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Juniperus scopulorum
Also called River Juniper, Red-cedar, Rocky Mountain Red-Cedar, Seaside juniper, Rocky Mountain redcedar, Western Juniper, Colorado Juniper
Rocky Mountain juniper is a hardy, drought-tolerant evergreen conifer native to western North America, usually seen as a small tree or large shrub. It is widely planted in landscapes and thrives in dry, well-drained soil in full sun.
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 and small areas of northern Mexico. They are the most widespread of all the New World junipers. They are relatively small trees, occasionally just a large bush or stunted snag. They tend to be found in isolated groves or even as single trees rather than as the dominant tree of a forest. Though they can survive fires, they are vulnerable to them especially when young and this is one of the factors that can limit their spread into grasslands.
Rocky Mountain junipers provide habitat and food for wildlife. They provide cover to a range of species, from small birds and mammals to deer and bighorn sheep.
Rocky Mountain junipers are found across a wider range than any other new world juniper species, though it is almost nowhere a common species. More often they are scattered widely across the landscape in isolated groups, grove, or stands. The species is native to western North America, in Canada in south British Columbia and southwest Alberta, in the United States sporadically from Washington east to North Dakota, south to Arizona and also locally western Texas, and northernmost Mexico from Sonora east to Coahuila. It grows at elevations of 500–2,700 m (1,600–8,900 ft) on dry soils, often together with other juniper species. It requires at least 25 centimetres (10 in) of annual precipitation, though the average for its range is 38–46 centimetres (15–18 in) and it survives on Vancouver Island with as much as 66 centimetres (26 in) of precipitation. Though it grows in very dry environments in western North America and has great drought endurance, it is not as adapted to dry conditions as other western juniper species.
The primary uses of Rocky Mountain juniper are as an ornamental tree in landscaping. It is also used for firewood, as a herb, and for its rot resistant wood.
California Juniper · Canary Islands Juniper · Chinese Juniper · Common Juniper · Alligator Juniper · One-seed Juniper · Western Juniper · African Juniper · Creeping Juniper · Drooping Juniper · Temple Juniper · Flaky Juniper
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Juniperus scopulorum 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.
