California Juniper

(Juniperus californica)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

California Juniper (Juniperus californica)

Identifying Characters: California Juniper may be recognized by its red-brown berries with a grayish bloom, the rounded, yellow-green foliage, the relatively large and oblong berries (0.5 to 0.75 inches in length), and the gray, fibrous bark.

Similar Species: California Juniper may be found with Western Juniper. The berries of California Juniper are red-brown with a grayish bloom. The berries of Western Juniper are blue-black with a whitish bloom. The berries of California Juniper are 0.5 to 0.75 inches in length, but those of Western Juniper are 0.25 to 0.4 inches in length.

Measurements: California Juniper is a small tree or shrub with a spreading, irregular crown. Mature individuals reach 40 feet in height and 1 to 2 feet in diameter at breast height.

Female Cones: Berry-like, about 0.5 to 0.75 inches in length; berries longer than wide, appearing oblong; red-brown with a grayish bloom; seeds 1 or 2.

Leaves: Leaves scale-like, usually in groups of three; scales 1/16 to 1/8 inches in length and with blunt apices forming stout, rounded twigs; color yellow-green with a gland dot.

Bark: Gray, fibrous, and shredding.

Native Range: California Juniper occurs in the lower slopes of mountains throughout most of California, northern Baja California, western Arizona, and extreme southern Nevada.

Habitat: This species lives primarily on the dry slopes of foothills and the foot of mountain ranges, extending out into the Joshua Tree zones of the Mohave Desert. The species is highly drought resistent, living in drier regions than other species of junipers.