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Juniperus scopulorum - Rocky Mountain juniper

Scientific Family
Cupressaceae
Synonyms
Juniperus virginiana var. scopulorum, Sabina scopulorum
Other common names
Rocky Mountain red cedar
Plant type
Trees
Riparian
No

Plant Description

Origin
Native
Similar species
Juniperus virginiana

Single trunk evergreen tree, with an irregularly spreading to pyramidal shape with spreading branches that droop at the tips.

Cooler sites. Drooping branch tips and bluish-green color. Bark exfoliating in thin strips; branches spreading to ascending; branchlets flattened; scale-like leaves tightly pressed close to the twig.

Height
To 40 feet
Width
To 15 feet

Habitat

Habitat description

Canyon bottoms, often on dry, and rocky slopes.

Plant Community
Grasslands
Montane Conifer Forest
Low elevation
3200
High elevation
9000

Leaves

Leaf color
Green or bluish-green
Leaf type
Scales
Leaf shape
Other
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaf attachment
Other
Leaf hairs
None
Spines
No
Leaf Drop
Evergreen

Leaves are scale-like to 1/8 inch long, closely appressed, scale-like, obscurely glandular, barely overlapping and covering older twigs closely.

Flowers

Tubular
No

Fruit

Fruit color
Dark blue with a whitish bloom
Fruit type
Cone or cone-like

Female cones roundish, soft, fleshy to a 1/4 inch in diameter and ripen the second season. There are 1 to 2 brownish seeds per cone. Male and female cones on separate trees, both borne on the ends of short branchlets. Male cones yellow, inconspicuous.

Bark/Branches

Bark color
Dark reddish-brown to grayish-brown
Bark texture
Shreddy or peeling

Bark is thin, fibrous, shedding in strips with age.