J. barbadensis var barbadensis is confined to a single location on St. Lucia, formely it was known from Barbados but it is now extinct there.
J. barbadensis var. lucayana occurs in the Bahamas on the following islands: Great Abaco, Andros, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and New Providence. Although Adams (1989) cites a figure of ca. 100 plants in the Bahamas the number is between 2000-3000. In Cuba it is currently recorded from Camagüey (Cayo Sabinal), Holguín (Sierra de Nipe) and Isla de la Juventud, Pinar del Río (Sabanalamar), (Areces-Mallea 1997, Adams 1989), however it is thought to only be extant in the latter two locations (Adams 1989). In Jamaica 15-20 trees grow in St Andrew Parish near to Clydesdale (Adams 1989, pers. obs.) where it has an EOO of 30 km2. It is now extinct on Haiti.
Habitat and Ecology
This species occurs from sea level to 1600 m in a range of forest types depending on the country. In Cuba it is found in ‘bosque aciculifolio’ forest which is characterised as having about 30% forest cover dominated by Pinus spp. with evergreen trees and associated shrubs and herbaceous plants but very few epiphytes and climbers (Berazaín 2005). In contrast, on the Isle of Pines off the south coast of Cuba, it grows in forest swamps. In the Bahamas it is found in coppices on rocky slopes. On St Lucia it grows on rocky outcrops (volcanic origin) in deciduous seasonal forest (Graveson 2009) 30 m below the summit of a coastal mountain at an altitude of ca 700 m. Associated species include: the endemic Bernardia laurentii (sole location) and occasional small gnarled trees bent by the wind such as Capparis indica, Casearia decandra, Daphnopsis americana, Erithalis odifera, Krugiodendron ferreum, Tabebuia heterophylla. Non-woody species include: Agave caribaeicola, Peperomia magnoliifolia, Pitcairnia angustifolia, Tillandsia fasciculata and T. utriculata.
IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
Red List Criteria
- 1998Critically Endangered(Oldfield et al. 1998)
- 1997Endangered(Walter and Gillett 1998)
J. barbadensis var. lucayana: In Jamaica and Cuba the sub-populations are relatively restricted and occur in small stands with 5-30 individuals. In the Bahamas, the number is much higher and although there is no precise figure, it is believed to be between 2000-3000 individuals, most of which are confined to the islands of Andros, Abaco and Grand Bahama. In recent years there has been some reduction in some of these stands, for example the best stands at the west end of Grand Bahama have almost all disappeared due to the construction of apartments, a golf course and a marina.
- Conifer Specialist Group 2000. Juniperus barbadensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 July 2007.
- Conifers Around the World. Juniperus barbadensis var. barbadensis.
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