca provinces) and southern Bolivia. It is found in the Dry Chaco and flooded savannas, and in the Southern Andean Yungas of the eastern Andean piedmont and inter-Andean valleys, up to 2600 meters elevation. In its native range the tree is threatened by uncontrolled logging and clearing of land for agriculture, and is assessed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.


The taxonomic status of the blue jacaranda is unsettled. ITIS regards the older name, J. acutifolia, as a synonym for J. mimosifolia. However, some modern taxonomists maintain the distinction between these two species, regarding them as geographically distinct: J. acutifolia is endemic to Peru, while J. mimosifolia is native to Bolivia and Argentina. If this distinction is made, cultivated forms should be treated as J. mimosifolia, since they are believed to derive from Argentine stock. Other synonyms for the blue jacaranda are J. chelonia and J. ovalifolia. The blue jacaranda belongs to the section Monolobos of the genus Jacaranda.


The blue jacaranda has been cultivated in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost; established trees, however, tolerate brief spells of temperatures down to around −7 °C (19 °F). In the US, in areas where winter temperatures can dip to −12 °C (10 °F) for several-hour periods, the mature tree survives with little or no visible damage. Even when young trees are damaged by a hard frost and suffer dieback, they will often rebound from the roots and grow in a shrub-like, multi-stemmed form. However, flowering and growth will be stunted if the jacaranda is grown directly on the California coast, where a lack of heat combined with cool ocean winds discourages flowering.
This plant has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The jacaranda is regarded as an invasive species in parts of South Africa and Queensland, Australia, where it can out-compete native species.


The city of Grafton on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, is famous for its jacarandas.  Each year in late October and early November, the city has a jacaranda festival.
In the United States, the jacaranda is grown extensively in California, the Southwest, southeast Texas and Florida. Jacaranda can be found throughout most of Southern California, where they were imported by the horticulturalist Kate Sessions. They are also planted as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and along the frost-free coastal regions of Northern California. Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California are known for them. They also grow in Hawaii.
 Jacarandas can be found in many parts of Mexico City and are usually in full bloom in March.
It's one of the most common trees in Argentina's capital city.
In Europe the jacaranda is grown on the Mediterranean coast of Spain (it is prominent in the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and Andalusia, with especially large specimens present in Valencia, Alicante and Seville, and usually with earlier flowering than in the rest of Europe), in southern Portugal (notably in Lisbon), southern Italy (Naples and Cagliari have many mature specimens), southern Greece (especially Athens) and the islands of Malta and Cyprus. It was introduced to Cape Town by Baron, the administrative capital of South Africa; Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa; Lusaka, the capital of Zambia; Gaborone, the capital of Botswana; Nairobi, the capital of Kenya; Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe;Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Jharkhand states in India.


Purple panic is a term used by students in south-east Queensland for student stress during the period of late spring and early summer.  The "purple" refers to the flowers of Jacaranda trees, which bloom at that time and have been extensively planted throughout that district. The "panic" refers to the need to be completing assignments and studying for final exams.
The Jacaranda when in bloom is also known as the exam tree.
Conversely, while the time of year the jacarandas bloom in Pretoria coincides with the year-end exams at the University of Pretoria, legend has it there that if a flower from a jacaranda drops on a student's head, the student will pass all their exams.


Jacobaea maritima, commonly known as silver ragwort, is a perennial plant species in the genus Jacobaea in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region. It was formerly placed in the genus Senecio, and is still widely referred to as Senecio cineraria; see the list of synonyms (right) for other names.
It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for its white, felt-like tomentose leaves; in horticultural use, it is also sometimes called dusty miller, a name shared with several other plants that also have silvery tomentose leaves, including Centaurea cineraria and Silene coronaria.


Silver Ragwort is a very white-wooly, heat and drought tolerant evergreen subshrub growing to 0.5–1 m (1.6–3.3 ft) tall. The stems are stiff and woody at the base, densely branched, and covered in long, matted grey-white to white hairs. The leaves are pinnate or pinnatifid, 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) long and 3–7 centimetres (1.2–2.8 in) broad, stiff, with oblong and obtuse segments, and like the stems, covered with long, thinly to thickly matted with grey-white to white hairs; the lower leaves are petiolate and more deeply lobed, the upper leaves sessile and less lobed.
The tomentum is thickest on the underside of the leaves, and can become worn off on the upper side, leaving the top surface glabrous with age. The flowers are yellow, daisy-like in dense capitula 12–15 millimetres (0.47–0.59 in) in diameter, with central disc florets surrounded by a ring of 10–13 ray florets, and enclosed in a common whorl of bracts at the base of the capitulum. The seeds are cylindrical achenes.


Jacobaea maritima is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, in northwest Africa (Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia), southern Europe (Spain, Gibraltar, southern France including Corsica, Italy including Sardinia and Sicily, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece), and the far west of Asia (Turkey). It occurs primarily on cliffs and rocky coastal sites, more rarely inland.
It is also naturalised further north in Europe (north to Great Britain and Ireland, where occurring mainly in mild coastal areas) and locally in North America.


As with many other densely tomentose plants, the tomentum, or hair-like pieces on the stems and leaves, is used by some species of bees (e.g. Anthidium manicatum and Anthidium oblongatum in Megachilidae) for nest-building.
Hybrids are known as Jacobaea erucifolia and Jacobaea vulgaris. The J. vulgaris variant is fertile producing a wide range of intermediate progeny.


Jacobaea maritima is widely used in horticulture for its silvery foliage. It is winter-hardy in USDA Zones 8-10, tolerating winter temperatures down to -12° to -15 °C, tolerant of light shade but preferring full sun. In colder areas it is grown as an annual plant. Many cultivars have been selected for particularly dense silvery tomentum, such as 'Cirrus', 'New Look', 'Ramparts', 'Silverdust', 'Silver Filigree', and 'White Diamond'. It has been recommended in North America for its fire resistance resistance to browsing by deer, and its salt tolerance.
The cultivar 'Silver Dust' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Charles Swinhoe described the subspecies J. a. alocina on 1915 as follows:
"Upperside milky white tinged with pale lavender-blue, the inner surface of the fore wing and the upper half of the hind wing palest: fore wing with a fine grey costal line; a grey marginal narrow band: hind wing with a submarginal series of small and short black lunular marks, edged with white on both sides, and a fine black marginal line. Under-side pale pinkish grey, markings white but indistinct: fore wing with two lines across the end of the cell, continued to the hinder margin beyond its middle, two dislocated lines beyond in the fourth, fifth, and sixth interspaces, with a line in the third interspace from between the last two; two rows of submarginal lines and an indistinct marginal line, all three dislocated by the veins: hind wing with three rows of transverse double lines at equal distances apart, and a marginal series, all dislocated by the veins ; a brownish spot touched with red near the anal angle."


Jaumea carnosa, known by the common names marsh jaumea, fleshy jaumea, or simply jaumea, is a halophytic salt marsh plant native to the wetlands, coastal sea cliffs and salt marshes of the western coast of North America.


It is a perennial dicotyledon. It has succulent green leaves on soft pinkish-green stems, not unlike ice plant in appearance. Its stems are weak and long. Flowers are yellow and the peduncle is enlarged below the head. It spreads by an extensive rhizome system.


Jaumea carnosa ranges from British Columbia to northern Baja California, and can be found in wetlands and salt marshes. Some populations are located on the Channel Islands of California.


Juglans californica, the California black walnut, also called the California walnut, or the Southern California black walnut, is a large shrub or small tree (about 20-49 feet tall) of the walnut family, Juglandaceae, endemic to Southern California.


Juglans californica is generally found in the southern California Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges. It grows as part of mixed woodlands, and also on slopes and in valleys wherever conditions are favorable. It is threatened by development and overgrazing. Some native stands remain in urban Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Mountains and Hollywood Hills. J. californica  grows in riparian woodlands, either in single species stands or mixed with California's oaks (Quercus spp.) and cottonwoods (Populus fremontii).


Juglans californica can be either a large shrub with 1–5 trunks, or a small, single-trunked tree.  The main trunk can fork close to the ground, making it look like two trees that have grown together, then diverged.  It has thick bark, deeply channeled or furrowed at maturity.  It has large, pinnately compound leaves with 11–19 lanceolate leaflets with toothed margins and no hair in the vein angles. It has a small hard nut in a shallowly grooved, thick shell that is difficult to remove.


The nuts are edible and were eaten by the Chumash Indians of the Channel Islands of California and Ventura County . They are not grown commercially as food.


Juglans californica is cultivated throughout California to support the walnut industry, used as a rootstock in English walnut orchards. It is also cultivated as an ornamental tree where it is planted in California native plant, xeriscape, and wildlife habitat gardens and natural landscaping in California, and in Hawaii.


Some authorities (e.g. the California Native Plant Society) combine this species with Juglans hindsii.  On the other hand, a 2007 molecular analysis of the genus suggests J. californica is sister to the remaining black walnuts (section Rhysocaryon). This article follows the conventions of The Jepson Manual.


Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.


The distribution range of J. cinerea extends east to New Brunswick, and from southern Quebec west to Minnesota, south to northern Alabama and southwest to northern Arkansas. It is absent from most of the Southern United States. The species also proliferates at middle elevations (about 2,000 ft or 610 m above sea level) in the Columbia River basin, Pacific Northwest; as an off-site species. Trees with 7 ft or 2.1 m (over mature) class range diameter at breast height were noted in the Imnaha River drainage as late as January 26, 2015. Butternut favors a cooler climate than black walnut and its range does not extend into the Deep South. Its northern range extends into Wisconsin and Minnesota where the growing season is too short for black walnut.


J. cinerea is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall, rarely 40 m (130 ft). Butternut is a slow-growing species, and rarely lives longer than 75 years. It has a 40–80 cm (16–31 in) stem diameter, with light gray bark.
The leaves are alternate and pinnate, 40–70 cm (16–28 in) long, with 11–17 leaflets, each leaflet 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 3–5 cm (1+1⁄4–2 in) broad. Leaves have a terminal leaflet at the end of the leafstalk and have an odd number of leaflets. The whole leaf is downy-pubescent, and a somewhat brighter, yellower green than many other tree leaves.


Like other members of the family Juglandaceae, butternut's leafout in spring is tied to photoperiod rather than air temperature and occurs when daylight length reaches 14 hours. This can vary by up to a month in the northern and southernmost extents of its range. Leaf drop in fall is early and is initiated when daylight drops to 11 hours. The species is monoecious. Male (staminate) flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green slender catkins that develop from auxiliary buds and female (pistillate) flowers are short terminal spikes on current year's shoots. Each female flower has a light pink stigma. Flowers of both sexes do not usually mature simultaneously on any individual tree.
The fruit is a lemon-shaped nut, produced in bunches of two to six together; the nut is oblong-ovoid, 3–6 cm (1+1⁄4–2+1⁄4 in) long and 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄2 in) broad, surrounded by a green husk before maturity in midautumn.


Butternut grows best on stream banks and on well-drained soils. It is seldom found on dry, compact, or infertile soils. It grows better than black walnut, however, on dry, rocky soils, especially those of limestone origin. Butternut's range includes the rocky soils of New England where black walnut is largely absent.
Butternut is found most frequently in coves, on stream benches and terraces, on slopes, in the talus of rock ledges, and on other sites with good drainage. It is found up to an elevation of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the Virginias – much higher altitudes than black walnut. The nuts are eaten by wildlife.


Butternut is found with many other tree species in several hardwood types in the mixed mesophytic forest. It is an associated species in the following four northern and central forest cover types: sugar maple–basswood, yellow poplar–white oak–northern red oak, beech–sugar maple, and river birch–sycamore. Commonly associated trees include basswood (Tilia spp.), black cherry (Prunus serotina), beech (Fagus grandifolia), black walnut (Juglans nigra), elm (Ulmus spp.), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), hickory (Carya spp.), oak (Quercus spp.), red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), white ash (Fraxinus americana), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis). In the northeast part of its range, it is often found with sweet birch (Betula lenta) and in the northern part of its range it is occasionally found with white pine (Pinus strobus). Forest stands seldom contain more than an occasional butternut tree, although in local areas, it may be abundant. In the past, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Tennessee have been the leading producers of butternut timber.


Although young trees may withstand competition from the side, butternut does not survive under shade from above. It must be in the overstory to thrive. Therefore, it is classed as intolerant of shade and competition.


The most serious disease of J. cinerea is butternut decline or butternut canker. In the past, the causal organism of this disease was thought to be a fungus, Melanconis juglandis. Now this fungus has been associated with secondary infections and the primary causal organism of the disease has been identified as another species of fungus, Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum. The fungus is spread by wide-ranging vectors, so isolation of a tree offers no protection.
Butternut canker first entered the United States around the beginning of the 20th century, when it arrived on imported nursery stock of Japanese walnut.
Symptoms of the disease include dying branches and stems. Initially, cankers develop on branches in the lower crown. Spores developing on these dying branches are spread by rainwater to tree stems. Stem cankers develop 1 to 3 years after branches die. Tree tops killed by stem-girdling cankers do not resprout. Diseased trees usually die within several years. Completely free-standing trees seem better able to withstand the fungus than those growing in dense stands or forest. In some areas, 90% of the butternut trees have been killed. The disease is reported to be spreading rapidly in Wisconsin. By contrast, black walnut seems to be resistant to the disease.


Butternut hybridizes readily with Japanese walnut. The hybrid between butternut and the Japanese walnut is commonly known as the 'buartnut' and inherits Japanese walnut's resistance to the disease. Researchers are back-crossing butternut to buartnut, creating 'butter-buarts" which should have more butternut traits than buartnuts. They are selecting for resistance to the disease. Most butternuts found as landscaping trees are buartnuts rather than the pure species.


Bunch disease also attacks butternut. Currently, the causal agent is thought to be a mycoplasma-like organism. Symptoms include a yellow witches' broom resulting from sprouting and growth of auxiliary buds that would normally remain dormant. Infected branches fail to become dormant in the fall and are killed by frost; highly susceptible trees may eventually be killed. Butternut seems to be more susceptible to this disease than black walnut.
The common grackle has been reported to destroy immature fruit and may be considered a butternut pest when populations are high.
Butternut is very susceptible to fire damage, and although the species is generally wind firm, it is subject to frequent storm damage.


The species is not listed as threatened federally in the US, but is listed as "Special Concern" in Kentucky, "Exploitably Vulnerable" in New York State, and "Threatened" in Tennessee.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada placed the butternut on the endangered species list in Canada in 2005.
Approximately 60 grafted butternut trees were planted in a seed orchard in Huntingburg, Indiana, in 2012 as part of a larger effort by the USDA Forest Service to conserve the species and to breed resistance to butternut canker disease. Forest Service staff from the Hoosier National Forest, the Eastern Region National Forest genetics program, the Northern Research Station, and the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center at Purdue University are involved in the project.


The American Forest National Champion is located in Oneida, New York. In 2016 its circumference at breast height was 288 in (7,300 mm), the height was 67 ft (20 m), and the spread was 88 ft (27 m).
In Louisa May Alcott's Little Men (1871) the two youngest boys, Rob and Teddy, have an amusing running battle with the squirrels over collecting the butternuts.
The Bush butternut tree was planted by settler George Bush (1845) in current Tumwater, Washington, brought from Missouri. It was seriously damaged in a windstorm in 2015, and collapsed on May 1, 2021 at the age of 176 years.


The butternuts are edible and were made into a butter-like oil by Native Americans for various purposes, including anointment. The young green nuts, while still soft, can be dehusked and pickled; Bradford Angier recommends this be done with a change of salt water every other day for a week, and a subsequent seasoning of at least two weeks. The sap can be used to make syrup.


Butternut wood is light in weight and takes polish well, and is highly rot resistant, but is much softer than black walnut wood. Oiled, the grain of the wood usually shows much light. It is often used to make furniture, and is a favorite of woodcarvers.


Butternut bark and nut rinds were once often used to dye cloth to colors between light yellow and dark brown. The husks contain a natural yellow-orange dye. To produce the darker colors, the bark is boiled to concentrate the color. This appears to never have been used as a commercial dye, but rather was used to color homespun cloth.
In the mid-19th century, inhabitants of areas such as southern Illinois and southern Indiana – many of whom had moved there from the Southern United States – were known as "butternuts" from the butternut-dyed homespun cloth that some of them wore. Later, during the American Civil War, the term "butternut" was sometimes applied to Confederate soldiers. Some Confederate uniforms apparently faded from gray to a tan or light brown. It is also possible that butternut was used to color the cloth worn by a small number of Confederate soldiers. The resemblance of these uniforms to butternut-dyed clothing, and the association of butternut dye with home-made clothing, resulted in this derisive nickname.


Crushed fruits can be used to poison fish, though the practice is illegal in most jurisdictions. Bruised fruit husks of the closely related black walnut can be used to stun fish.


The yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus) is a species of junco, a group of small New World sparrows.
Its range is primarily in Mexico, extending into some of the mountains of the southern tips of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico. It is not generally migratory, but sometimes moves to nearby lower elevations during winter. The female lays three to five pale gray or bluish-white eggs in an open nest of dried grass two to three times a year. Incubation takes 15 days, and when hatched, the chicks are ready to leave the nest two weeks later. This bird's diet consists mainly of seeds, berries and insects.


The yellow-eyed junco was formally described in 1831 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler from a specimen collected in Mexico. He introduced a new genus, Junco, and coined the binomial name Junco phaeonotus. The genus name is from Latin iuncus meaning "rush". The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek  phaios meaning "dusky" or "brown" with -nōtos meaning "-backed".
Four subspecies are recognised:
J. p. palliatus Ridgway, 1885 – southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico
J. p. phaeonotus Wagler, 1831 – central and southern Mexico
J. p. fulvescens Nelson, 1897 – interior of Chiapas (southern Mexico)
J. p. alticola Salvin, 1863 – southeastern Chiapas (southern Mexico) and western Guatemala


Baird's junco (Junco bairdi) was previously considered a subspecies of this species.


Juncus articulatus is a flowering plant species in the rush family Juncaceae. It is known by the common name jointleaf rush or jointed rush, which can also refer to J. kraussii from Australia. It is native to Eurasia, Canada, Greenland, and much of the United States. It grows in moist areas, such as wet sand, and thrives in calcareous soils. J. articulatus was found to be more sensitive to drought and salt stress than its congeners J. acutus and J. maritimus. It is a perennial herb producing mainly erect stems from a short rhizome. The stem may root at nodes, and it generally has one or more flattened hollow cylindrical leaves up to 10 centimeters long. Transverse internal partitions or joints may be seen or felt in the leaf of the plant.
The inflorescence atop the stem has several branches with up to 25 clusters of up to 12 flowers each. Each individual flower has greenish to dark brown, pointed tepals 2 to 3 millimeters long, six stamens bearing anthers, and a protruding, feathery pistil. The fruit is a dark brown capsule with a pointed tip.


Juncus balticus is a species of rush known by the common name Baltic rush. It is a perennial flowering plant in the family Juncaceae. This plant can reach a height of about 75 cm. It is native to maritime areas of northern Britain, the Baltic and Scandinavia where it occurs in dune slacks. It is available from specialist nurseries for landscaping and soil stabilization purposes.


Juncus effusus, with the common names common rush or soft rush, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant species in the rush family Juncaceae. In North America, the common name soft rush also refers to Juncus interior.


Juncus effusus is nearly cosmopolitan, considered native in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. It has naturalized in Australia, Madagascar, and various oceanic islands.
It is found growing in wet areas, such as wetlands, riparian areas, and marshes. In the United Kingdom it is found in purple moor-grass and rush pastures and fen-meadow plant associations.


Juncus effusus grows in large clumps about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall at the water's edge along streams and ditches, but can be invasive anywhere with moist soil. It is commonly found growing in humus-rich areas like marshes, ditches, fens, and beaver dams.
The stems are smooth cylinders with light pith filling. The yellowish inflorescence appears to emerge from one side of the stem about 20 centimetres (8 in) from the top. In fact the stem ends there; the top part is the bract, that continues with only a slight colour-band marking it from the stem. The lower leaves are reduced to a brown sheath at the bottom of the stem.


Five subspecies are currently recognized:
Juncus effusus subsp. austrocalifornicus Lint — endemic to California and Baja California.
Juncus effusus subsp. effusus — widespread
Juncus effusus subsp. laxus (Robyns & Tournay) Snogerup — tropical Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Canary Islands, Madeira.
Juncus effusus subsp. pacificus (Fernald & Wiegand) Piper & Beattie — Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Baja California.
Juncus effusus subsp. solutus (Fernald & Wiegand) Hämet-Ahti — central and eastern United States.
Juncus  effusus can be differentiated from the rarer Juncus pylaei by the number of ridges on the stem. Juncus effusus has 30 to 40 ridges and J. pylaei has 10 to 20.


The species provides wildfowl, wader feeding, and nesting habitats, and also habitats for small mammals. The rootstalks are eaten by muskrats, and birds take shelter amongst the plant's stems. A number of invertebrates feed on soft rush, including the rufous minor moth.


Juncus effusus is one of the seven ingredients of hui sup tea (去濕茶). In Japan, this rush is called igusa (藺草) and is grown to be woven into the covering of tatami mats (the filling is rice straw, extruded styrofoam, chip board, or some combination). In Iran and Afghanistan too it is used to weave light cheap mats.  It is called halfa (حلفا) and has medicinal uses too. In Europe, this rush was once used to make rushlights (by soaking the pith in grease), a cheap alternative to candles.


The species is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for planting in water gardens, native plant and wildlife gardens, and for larger designed natural landscaping and habitat restoration projects.
The cultivar Juncus effusus 'Spiralis' (syn. Juncus spiralis), with the common names corkscrew rush or spiral rush, is a distinctive potted and water garden plant due to its very curled spiral like foliage.


Juncusol is a 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene found in J. effusus. The plant also contains effusol and dehydroeffusol.


Juncus tenuis, the slender rush, is a clump-forming, round-stemmed perennial in the Juncaceae (rush family).  Slender rush grows to be between 15 and 60 cm tall.  Generally considered a weed, it is rarely sold by retailers as a household container plant. Where it is introduced, it is colloquially called path rush, field rush, slender yard rush, poverty rush or wiregrass.
The leaves of the plant all come from the base and are not nearly as tall as the stems.  The stems are partly covered by sheaths, and have the most distinctive characteristic of the plant on them: clusters or cymes at the top.  These cymes consist of branches that have small egg-shaped seed capsules at the end of them.  The seeds split into three parts when they become ripe. The plant also spreads via rhizomatous root growth.


Slender rush grows in landscapes, crops, roadsides, and all types of fields.  It can grow on both wet and dry sites, in soils consisting mainly of sand or clay. Because of its high tolerance of compacted soils, it can outcompete other plant species in such places, hence the name "path rush". It is native throughout all fifty states of United States, most of Canada, and parts of northern Europe.


Juniperus ashei (Ashe juniper, mountain cedar, blueberry juniper, post cedar, or just cedar) is a drought-tolerant evergreen tree, native from northeastern Mexico and the south-central United States to southern Missouri. The largest areas are in central Texas, where extensive stands occur. Ashe juniper grows up to 10 metres (33 feet) tall, and over time can reach 15 m (49 ft), and provides erosion control and year-round shade for wildlife and livestock.


The feathery foliage grows in dense sprays, bright green in color. The leaves are scale-like, 2 to 5 millimetres (1⁄16 to 3⁄16 inch) long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. It is a dioecious species, with separate male and female plants. The seed cones are round, 3 to 5 mm (1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in) long, and soft, pulpy and berry-like, green at first, maturing purple about 8 months after pollination. They contain one or two seeds, which are dispersed when birds eat the cones and pass the seeds in their droppings. The male cones are 3–5 mm long, yellow, turning brown after pollen release in December to February.


The specific name ashei pays homage to American forester and botanist William Willard Ashe.


Despite being native to Texas, ashe juniper is often considered an invasive species and weed by many landowners and ranchers. It is commonly believed that they use more water than live oaks, but more recent research suggests the reverse.
Ashe juniper thrives on ranches, as cattle avoid the bitter-tasting seedlings. In contrast to the redberry juniper, ashe juniper does not resprout when cut.


Ashe juniper pollen, along with that of the related Juniperus virginiana, can cause a severe allergic reaction. Consequently, what begins as a winter allergy may extend into spring, as the pollination of J. virginiana follows that of J. ashei. Colloquially, many Texans refer to the allergy as cedar fever.


Spanish explorers who arrived in what is now Texas in the mid-18th century built Hill Country missions using ashe junipers for roof beams. Poor land management, due to decades of clearcutting and overgrazing, led to soil erosion and a preponderance of caliche. The ashe juniper was one of the few plants that could thrive in the rocky soil.
The wood is naturally rot-resistant and provides raw material for fence posts. Posts cut from old-growth Ashe junipers have been known to last in the ground for more than 50 years. Over 100 years ago, most old-growth Ashe junipers were cut and used not only for fence posts, but also for foundation piers, telegraph and telephone poles, roof framing, and railroad ties.
The berry-like cones are eaten by a number of wildlife.  The endangered golden-cheeked warbler uses the shredding bark of older Mountain Cedars to build its nests and old-growth cedar brakes and juniper-oak woodlands as habitat.


Juniperus grandis, known as Sierra juniper, Sierra western juniper, and western juniper, is a tree or tall shrub that is endemic to the Western United States. It is sometimes considered a variety or subspecies of Juniperus occidentalis, which is also known as western juniper.


Juniperus grandis is a medium-sized tree, growing to 12–26 metres (39–85 feet) tall. It has a stout trunk with red-brown bark, growing up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter.
The whorled leaves are scale-like and closely appressed. Most plants are dioecious, but about 5–10% are monoecious.
Its fleshy and berry-like cones are 5–9 millimetres (3⁄16–3⁄8 inch) in diameter. Its pollination period is May and June. The seeds are wingless.
Based on dendrochronological evidence from the 2,675-year-old Scofield Juniper, Sierra junipers are the fourth longest-lived tree species after the Great Basin bristlecone pine, alerce and giant sequoia.


Juniperus grandis is native to the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada; and the White and Inyo Mountains, San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, and higher elevations of Mojave Desert mountains, in Southern California.
It is found in exposed, dry, rocky slopes, flats, pinyon–juniper woodland, and temperate coniferous forest habitats, including the Sierra Nevada upper montane forest and Sierra Nevada subalpine zone ecoregions. It grows at elevations of 100–3,100 m (330–10,170 ft).


Juniperus occidentalis, known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of 800–3,000 meters (2,600–9,800 ft) and rarely down to 100 m (330 ft). It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a widespread species with an increasing population.


Juniperus occidentalis shoots are of moderate thickness among junipers, at 1–1.6 millimeters (1⁄32–1⁄16 in) diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long – to 5 mm (3⁄16 in) on lead shoots – and 1–1.5 mm broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5–10 mm (3⁄16–13⁄32 in) long. The cones are berry-like, 5–10 mm in diameter, blue-brown with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain one to three seeds; they are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring.
The majority of western juniper seed germinate in springtime. In Oregon, where most of the western juniper trees reside, seeds germinate in April and foliage of the plant emerges in June. For seeds to be dispersed, water runoff, gravity, and animals dispersing seeds, all contribute to the distribution of the seeds.


The Sierra juniper, Juniperus grandis, is sometimes treated as a subspecies or variety of J. occidentalis (as J. occidentalis var. australis). The two species are distinguished by range, form, as well as essential oil and genetic evidence.
Juniperus occidentalis. Southeast Washington, eastern and central Oregon, southwest Idaho, northeastern California and extreme northwest Nevada, north of 40° 30' N latitude, east of the Cascade Range. A shrub or small tree 4–15 meters (13–49 ft) tall. Exceptionally tall specimens can be found in the John Day area of Oregon well in excess of 26–28 m (85–92 ft) tall where they compete for sunlight among ponderosa pines at the bottom of some deep side canyons. However, on open and barren ground 4–15 m (13–49 ft) with a bushier growth habit is more common. Cones 7–10 mm (9⁄32–13⁄32 in) diameter. About 50% of plants are monoecious with both sexes on the same plant, 50% dioecious, producing cones of only one sex.
Juniperus grandis. California and westernmost Nevada, south of 40° 30' N latitude in the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains. A medium-sized tree 12–26 m (39–85 ft) tall with a stout trunk up to 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in diameter. Cones 5–9 mm (3⁄16–11⁄32 in) diameter. Most plants dioecious, but about 5–10% are monoecious. The Bennett Juniper in the Stanislaus National Forest of California is considered the oldest and largest example at possibly 3,000 years old, with a height of 26 m (85 ft) and a diameter of 3.88 m (12 ft 9 in).


Juniperus occidentalis usually occurs on dry, rocky sites where there is less competition from larger species like ponderosa pine and coast Douglas-fir. In very exposed positions at high altitude, they can assume a krummholz habit, growing low to the ground even when mature with a wide trunk. Hybrids with Juniperus osteosperma are occasionally found.
Annual precipitation can be as low as 20 centimetres (7+7⁄8 in).


The cones are an important food for several birds, including American robin, Clark's nutcracker, phainopepla and cedar waxwing; these digest the fleshy cone scales and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
The plants often bear galls caused by the juniper tip midge, Oligotrophus betheli. These are violet-purple fading to brown, 1–2 cm (3⁄8–13⁄16 in) in diameter, with dense modified spreading scale-leaves 6–10 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) long and 2–3 mm broad at the base.


In the past two decades, sagebrush steppe ecosystems have witnessed an expansion of Juniper throughout the Western United States. This alteration of vegetation change can be associated with the decreased fire frequency, overgrazing of livestock, and an alteration of climate that transformed into a more wet and mild climate.
Fire scar data was collected and dated to display the expansion of western juniper. It started between 1875 and 1885, with a pinnacle rate of development between approximately 1905 and 1924.
Since the 1990s use of prescribed fires to control expansion of western juniper has increased. The results of increased prescription fires show a positive effect on plant communities.


Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper; syn. J. utahensis) is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States.


The plant reaches 3–6 meters (9 ft 10 in – 19 ft 8 in), rarely to 9 m, tall. The shoots are fairly thick compared to most junipers, 1.5–2 millimetres (1⁄16–3⁄32 in) in diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long (to 5 mm on lead shoots) and 1–1.5 mm broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5–10 mm (3⁄16–13⁄32 in) long. The cones are berry-like, 8–13 mm (5⁄16–1⁄2 in) in diameter, blue-brown with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain a single seed (rarely two); they mature in about 18 months and are eaten by birds and small mammals. The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is largely monoecious with both sexes on the same plant, but around 10% of plants are dioecious, producing cones of only one sex.
The plants frequently bear numerous galls caused by the juniper tip midge Oligotrophus betheli (Bibionomorpha: Cecidomyiidae); these are conspicuous pale violet-purple, produced in clusters of 5–20 together, each gall 1–2 centimetres (3⁄8–3⁄4 in) in diameter, with dense modified spreading scale-leaves 6–10 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) long and 2–3 mm broad at the base.


The species is native to the southwestern United States, in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western New Mexico, western Colorado, Wyoming, southern Montana, southern Idaho and eastern California. It grows at moderate altitudes of 1,300–2,600 m (4,300–8,500 ft), on dry soils, often together with Pinus monophylla.


Seeds are dispersed by a variety of mammals and birds. Mammals include jackrabbits (mostly the black-tailed jackrabbit Lepus californicus spp.) rodents and to a lesser extent by coyotes (Canis latrans). Most notable among the birds that disperse juniper berries is the Townsend's solitaire (Myadestes townsendi).


Native Americans such as the Havasupai used the bark for a variety of purposes, including beds, and ate the cones both fresh and in cakes. The Havasupai used the gum to make a protective covering over wounds. Additionally, the Yavapai gave their women a tea made from the leaves to calm their contractions after giving birth, and fumigated them with smoke from the leaves placed over hot coals. The Navajo sweep their tracks with boughs from the trees so death will not follow them.
A small quantity of ripe berries can be eaten as an emergency food or as a sage-like seasoning for meat. The dried berries can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.
Utah juniper is an aromatic plant. Essential oil extracted from the trunk and limb is prominent in α-pinene, δ-3-carene, and cis-thujopsene. Essential oil extracted from the leaf is prominent in camphor and bornyl acetate. The trunk of Utah juniper retains essential oil for at least 20 years after the tree dies, and is prominent in cedrol and cis-thujopsene.


Juniperus oxycedrus, vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Algeria and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernmost Iran, and south to Lebanon and Israel, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level up to 1,600 metres (5,200 feet) in elevation. The specific epithet oxycedrus means "sharp cedar" and this species may have been the original cedar or cedrus of the ancient Greeks.


Juniperus oxycedrus is very variable in shape, forming a spreading shrub 2–3 metres (6+1⁄2–10 feet) tall to a small erect tree 10–15 m (33–49 ft) tall. It has needle-like leaves in whorls of three; the leaves are green, 5–20 millimetres (1⁄4–3⁄4 inch) long and 1–2 mm (1⁄32–3⁄32 in) broad, with a double white stomatal band (split by a green midrib) on the inner surface. It is usually dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The seed cones are berry-like, green ripening in 18 months to orange-red with a variable pink waxy coating; they are spherical, 7–12 mm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) diameter, and have three or six fused scales in 1–2 whorls, three of the scales with a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard seeds in their droppings. The pollen cones are yellow, 2–3 mm (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in late winter or early spring.
As to be expected from the wide range, J. oxycedrus is very variable. One recent study splits it into three species, though other authorities do not accept this:
Juniperus oxycedrus L. – Western prickly juniper. Southwest Europe, in eastern Portugal and Spain east to southern France, northwest Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia, and northwest Africa from Morocco east to Tunisia. Leaves long (10–20 mm or 3⁄8–13⁄16 in), narrow-based; cones smooth.
Juniperus navicularis Gand. (syn. J. oxycedrus subsp. transtagana) – Portuguese prickly juniper. Coastal southwest Portugal. Leaves short (5–12 mm or 3⁄16–1⁄2 in); cones smooth.
Juniperus deltoides R.P.Adams – Eastern prickly juniper. Central Italy east to Iran and Israel. Leaves long (10–20 mm or 3⁄8–13⁄16 in), broad-based; cones with raised scale edges.


An additional variety or subspecies J. oxycedrus var. badia H.Gay (syn. J. oxycedrus subsp. badia (H.Gay) Debeaux) is distinguished on the basis of larger cones (10–13 mm or 3⁄8–1⁄2 in diameter), tinged purple when mature; it is described from northern Algeria, and also reported from Portugal and Spain.
A further species Juniperus macrocarpa, confined to Mediterranean coastal sands, is more distinct but has also often been treated as a subspecies of prickly juniper, as J. oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa; it differs in the broader leaves (2–3 mm or 1⁄16–1⁄8 in wide), and larger cones (12–18 mm or 1⁄2–11⁄16 in wide).
Other close relatives of J. oxycedrus include Juniperus brevifolia on the Azores, Juniperus cedrus on the Canary Islands and Juniperus formosana in eastern Asia.


Cade oil is the essential oil obtained through destructive distillation of the wood of this shrub. It is a dark, aromatic oil with a strong smoky smell which is used in some cosmetics and (traditional) skin treatment drugs, as well as incense. Cade oil has, on rare occasions, caused severe allergic reactions in infants.


Juniperus scopulorum, the Rocky Mountain juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, from southwest Canada to the Great Plains of the United States.


Juniperus scopulorum is a small evergreen conifer reaching 5–15 metres (16–49 feet), rarely to 20 m, tall, with a trunk up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in), rarely 2 m, in diameter. The shoots are slender, 0.7–1.2 millimetres (1⁄32–1⁄16 in) diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, or occasionally in whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1–3 mm long (to 5 mm on lead shoots) and 1–1.5 mm (1⁄32–1⁄16 in) broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5–10 mm long. The seed cones are berry-like, globose to bilobed, 5–9 mm (3⁄16–11⁄32 in) in diameter, dark blue with a pale blue-white waxy bloom, and contain two seeds (rarely one or three); they are mature in about 18 months and are eaten by wildlife. The pollen cones are 2–4 mm (3⁄32–5⁄32 in) long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is dioecious, producing cones of only one sex on each tree. Rocky Mountain juniper is an aromatic plant. Essential oil extracted from the trunk is prominent in cis-thujopsene, α-pinene, cedrol, allo-aromadendrene epoxide, (E)-caryophyllene, and widdrol. Limb essential oil is primarily α-pinene and leaf essential oil is primarily sabinene.
One particular individual, the Jardine Juniper in Utah, is thought to be over 1,500 years old, while a dead trunk found in New Mexico was found to have 1,888 rings; older trees in the same area are suspected to exceed 2,000 years.


Juniperus scopulorum is closely related to J. virginiana, and often hybridizes with it where their ranges meet on the Great Plains. Hybrids with J. horizontalis also occur.
Isolated populations of junipers occur close to sea level in the Puget Sound area in Washington Park near Anacortes and southwestern British Columbia in a park called Smugglers Cove. In both locales, there are a considerable number of young and old specimens. Previously included in J. scopulorum, it has recently been shown to be genetically distinct, and has been described as a new species J. maritima. It is a cryptic species barely distinguishable on morphology, though it does differ in phenology, with the cones maturing in 14–16 months, and often has the tips of the seeds exposed at the cone apex.


The species is native to western North America, in Canada in south British Columbia and southwest Alberta, in the United States sporadically from Washington east to North Dakota, south to Arizona and also locally western Texas, and northernmost Mexico from Sonora east to Coahuila. It grows at altitudes of 500–2,700 m (1,600–8,900 ft) on dry soils, often together with other juniper species. It requires about 25 centimetres (9+7⁄8 in) of annual precipitation.


The Bohemian waxwing eats the berries. According to one study, a single bird consumed 900 in five hours.


Some Plateau Indian tribes boiled an infusion from the leaves and inner bark to treat coughs and fevers. The cones were also sometimes boiled into a drink used as a laxative and to treat colds. Among many Native American cultures, the smoke of the burning cedar is used to drive away evil spirits prior to conducting a ceremony, such as a healing ceremony.
A small quantity of ripe berries can be eaten as an emergency food or as a sage-like seasoning for meat. The dried berries can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute. The tree is sometimes planted as a windbreak and horticulturally in rocky, poorly irrigated soils.
The cultivar 'Skyrocket' is a very popular ornamental plant in gardens, grown for its very slender, strictly erect growth habit. Due to its disposition for a fungal disease, namely cedar apple rust, caused by Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae, 'Skyrocket' is more and more replaced by the new cultivar J. virginiana 'Blue Arrow'. 'Blue Arrow' is a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Several other cultivars are also grown to a lesser extent. It is also a popular collected tree for bonsai in the U.S.


Juniperus virginiana, also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain juniper) and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei (Ashe juniper).


Juniperus virginiana is a dense slow-growing coniferous evergreen tree that may never become more than a bush on poor soil, but is ordinarily from 5–20 metres (16–66 feet) tall, with a short trunk 30–100 centimetres (12–39 inches) in diameter, rarely to 27 m (89 ft) in height and 170 cm (67 in) in diameter. The oldest tree reported, from West Virginia, was 940 years old. The bark is reddish-brown, fibrous, and peels off in narrow strips. The leaves are of two types; sharp, spreading needle-like juvenile leaves 5–10 millimetres (3⁄16–3⁄8 in) long, and tightly adpressed scale-like adult leaves 2–4 mm (1⁄16–3⁄16 in) long; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or occasionally whorls of three. The juvenile leaves are found on young plants up to 3 years old, and as scattered shoots on adult trees, usually in shade. The seed cones are 3–7 mm (1⁄8–1⁄4 in) long, berry-like, dark purple-blue with a white wax cover giving an overall sky-blue color (though the wax often rubs off); they contain one to three (rarely up to four) seeds, and are mature in 6–8 months from pollination. The juniper berry is an important winter food for many birds, which disperse the wingless seeds. The pollen cones are 2–3 mm (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) long and 1.5 mm (1⁄16 in) broad, shedding pollen in late winter or early spring. The trees are usually dioecious, with pollen and seed cones on separate trees, yet some are monoecious.
There are two varieties, which intergrade where they meet:
Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana is called eastern juniper / redcedar. It is found in eastern North America, from Maine, west to southern Ontario and South Dakota, south to northernmost Florida and southwest into the post oak savannah of east-central Texas. Cones are larger, 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in); scale leaves are acute at apex and bark is red-brown.
Juniperus virginiana var. silicicola (Small) E.Murray (syn. Sabina silicicola Small, Juniperus silicicola (Small) L.H.Bailey) is known as southern or sand juniper / redcedar. Its variety name means "flint-dweller", from Latin silex and -cola. Habitat is along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from the extreme southeastern corner of Virginia, south to central Florida and west to southeast Texas. Cones are smaller, 3–4 mm (1⁄8–3⁄16 in); scale leaves are blunt at apex and the bark is orange-brown. It is treated by some authors at the lower rank of variety, while others treat it as a distinct species.


Eastern juniper is a pioneer species, which means that it is one of the first trees to repopulate cleared, eroded, or otherwise damaged land. It is unusually long lived among pioneer species, with the potential to live over 900 years. It is commonly found in prairies or oak barrens, old pastures, or limestone hills, often along highways and near recent construction sites. It is an alternate host for cedar–apple rust, an economically significant fungal disease of apples, and some management strategies recommend the removal of J. virginiana near apple orchards
In many areas it is considered an invasive species, even if native. It is fire-intolerant, and was previously controlled by periodic wildfires. Low branches near the ground burn and provide a ladder that allows fire to engulf the whole tree. Grasses recover quickly from low severity fires that are characteristic of prairies that kept the trees at bay. With the urbanization of prairies, the fires have been stopped with roads, plowed fields, and other fire breaks, allowing J. virginiana and other trees to invade. Trees are destructive to grasslands if left unchecked, and are actively being eliminated by cutting and prescribed burning. The trees also burn very readily, and dense populations were blamed for the rapid spread of wildfires in drought stricken Oklahoma and Texas in 2005 and 2006.
Eastern juniper benefits from increased CO₂ levels, unlike the grasses with which it competes. Many grasses are C4 plants that concentrate CO₂ levels in their bundle sheaths to increase the efficiency of RuBisCO, the enzyme responsible for photosynthesis, while junipers are C3 plants that rely on (and may benefit from) the natural CO₂ concentrations of the environment, although they are less efficient at fixing CO₂ in general.
Damage done by J. virginiana includes outcompeting forage species in pastureland. The low branches and wide base occupy a significant portion of land area. The thick foliage blocks out most light, so few plants can live under the canopy. The needles that fall raise the pH of the soil, making it alkaline, which holds nutrients such as phosphorus, making it harder for plants to absorb them. However, studies have found that Juniperus virginiana forests that replace grasslands have a statistically insignificant decrease to a significant increase in levels of soil nitrogen. J. virginiana forests have higher overall nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), despite the common grassland species Andropogon gerardi having a far higher NUE during photosynthesis (PNUE). The forests store much greater amounts of carbon in both biomass and soil, with most of the additional carbon stored aboveground. There is no significant difference in soil microbial activity.
Cedar waxwings are fond of the "berries" of these junipers. It takes about 12 minutes for their seeds to pass through the birds' guts, and seeds that have been consumed by this bird have levels of germination roughly three times higher than those of seeds the birds did not eat. Many other birds (from bluebirds to turkeys) and many mammals also consume them.


The pollen of Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a known allergen. This variety is native to Eastern North America, north of Mexico, with the pollen releasing at various points in the Spring, variable by latitude and elevation.


The fragrant, finely grained, soft, brittle, very light, pinkish to brownish red heartwood is very durable, even in contact with soil. Because of its resistance to decay, fence posts are fashioned from the wood. Moths avoid the aromatic wood, and therefore it is in demand as lining for clothes chests and closets, which are often denominated "cedar closets" and "cedar chests". If correctly prepared, excellent English longbows, flatbows, and Native American sinew-backed bows can be made from it. It is marketed as "eastern redcedar" and "aromatic cedar". The best portions of the heartwood are one of the few woods that are suitable for making pencils, however the supply had so diminished by the 1940s that the wood of the incense-cedar largely replaced it.
Part of the commercially available cedar oil is produced by steam distillation from wood shavings, it contains a wide variety of terpenes. The tree major components alpha-Cedrene, Thujopsene and Cedrol are more than 60% of the essential oil. The fruits also yield an essential oil which contains mostly D-Limonene.
The oil derived from foliage and twigs has two main constituents Safrole and Limonene. One minor compound is the Podophyllotoxin, a non-alkaloid toxin lignan.
Native American tribes have historically used poles of juniper wood to demarcate agreed tribal hunting territories. French traders named Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which denotes "red stick", from the reddish color of these poles. Some nations continue to use it ceremoniously.
The Cahokia Woodhenge series of timber circles that the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in western Illinois erected were constructed of massive logs of eastern juniper. One iteration of the such a circle, Woodhenge III, which is thought to have been constructed circa 1000 BC, had 48 posts in the circle of 410 feet (120 m) in diameter and a 49th pole in the center.
Among many Native American cultures, the smoke of burning eastern juniper is believed to expel evil spirits prior to conducting a ceremony, such as a healing ceremony.
During the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, the Prairie States Forest Project encouraged farmers to plant shelterbelts, i. e. wind breaks, of eastern juniper throughout the Great Plains of the USA. The trees thrive in adverse conditions. Tolerant of both drought and cold, they grow well in rocky, sandy, and clayey soils. Competition between individual trees is minimal, and therefore they can be closely planted in rows, in which situation they still grow to full height, creating a solid windbreak in a short time.
A number of cultivars have been selected for horticulture, including 'Canaertii' (narrow conical; female) 'Corcorcor' (with a dense, erect crown; female), 'Goldspire' (narrow conical with yellow foliage), and 'Kobold' (dwarf). Some cultivars previously listed under this species, notably 'Skyrocket', are actually cultivars of J. scopulorum.
In the Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma Ozarks, eastern juniper is commonly used as a Christmas tree.
This is the most widely used wood for making blocks for recorders. There are numerous properties that it possesses that make it uniquely suitable for this, such as good moisture absorption, low expansion when wet (so it does not crack the recorder head), and mild antiseptic properties.


Prey which contain iridoid glycosides can affect invertebrate predators differently. Chemical differences as a result of leaf age can affect the development of these butterflies, which can then affect the quality of these butterflies as food sources for spiders. One such observation indicated that iridoid glycosides may diminish growth of predators so that predators select for caterpillars that do not feed on iridoid glycoside-rich substrates. Iridoid glycosides have been shown to stimulate growth in prey while decreasing growth in predators, which may then be responsible for its role in providing chemical protection to butterflies.


The densovirus Junonia coenia infects the common buckeye larvae by focusing on targeting dividing cells in order to propagate. It consists of single stranded DNA genomes with a smooth, sphere-shaped capsid. It is from the family Parvoviridae and has been considered a potential insecticide, as is hypothesized for other one-species densoviruses. The Junonia coenia densovirus is unique in its separation of DNA strands for structural proteins versus nonstructural proteins.


The male upper side is bright yellow. The costa of the forewing has a broad triangular jet-black projection downwards at the discocellulars, and the dorsum has a triangular projection upwards near the tornus; this black margin narrows near the middle of the termen and bears on the apex two short transverse preapical white streaks crossed by the black veins. Below these is an obscure ocellus that is sometimes absent. The anterior half and the terminal margin of the hindwing is black, and the dorsum is broadly shaded with brown while the anterior black area has a large brilliant blue spot. The cilia of both forewings and hindwings are white alternated with brown.
The underside of the forewing is pale yellow. The cell is crossed by three laterally black-margined orange-yellow bars, beyond that is a short, broad, irregular jet-black oblique band from costa to base of vein 4. The hindwing is greyish yellow, and in the dry season its form is strongly irrorated (sprinkled) with dusky scales. With a prominent transverse brown discal fascia, its margins are highly sinuous. There is a brownish broad shade on the middle of the termen and some obscure lunular marks on the basal area. The antennae is pale, and the head, thorax and abdomen are dark brownish black; beneath that is a dull ochraceous white.
The female is similar, although the colours are duller. The cell of the upper side forewing has a more or less complete transverse black fascia and another at the discocellulars. A blue-centered well-marked ocelli is in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the forewing, and smaller ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the hindwing. The forewings and hindwings have a fairly well-defined pale subterminal line, though the blue spot on the anterior black area on the hindwing is small and ill-defined; the rest is as the male. The underside is also as the male, but generally has heavier and more clearly defined markings.


The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck (Jynx torquilla) is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. This species mainly breeds in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and in southern Asia from Iran to the Indian subcontinent, but some are resident in northwestern Africa. It is a bird of open countryside, woodland and orchards.
Eurasian wrynecks measure about 16.5 cm (6.5 in) in length and have bills shorter and less dagger-like than those of other woodpeckers. Their upperparts are barred and mottled in shades of pale brown with rufous and blackish bars and wider black streaks. Their underparts are cream speckled and spotted with brown. Their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or on the ground. The eggs are white as is the case with many birds that nest in holes and a clutch of seven to ten eggs is laid during May and June.
These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behaviour led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a "jinx" on someone.


The Eurasian wryneck was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758. The type species came from Sweden.
The genus name Jynx is from the Ancient Greek name for this bird, iunx. The specific torquilla is Medieval Latin derived from torquere, to twist, referring to the strange snake-head movements. The bird was used as a charm to bring back an errant lover, the bird being tied to a piece of string and whirled around. The English "wryneck" refers to the same twisting movement and was first recorded in 1585.
The family Picidae has four subfamilies, the Picinae (woodpeckers), the Picumninae (piculets), the Jynginae (wrynecks) and the monotypic Nesoctitinae (Antillean piculet). Based on morphology and behaviour, the Picumninae was considered to be the sister clade of the Picinae. This has now been confirmed by phylogenetic analysis and the Jynginae are placed basal to the Picinae, Nesoctitinae and Picumninae.
Jynginae includes one genus (Jynx) and two species, the Eurasian wryneck and the red-throated wryneck (Jynx ruficollis), resident in sub-Saharan Africa. There are six subspecies of Jynx torquilla:
Jynx torquilla chinensis Hesse, 1911
Jynx torquilla himalayana Vaurie, 1959
Jynx torquilla mauretanica Rothschild, 1909
Jynx torquilla sarudnyi Loudon, 1912
Jynx torquilla torquilla Linnaeus, 1758
Jynx torquilla tschusii O. Kleinschmidt, 1907


The Eurasian wryneck grows to about 17 cm (6.7 in) in length. The subspecies Jynx torquilla tschusii weighs 26 to 50 g (0.92 to 1.76 oz). It is a slim, elongated-looking bird with a body shape more like a thrush than a woodpecker. The upperparts are barred and mottled in shades of pale brown with rufous and blackish bars and wider black streaks. The rump and upper tail coverts are grey with speckles and irregular bands of brown. The rounded tail is grey, speckled with brown, with faint bands of greyish-brown and a few more clearly defined bands of brownish-black. The cheeks and throat are buff barred with brown. The underparts are creamy white with brown markings shaped like arrow-heads which are reduced to spots on the lower breast and belly. The flanks are buff with similar markings and the under-tail coverts are buff with narrow brown bars. The primaries and secondaries are brown with rufous-buff markings. The beak is brown, long and slender with a broad base and sharp tip. The irises are hazel and the slender legs and feet are pale brown. The first and second toes are shorter than the others. The first and fourth toes point backwards and the second and third point forwards, a good arrangement for clinging to vertical surfaces.
The call of the Eurasian wryneck is a series of repeated harsh, shrill notes quee-quee-quee-quee lasting for several seconds and is reminiscent of the voice of the lesser spotted woodpecker. Its alarm call is a short series of staccato "tuck"s and when disturbed on the nest it hisses.


The Eurasian wryneck has a palearctic distribution. The breeding range of the nominate subspecies includes all of Europe from Britain to the Urals. In the north it reaches the Arctic Circle and the range includes Spain in the southwest. In the south and east it intergrades with J. t. tschusii (smaller and more reddish brown) which is found in Corsica, Italy, Dalmatia and parts of the Balkans. J. t. mauretanica (also smaller than the nominate form, light, with whitish throat and breast) is resident in Algeria and Morocco and possibly also the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and parts of Sicily. J. t. sarudnyi (considerably paler than the nominate with fainter markings) occurs in the Urals and then in a wide strip of Asia through southern Siberia, Central Asia, including the north-western Himalayas to the Pacific coast. J. t. chinensis breeds in eastern Siberia and northeastern and central China while J. t. himalayana breeds in Pakistan and the northwestern Himalayas. Eurasian wrynecks also inhabit the island of Sakhalin, Japan and the coastal areas of southern China.
The Eurasian wryneck is the only European woodpecker to undertake long-distance migrations. The wintering area of European species is located south of the Sahara, in a wide strip across Africa extending from Senegal, Gambia and Sierra Leone in the west to Ethiopia in the east. Its southern limit extends to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The populations from West Asia use the same wintering areas. The Central and East Asian breeding birds winter in the Indian subcontinent or southern East Asia including southern Japan.
During the summer the bird is found in open countryside, parkland, gardens, orchards, heaths and hedgerows, especially where there are some old trees. It may also inhabit deciduous woodland and in Scandinavia it also occurs in coniferous forests.


The Eurasian wryneck sometimes forms small groups during migration and in its winter quarters but in the summer is usually found in pairs. It characteristically holds its head high with its beak pointing slightly upwards. A mutual display that occurs at any time of year involves two birds perched facing each other with their heads far back and beaks wide open, bobbing their heads up and down. Sometimes the head is allowed to slump sideways and hang limply. On other occasions, when excited, the head is shaken and twisted about violently. When disturbed on the nest or held in the hand, the neck contorts and twists in all directions. The bird sometimes feigns death and hangs limply with eyes closed.
On returning to the breeding area after migration, the birds set up territories. On farmland in Switzerland it has been found that old pear orchards with large numbers of ant nests are preferentially selected over other habitats. Areas used for vegetable cultivation provided useful habitat when they include areas of bare ground on which the birds can forage. Territories are not chosen at random as arriving birds favoured certain areas over others with the same territories being colonised first year after year. The presence of other Eurasian wrynecks in the vicinity is also a positive influence. Orchards in general, and older ones in particular, provide favoured territories, probably because the dense foliage is more likely to support high numbers of aphids and the ground beneath has scant vegetation cover, both of which factors increase the availability of ants, the birds' main prey. Despite some territories being consistently chosen over others, reproductive success in these territories was no higher than in others. Limiting factors for such crevice-nesting species as Eurasian wrynecks are both the availability of nesting sites and the number of ants and their ease of discovery. Modern farming practices such as the removal of hedges, forest patches and isolated trees and the increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides are disadvantageous to such birds.
The diet of the Eurasian wryneck consists chiefly of ants but beetles and their larvae, moths, spiders and woodlice are also eaten. Although much time is spent in the upper branches of trees, the bird sometimes perches in low bushes and mostly forages on the ground, moving around with short hops with its tail held in a raised position. It can cling to tree trunks, often moving obliquely, and sometimes pressing its tail against the surface as a prop. It does not make holes in bark with its beak but picks up prey with a rapid extension and retraction of its tongue and it sometimes catches insects while on the wing. Its flight is rather slow and undulating.


The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Eurasian wryneck as being of "least concern" in its Red List of Threatened Species. This is because it has a world population estimated at up to fifteen million individual birds and a very wide geographical range. The population may be decreasing to a certain extent but not at such a rate as to make the bird reach the threshold for a more threatened category. In continental Europe, the largest populations are in Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Belarus and Ukraine, and only in Romania is the population trend believed to be upward. In Russia, where there are believed to be 300,000 to 800,000 individuals, the population trend is unknown. In the United Kingdom the numbers of bird are on the decrease and it is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention. It is protected as a migratory species under the Birds Directive in the European Union. In Switzerland, the population has also been decreasing, but the species has reacted positively to conservation measures such as the addition of nestboxes in suitable habitats.


Kallstroemia grandiflora, the Arizona poppy, is a summer annual herb of the deserts of the Southwestern United States, California, and northern Mexico.
Kallstroemia grandiflora has opposite, pinnately compound leaves. Large showy flowers often appear in abundance after summer monsoon rains,  with bristly trichomes, stipules, and orange corollas.


Kalmia angustifolia is a flowering shrub in the family Ericaceae, commonly known as sheep laurel. It is distributed in eastern North America from Ontario and Quebec south to Virginia. It grows commonly in dry habitats in the boreal forest, and may become dominant over large areas after fire or logging. Like many plant species of infertile habitats it has evergreen leaves and mycorrhizal associations with fungi. It is also found in drier area of peat bogs.


The attractive small, deep crimson-pink flowers are produced in early summer. Each has five sepals, with a corolla of five fused petals, and ten stamens fused to the corolla. They are pollinated by bumble bees and solitary bees. Each mature capsule contains about 180 seeds.
In the wild the plant may vary in height from 15–90 cm (6–35 in). New shoots arise from dormant buds on buried rhizomes. This process is stimulated by fire. The narrow evergreen leaves, pale on the underside, have a tendency to emerge from the stem in groups of three. The Latin specific epithet angustifolia means "narrow-leaved". A peculiarity of the plant is that clusters of leaves usually terminate the woody stem, for the flowers grow in whorls or in clusters below the stem apex.


Kalmia angustifolia is cultivated as an ornamental garden shrub. It prefers a moist, acidic soil in partial shade. The species has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use, of which K. angustifolia f. rubra, with rich red flowers, has also won the award.


Kalmia contains a glycoside, known as andromedotoxin. It is poisonous to mammals. Hence, it can be unwelcome in pastures. Several of its folk-names testify to the plant's toxicity: 'lamb-kill', 'sheep kill', 'calf-kill', 'pig laurel', 'sheep-laurel' and 'sheep-poison'. It is also known as  narrow-leaved laurel and dwarf laurel.


Kalmia latifolia, the mountain laurel, calico-bush, or spoonwood, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, that is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana. Mountain laurel is the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It is the namesake of Laurel County in Kentucky, the city of Laurel, Mississippi, and the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania.


Kalmia latifolia is an evergreen shrub growing 3–9 m (9.8–29.5 ft) tall. The leaves are 3–12 cm long and 1–4 cm wide. The flowers are hexagonal, sometimes appearing to be pentagonal, ranging from light pink to white, and occur in clusters. There are several named cultivars that have darker shades of pink, red and maroon. It blooms in May and June. All parts of the plant are poisonous. The roots are fibrous and matted.
The plant is naturally found on rocky slopes and mountainous forest areas. It thrives in acid soil, preferring a soil pH in the 4.5 to 5.5 range. The plant often grows in large thickets, covering great areas of forest floor. In the Appalachians, it can become a tree but is a shrub farther north. The species is a frequent component of oak-heath forests. In low, wet areas it grows densely, but in dry uplands has a more sparse form. In the southern Appalachians, laurel thickets are referred to as "laurel hells" because it is nearly impossible to pass through one.


Kalmia latifolia is notable for its unusual method of dispensing its pollen. As the flower grows, the filaments of its stamens are bent and brought into tension. When an insect lands on the flower, the tension is released, catapulting the pollen forcefully onto the insect. Experiments have shown the flower capable of flinging its pollen up to 15 cm. Physicist Lyman J. Briggs became fascinated with this phenomenon in the 1950s after his retirement from the National Bureau of Standards and conducted a series of experiments in order to explain it.


Kalmia latifolia is also known as ivybush or spoonwood (because Native Americans used to make their spoons out of it).
The plant was first recorded in America in 1624, but it was named after the Finnish explorer and botanist Pehr Kalm (1716–1779), who sent samples to Linnaeus.
The Latin specific epithet latifolia means "with broad leaves" – as opposed to its sister species Kalmia angustifolia, "with narrow leaves".
Despite the name "mountain laurel", Kalmia latifolia is not closely related to the true laurels of the family Lauraceae.


The plant was originally brought to Europe as an ornamental plant during the 18th century. It is still widely grown for its attractive flowers and year-round evergreen leaves. Elliptic, alternate, leathery, glossy evergreen leaves (to 5" long) are dark green above and yellow green beneath and reminiscent of the leaves of rhododendrons. All parts of this plant are toxic if ingested. Numerous cultivars have been selected with varying flower color. Many of the cultivars have originated from the Connecticut Experiment Station in Hamden and from the plant breeding of Dr. Richard Jaynes. Jaynes has numerous named varieties that he has created and is considered the world's authority on Kalmia latifolia.
In the UK the following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
'Freckles' – pale pink flowers, heavily spotted
'Little Linda' – dwarf cultivar to 1 m (3.3 ft)
'Olympic Fire' – red buds opening pale pink
'Pink Charm'


Kalmia latifolia has been marked as a pollinator plant, supporting and attracting butterflies and hummingbirds.


The wood of the mountain laurel is heavy and strong but brittle, with a close, straight grain. It has never been a viable commercial crop as it does not grow large enough, yet it is suitable for wreaths, furniture, bowls and other household items. It was used in the early 19th century in wooden-works clocks. Root burls were used for pipe bowls in place of imported briar burls unattainable during World War II. It can be used for handrails or guard rails.


Mountain laurel is poisonous to several animals, including horses, goats, cattle,  deer, monkeys, and humans, due to grayanotoxin and arbutin. The green parts of the plant, flowers, twigs, and pollen are all toxic, including food products made from them, such as toxic honey that may produce neurotoxic and gastrointestinal symptoms in humans eating more than a modest amount. Symptoms of toxicity begin to appear about 6 hours following ingestion. Symptoms include irregular or difficulty breathing, anorexia, repeated swallowing, profuse salivation, watering of the eyes and nose, cardiac distress, incoordination, depression, vomiting, frequent defecation, weakness, convulsions, paralysis, coma, and eventually death. Necropsy of animals who have died from spoonwood poisoning show gastrointestinal hemorrhage.


The Cherokee use the plant as an analgesic, placing an infusion of leaves on scratches made over location of the pain. They also rub the bristly edges of ten to twelve leaves over the skin for rheumatism, crush the leaves to rub brier scratches, use an infusion as a wash "to get rid of pests", use a compound as a liniment, rub leaf ooze into the scratched skin of ball players to prevent cramps, and use a leaf salve for healing. They also use the wood for carving.


Kalmia microphylla, known as alpine laurel, bog laurel, swamp-laurel, western bog-laurel or western laurel, is a species of Kalmia of the family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and can be found throughout the western US and western and central Canada below the subarctic.


Kalmia microphylla are characterized as being short, shrubs that have a maximum height of 24 inches and their growth rarely surpasses 6 ft. This plant is easily mistaken for the K. polifolia "bog-laurel" because of the similar characteristics of their flowers. K. microphylla can be distinguished by their clusters of pink or purple bell shaped flowers. The flowers are held within five fused petals that open in the shape of a cup. The stamens held within the petals react to insects that land on them by covering them with pollen. The plant produces green fruits, which are small and hard in form. Fruits are five parted capsules. The leaves of this plant are oppositely attached and are not deciduous. Leaves are distinctly lanceolate in shape with rolled leaf edges, a leathery texture, and dark green color. The plant's branches and twigs are fuzzy in early growth and then during maturity become smooth and reddish brown to grayish in color.


This is a perennial species and has active growth during spring and summer. These plants can frequently be found in alpine meadows, open wet areas and bogs. The habitat in which it optimally grows in open heath or shrublands with moist soil. The soil must have very low levels of calcium carbonate because the plant is intolerant of alkaline conditions. Distribution of Kalmia microphylla ranges from Alaska to California and now has expanded through much of northern Canada.


The kalmias are very poisonous plants, containing grayanotoxin. Kalmia microphylla has also been used for medicinal purposes in creating external washes for skin diseases.


Kalmia procumbens, commonly known as alpine azalea or trailing azalea, is a dwarf shrub of high mountain regions of the Northern Hemisphere that usually grows no more than 10 centimeters (4 in) tall. Originally named by Linnaeus as Azalea procumbens, it is also named after French botanist L.L.A. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps - Loiseleuria procumbens.


Kalmia procumbens is not well known though it is widely distributed. These plants are common in the subarctic regions and high mountains of the northern hemisphere.  In North America it reaches the southern limit of its range in the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Washington. It is easy to propagate.


Kalmia procumbens prefers alpine or subalpine, rocky exposed habitat. It grows above treeline with mountain heathers and at lower elevations in bogs.
It is a known host to the microfungus Delphinella polyspora, which grows on its pedicels and fruit.


Individuals of this species are shrubs grown for two to five rose-pink flowers. Its leaves are opposite and its evergreen leaves are leathery blades to 8mm long and have incised margin. Edges are rolled under green on the top and white with dense short hairs underneath.


Flowers of Kalmia procumbens are bell shaped and five lobed, and have five stamens. The flowering time is late spring and summer.


Keckiella antirrhinoides (formerly Penstemon antirrhinoides) is a species of flowering shrub in the plantain family known by the common names snapdragon penstemon and chaparral beardtongue.
It is native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and northern Baja California. It is also found in the chaparral—Colorado Desert ecotone of the Peninsular Ranges.


Keckiella antirrhinoides is desert shrub that grows one half to two and a half meters tall, with spreading branches.
The oppositely-arranged leaves are up to 2 centimeters long and are lance-shaped or narrow ovals. They are deciduous during dry periods.
The plant produces branchlike inflorescences which bear snapdragon-like flowers. Each hairy, glandular flower is about 2 centimeters wide, with three lower lobes which lie flat or curve down and two upper lobes which join to form a curved lip. Inside the flower are shiny filamentous stamens holding anthers and a flat, densely hairy sterile stamen called a staminode. The flowers are light yellow and dry to nearly black.


Keckiella cordifolia (formerly Penstemon cordifolius) is a species of flowering shrub in the plantain family known by the common name heartleaf keckiella. It is native to the coast and coastal mountains of southern California and northern Baja California, and it is a resident of chaparral and coastal woodland plant communities.
This is a spreading shrub reaching maximum heights in excess of two meters. Its shiny green leaves are oval to heart-shaped, pointed, and edged with small teeth. They are 2 to 6 centimeters long and arranged oppositely on the branches. The shrub produces glandular, hairy inflorescences of many flowers each. The flower is somewhat tubular with a wide open mouth. It is fuzzy on the external surface and any shade of pale orange to deep scarlet. It is up to 3 centimeters long and 4 wide at the mouth, which has three flat lower lobes and two joined upper lobes. Inside the mouth are long filamentous stamens and a flat, hairy, yellow sterile stamen called a staminode.


Keckiella ternata is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name scarlet keckiella.
It is native to the mountains of southern California and Baja California, where it grows in several local habitat types, including chaparral and woodland.


Keckiella ternata is a shrub often exceeding two meters in height and spreading slightly with wand-like, waxy branches.
The branches bear whorls of three leaves each, or oppositely arranged pairs of leaves. Each toothed, curving leaf is tapered at the base and pointed at the tip, oblong to lance-shaped, and up to 6 centimeters long.
The inflorescence is an array of solid red tubular flowers up to 3 centimeters long. The hairy staminode is visible in the mouth of the flower.


Kennedia prostrata, commonly known as running postman, scarlet coral pea or scarlet runner is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a prostrate or twining shrub with trifoliate leaves and usually red flowers.


Kennedia prostrata is a prostrate or twining shrub with wiry stems up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long and that are hairy when young. The leaves are on a petiole 5–50 mm (0.20–1.97 in) long with more or less round leaflets 6–35 mm (0.24–1.38 in) long and wide with wavy edges, the end leaflet on a petiolule 2–9 mm (0.079–0.354 in) long but the side leaflets more or less sessile. There is a heart-shaped stipule about 5 mm (0.20 in) long at the base of the petiole. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs on a peduncle 5–30 mm (0.20–1.18 in) long with bracts 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long at the base, the individual flowers on pedicels 5–25 mm (0.20–0.98 in) long. The five sepals are hairy, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long, the petals usually scarlet, rarely white. The standard petal is 13–23 mm (0.51–0.91 in) long, the wings 12–18 mm (0.47–0.71 in) long and the keel 12–22 mm (0.47–0.87 in) long. Flowering occurs from April to November and the fruit is a flattened cylindrical pod 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long.


Kennedia prostrata was first formally described by Robert Brown in 1812 in Hortus Kewensis. The specific epithet (prostrata) means "prostrate".


Running postman occurs in all Australian states except Queensland and the Northern Territroy and grows in a variety of habitats, often on coastal sand dunes and on rock outcrops.


The species is naturally adapted to sandy or lighter soils and prefers a sunny position. A widely cultivated species, it grows in temperate to subtropical areas and is hardy in most situations.


Kleidocerys resedae, the birch catkin bug, is a species of seed bug in the family Lygaeidae. It is found in Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China) and North America.


These four subspecies belong to the species Kleidocerys resedae:
Kleidocerys resedae flavicornis (Duda, 1885)
Kleidocerys resedae fuscomaculatus Barber, 1953
Kleidocerys resedae geminatus (Say, 1831)
Kleidocerys resedae resedae (Panzer, 1793)


Knightia excelsa, commonly called rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand's North Island and Marlborough Sounds (41° S) and the type species for the genus Knightia.
Rewarewa grows to 30 m tall, with a slender crown. The leaves are alternate, leathery, narrow oblong, 10 – 15 cm long and 2.5 - 3.5 cm wide, and without stipules. The flowers are 2 - 3.5 cm long, bright red, and borne in racemes 10 cm long. Produces dry woody follicles.
It was called New Zealand honeysuckle by early European settlers but the name has fallen into disuse in preference for the Māori name. Rewarewa flowers are a great source for honey production.
The rewarewa is noted for its timber, which is handsomely figured for interior work although not durable in exposed situations.


Kniphofia uvaria originates from the Cape Province of South Africa, and has been introduced into many parts of the world, such as North America, Australia, New Zealand, Patagonia and Europe as a garden plant. It is hardy in zones 5–10.
In parts of south-eastern Australia, such as the Central and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales and southern Victoria, it has escape cultivation and become naturalised. It is now regarded as an environmental weed in these locations, spreading from former habitations into natural areas, where it can grow in thick clumps and threaten sensitive ecosystems. Elsewhere in southern Australia it is regarded as a potential environmental weed, and it may have also naturalised in parts of South Australia and California. Also seen Kumaon Himalayas of India. Probably brought during British period.


The banded hickory borer, Knulliana cincta, is a species of longhorn beetle and the only species in the genus Knulliana. It is about 15–30 mm in length occurring throughout the eastern half of North America, including Mexico and the Bahamas, with one subspecies extending to the Sonoran Desert. If roughly handled it may start to squeak furiously. They are usually found on hickory trees and oak trees, where they lay their eggs; the larvae bore into the trees, sometimes doing significant damage. There are three described subspecies:
Knulliana c. cincta (Drury) - Eastern North America, Texas
Knulliana cincta ochracea (Bates) - Southeastern United States, Northeastern Mexico, Bahamas
Knulliana cincta sonorensis (Schaeffer) - Texas to Arizona, adjacent regions in Mexico


Koeleria macrantha is a species of grass known by the common name prairie Junegrass in North America and crested hair-grass in the UK. It is widespread across much of Eurasia and North America. It occurs in many habitat types, especially prairie.


Koeleria macrantha is a short, tuft-forming perennial bunchgrass, reaching heights from 20–70 cm (7+7⁄8–27+1⁄2 in). The leaves are basal and up to about 20 cm (7+7⁄8 in) long with a blue-green color. The inflorescence is nearly cylindrical and may taper somewhat toward the tip. It holds shiny tan spikelets which are sometimes tinted with purple, each about half a centimeter long. Its fruit is a grain that breaks once it has fully ripened.
It is a good forage for many types of grazing animals. It is classified as a severe allergen in humans with grass allergy.


Koeleria macrantha is a plant that prefers cooler seasons such as early spring or fall. It grows mostly in rocky or sandy, well-drained areas within forests or plains. It prefers more direct sunlight over partially shaded areas. It has the ability to grow in elevations as high as 2480 meters and as low as 121 meters above sea level.


Koeleria macrantha is used as an exceptionally low-maintenance lawn and turf grass. It is not suitable for high-traffic use due to its slow growth rate. It is often used for golf course roughs.


Koeleria macrantha is one of many dietary staples for all classes of livestock and several species of various prairie wildlife depending on the stage of its seasonal development. It provides a stable source of nourishment for livestock in early spring and has been utilized by several species of deer, elk, and sheep for a food source due to its ability to grow in remote areas where the environment is not suited for other plant life. Due to the fact that it grows in scattered areas, it has not become a large dietary staple for much wildlife but still provides moderate nourishment to prairie wildlife. It has been found to be palatable to all livestock and wildlife in its post-curing stage in spring and fall but the palatability drops for most species when seed production begins before curing.
Koeleria marcrantha spreads slowly via seed distribution. It will spread into bordering plant communities over time as an invasive species. A number of insects feed on K. macrantha, including the striped flea beetle (Phyllotreta striolata) which feeds on the roots and foliage.


Koeleria macrantha has been implemented in several areas of frequent wildfires due to its fire-resistant qualities. Due to its small size and the coarse leaves, they burn faster and transfer a very small amount of heat to the soil below. It also usually grows in small groups, which limits the amount of damage it can do once it burns. Although this species varies on its impact on fighting wildfires depending on the environment it grows in and the state of the plant, it provides a much needed damper for controlling the fire once it has begun.


The seed can be ground down into a powder then can be boiled in water, like a porridge, or made into flour or bread.


The leaves of the plant can be woven together to make brooms or brushes. Long stalks of the plant can be strung together with other plant fiber or string to be used for cleaning pots and pans. It has also been used as a building material when mixed with adobe for its adhesive qualities and strength.


Koelreuteria paniculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to eastern Asia, in China and Korea. It was introduced in Europe in 1747, and to America in 1763, and has become a popular landscape tree worldwide. Common names include goldenrain tree, pride of India, China tree, and the varnish tree.


It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 7 m (23 ft) tall, with a broad, dome-shaped crown. The leaves are pinnate, 15–40 cm (6–16 in) long, rarely to 50 cm (20 in), with 7-15 leaflets 3–8 cm long, with a deeply serrated margin; the larger leaflets at the midpoint of the leaf are sometimes themselves pinnate but the leaves are not consistently fully bipinnate as in the related Koelreuteria bipinnata.
The flowers are yellow, with four petals, growing in large terminal panicles 20–40 cm (8–16 in) long. The fruit is a three-part inflated bladderlike pod, 3–6 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, that is green, then ripening from orange to pink in autumn. It contains several dark brown to black seeds 5–8 mm diameter.
There are several varieties:
K. paniculata var. paniculata. Northern China and Korea. Leaves single-pinnate.
K. paniculata var. apiculata (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) Rehder (syn. K. apiculata). Western China (Sichuan), intergrading with var. paniculata in central China. Leaves with larger leaflets commonly bipinnate.
K. paniculata var. fastigiata. Small growing columnar form originated in 1888.
K. paniculata var. variegata. a form with variegated foliage.