Korea Flora: Evergreen shrub, prostrate. Bark exfoliating. Branchlets yellow-brown, glabrous. Leaves needle-like, nearly flat or slightly curved, 4-10(-12) × 1mm. Dioecious. Cones blue or bluish-black. Seeds 1-3 per cone.

Gametophyte formation: June-July.
Fruiting: October.

Taxonomic note: Adams (2004) used the name J. communis var. nipponica (Maxim.) E. H. Wilson but adopted a broader subspecies concept for classification. The European populations are classified as subsp. communis , North American populations as subsp. depressa (Pursh) Franco, Asian populations (including parts of North America and Europe) as subsp. alpina , and western Asia as subsp. hemisphaerica (C. Presl) Nyman. This guide adopts this classification, using the name subsp. alpina for Juniperus communis .

Japan Flora: Procumbent shrub; branchlets yel Io wish-brown, glabrous; leaves crowded, spreading, short, acicular, linear- oblong, curved, short-pointed, lustrous, deep green, deeply concave with a white band above; cones globose, 7-9 mm. across, bluish-black, slightly glaucous.  Alpine zone; Hok­kaido; rare.   Sakhalin, Kuriles, Kamchatka, N. America to Siberia and Europe.

var. nipponica (Maxim.) Wilson Similar to the 인variety, but the leaves less strongly curved, 1-1.2 mm. wide, deeply sulcate above, keeled below; cones globose, rounded at apex.  Alpine slopes; Hokkaido, Honshu (n. distr.).

var. hondoensis Satake. Very close to variety nipponica but differs in the broader leaves, 1.7-2 mm. wide, and flatter leaves with a broad, 0.7-0.9 mm. shallowly depressed white band above; cones globose with a rather flat apex. Alpine slopes; Honshu (centr. distr.).