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Juniperus californica
Also called Desert White Cedar, Sweet Berried Juniper
California juniper is a drought-tolerant, multi-stemmed evergreen shrub or small tree native to southwestern North America, grown for its rounded form and blue-gray foliage. The key to growing it is full sun and excellent drainage, as it does not tolerate wet roots.
Juniperus californica, the California juniper, is a species of juniper native to southwestern North America.
As the name implies, it is mainly in numerous California habitats, although its range also extends through most of Baja California, a short distance into the Great Basin in southern Nevada, and into northwestern Arizona. In California it is found in: the Peninsular Ranges, Transverse Ranges, California Coast Ranges, Sacramento Valley foothills, Sierra Nevada, and at higher elevation sky islands in the Mojave Desert ranges. It is also found off of the North American continental shelf, on Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean, where there are less than 10 individuals.
The plant was used as a traditional Native American medicinal plant, and as a food source, by the indigenous peoples of California, including the Cahuilla people, Kumeyaay people (Diegueno), Serrano, and Ohlone people. They gathered the berries to eat fresh and to grind into meal for baking. The Ohlone ate the berries, but are reported to have considered the taste to be poor. The wood was also used for sinew-backed bows.
Canary Islands Juniper · Chinese Juniper · Common Juniper · Alligator Juniper · One-seed Juniper · Western Juniper · African Juniper · Creeping Juniper · Drooping Juniper · Temple Juniper · Rocky Mountain Juniper · Flaky Juniper
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Juniperus californica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
