Upright or spreading, to prostrate shrubs, occasionally small trees with thick young branchlets. Leaves needle-like, 4-6 mm long, close to stem with the tip spreading and with a sharp point, upper surface with 2 white bands, base extending down the stem. Old, dead leaves remain on the plant. Fruit reddish to black. Seed 1.
Asia
Leaves directed forwards close to shoots, bases tight to the stem, dead leaves remaining on the plant; seed 1.
MEYERI GROUP - LEAVES LONG AND BLUE
WILSONII GROUP - LEAVES SHORT AND GREEN This group of cultivars is now generally placed under Juniperus pingii W.C. Cheng.
Source: (1995). Cupressaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Juniperus squamata 'Blue Carpet'
Slow-growing, flat broad and dense, needles bluish and prickly. Sport of 'Meyeri' originating in nursery of j. Shoemaker, Boskoop, Netherlands c. 1970.
Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star'
Dwarf, dense, round to flattened, foliage as 'Meyeri' but more compact and without the strong leaders. Raised from compact form of 'Meyeri' in nursery of G. Hoogeveen, Reeuwijk, Netherlands c. 1950.
Slow growing, low, dwarf, rounded with short branches having tips that droop down. Needles short and grey green. English raised.
Vic: Dandenongs ('Pirianda').
Broad, branches widespreading, flattish, new growth yellowish, leaves greenish blue. A possible hybrid but fits most readily into this group. Raised h. Jensen, Ramlosa, Plantskola, Helsingborg, Sweden in 1946.
Dense, dwarf, columnar shrub, branchlets with hanging tips. Leaves green. Raised in England by Sir Edmund Loder c. 1925.
Small bush with main branches having branchlets that bend back at the tip. Leaves long, pointed and blue-grey. Found by F. Meyer, of US Dept Agriculture in Tientsin, China, as a pot plant. Introduced by the Arnold Arboretum, USA in 1914.
Juniperus squamata 'Prostrata'
Dwarf, slow-growing, ground-hugging, branchlets with drooping tips, leaves needle-like, blue-green. Raised in England by Hornibrook c. 1909 from seed collected by E.H. Wilson in China.
Low shrub with branches upright. Similar to 'Wilsonii' but smaller and with branchlets less drooping. Found in the National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kunt and introduced by Wansdyke Nsy, Devizes, Wilts, uk.
Medium-size, dense, upright shrub with branchlet tips drooping, needle leaves strongly curved, purplish in winter. (Possibly several clones under this name).Origin unknown.