F. H. Miller @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Yavapai County Native & Naturalized Plants
   
 
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Plant Description

Origin: Native  Similar Species: Juniperus pinchotii, Juniperus erythrocarpa
General Description: Evergreen. Nearly always multi-trunked and more shrub-like than other junipers with open round crown and limbs well-hidden by lower branches. Crown rounded.
Identification notes: Multi-stemmed shrub or tree; male and female cones on separate plants. Bark fibrous, exfoliating in strips. Branchlets erect. Leaves scale-like, <1/8 inch, undersides have conspicuous glands. Seed cones reddish-blue to brownish-blue, juicy.
Height: 25 feet     Width: 8 feet


Habitat

Habitat Description: Found on dry hills, plains, and plateaus, often mixed with ponderosa and pinyon pines and other juniper species. More common north of Prescott, Arizona.
Plant Communities: Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 3000 - 7000 feet


Flowers - Gymnosperm, not a flowering plant


Leaves

Leaf Color: Green to dark green   Type: Scales   Shape: Other   Margin: Other   Attachment: Opposite   Hairs: N
Description: Scale-like leaves and whip leaves; scale-like leaves small, compact, keeled, taper to a point, to 1/16 inch long, tight and crowded on the twig in opposite pairs resulting in a slightly square twig, with elongate glands, most without white secretions.


Fruit

Color: Reddish-blue to brownish-blue   Type: Cone or cone-like   Description: Pea-size berry-like round cones to 1/4 inch in diameter, usually maturing in 1 year. Reddish-blue at maturity and covered with a bluish waxy substance. 1 to 2 seeds per cone. Stays soft and juicy at maturity.


Bark/Branches

Bark Color: Gray to brown   Bark Texture (Mature): Shreddy or peeling   Bark and Branch Description: Scaly with very irregular furrows and exfoliating ridges. Peeling, shreddy and fibrous. Trunk to 1 foot in diameter. Reddish-brown twigs moderately stout and somewhat angular.
Spines, thorns or prickles: N

  Arizona Cooperative Extension
Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Dr #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
(928) 445-6590
Version 8.0  
http://cales.arizona.edu/yavapaiplants/SpeciesDetail.php  
Last Updated: Dec 13, 2022
Content Questions/Comments: Email Matt Halldorson  
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