''Juniperus scopulorum'', the Rocky Mountain juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, from southwest Canada to the Great Plains of the United States.

Description

''Juniperus scopulorum'' is a small

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

conifer reaching , rarely to 20 m, tall, with a trunk up to , rarely 2 m, in diameter. The shoots are slender, diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, or occasionally in whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1–3 mm long (to 5 mm on lead shoots) and broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5–10 mm long. The

seed cones A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers an ...

are berry-like, globose to bilobed, in diameter, dark blue with a pale blue-white waxy bloom, and contain two

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s (rarely one or three); they are mature in about 18 monthsFarjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Adams, R. P. (2004). ''Junipers of the World''. Trafford. Flora of North America
''Juniperus scopulorum''
/ref> and are eaten by wildlife. The pollen cones are long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is dioecious, producing cones of only one sex on each tree. Rocky Mountain juniper is an aromatic plant. Essential oil extracted from the trunk is prominent in cis-thujopsene, α-pinene, cedrol, allo-aromadendrene epoxide, (E)-caryophyllene, and widdrol. Limb essential oil is primarily α-pinene and leaf essential oil is primarily sabinene. One particular individual, the

Jardine Juniper The Jardine Juniper is an individual of the species Rocky Mountain juniper found within Logan Canyon in the Cache National Forest. Often credited with an age of over 3,000 years, core samples taken in the 1950s revealed that it was around 1,500 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, is thought to be over 1,500 years old, while a dead trunk found in New Mexico was found to have 1,888 rings; older trees in the same area are suspected to exceed 2,000 years.Gymnosperm Database
''Juniperus scopulorum''
Retrieved January 1, 2008

Similar species

''Juniperus scopulorum'' is closely related to '' J. virginiana'', and often hybridizes with it where their ranges meet on the Great Plains. Hybrids with '' J. horizontalis'' also occur. Isolated populations of junipers occur close to sea level in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area in Washington Park near Anacortes and southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in a park called Smugglers Cove. In both locales, there are a considerable number of young and old specimens. Previously included in ''J. scopulorum'', it has recently been shown to be genetically distinct, and has been described as a new species '' J. maritima''. It is a

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

barely distinguishable on morphology, though it does differ in phenology, with the cones maturing in 14–16 months, and often has the tips of the seeds exposed at the cone apex.

Taxonomy

''Scopulorum'' means "of the mountains".

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to western North America, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in south

and southwest

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

sporadically from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

east to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, south to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and also locally western

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and northernmost

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

from Sonora east to Coahuila. It grows at altitudes of on dry soils, often together with other juniper species. It requires about of annual precipitation.

Ecology

The

Bohemian waxwing The Bohemian waxwing (''Bombycilla garrulus'') is a starling-sized passerine bird that breeds in the northern forests of the Palearctic and North America. It has mainly buff-grey plumage, black face markings and a pointed crest. Its wings are ...

eats the berries. According to one study, a single bird consumed 900 in five hours.

Uses

Some

Plateau Indian Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia ...

tribes boiled an infusion from the leaves and inner bark to treat

cough A cough is a sudden expulsion of air through the large breathing passages that can help clear them of fluids, irritants, foreign particles and microbes. As a protective reflex, coughing can be repetitive with the cough reflex following three ph ...

s and

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

s. The cones were also sometimes boiled into a drink used as a

laxative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

and to treat

colds The common cold or the cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the respiratory mucosa of the nose, throat, sinuses, and larynx. Signs and symptoms may appear fewer than two days after exposu ...

. Among many Native American cultures, the smoke of the burning juniper is used to drive away evil spirits prior to conducting a ceremony, such as a healing ceremony. A small quantity of ripe berries can be eaten as an emergency food or as a sage-like seasoning for meat. The dried berries can be roasted and ground into a

coffee substitute Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...

. The tree is sometimes planted as a

windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...

and horticulturally in rocky, poorly irrigated soils. Juniperus_skyrocket001

The

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

'Skyrocket' is a very popular

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

in gardens, grown for its very slender, strictly erect growth habit. Due to its disposition for a fungal disease, namely cedar apple rust, caused by ''

Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae ''Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae'' is a plant pathogen that causes cedar-apple rust. In virtually any location where apples or crabapples (''Malus'') and Eastern red cedar (''Juniperus virginiana'') coexist, cedar apple rust can be a destr ...

'', 'Skyrocket' is more and more replaced by the new cultivar ''J. virginiana'' 'Blue Arrow'. 'Blue Arrow' is a recipient of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit. Several other cultivars are also grown to a lesser extent. It is also a popular collected tree for bonsai in the U.S.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q533674 scopulorum Flora of the Rocky Mountains Trees of the Great Basin Trees of the Western United States Trees of the Northwestern United States Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of Alberta Trees of British Columbia Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Least concern plants Flora of North America Dioecious plants