Native Plants
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Wednesday - June 23, 2010
From: Round Mountain, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification, Trees
Title: Is the Ashe juniper native from Round Mountain TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Some friends and I disagree on something, and I hope you will settle the argument. Are the cedars found in the Texas hill country (ashe juniper) native or not?ANSWER:
They are native to North America, native to Texas and native to Blanco County. What they are NOT are cedars. They are Juniperus ashei (Ashe's juniper). The members of the Cedrus (cedar) genus are members of the Pinaceae family, and we did not find any native to North America. Ashe's Juniper, also referred to as Mountain Cedar, belongs to the Cypressaceae family.
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