Juniperus californica

Juniperus californica, the California juniper, is a species of juniper native to southwestern North America.

Description

Juniperus californica is a shrub or small tree reaching 3-8 metres (9.8-26.2 ft), but rarely up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. The bark is usually ashy gray and thin and looks “shredded”. The shoots are fairly thick compared to most junipers, between 1.5 and 2 millimeters (0.059 and 0.079 inches) in diameter.

Foliage is bluish gray and scale-like. The leaves are in opposite decussate pairs, or whorls with three. The adult leaves are scale-like and measure 1 to 5mm (0.039 – 0.197 in), on lead shoots, and 1 to 1.5mm (0.039 – 0.059in) wide. The seedlings’ juvenile leaves are needle-like, measuring 5-10 mm (0.20 – 0.39 in).

The cones look berry-like and are 7 to 13mm (0.28 to 0.51in) in diameter. They have a whitish, waxy bloom that turns reddish brown. They mature in 8 to 9 months. The male cones measure 2 to 4mm (0.79 to 0.157 inches) in length and shed their pollen in the early spring. This juniper is largely dioecious, producing cones of only one sex, but around 2% of plants are monoecious, with both sexes on the same plant.

The California juniper closely resembles Juniperus Osteosperma (Utah Juniper) from further east. It shares the large cones and stout shoots but is monoecious. Also, its cones take longer to mature (two growing seasons), and it is also markedly more cold tolerant.

Uses

Juniperus californica provides food and shelter for a variety of native species, such as turkeys, deer, and many others. However, as the juniperus californica matures, it becomes too tall to provide adequate food and shelter for deer and other ground animals of similar size. It is the larval host of the native moth, sequoia sequoiae .

Native Americans

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), and Ohlone people. They gathered the berries to eat fresh and to grind into meal for baking. The wood from the juniperus californica also used for sinew-backed bows.

Cultivation

Juniperus californica is cultivated as an ornamental plant, as a dense shrub (and eventual tree) for use in habitat gardens, heat and drought-tolerant gardens, and in natural landscaping design. It is very tolerant of alkali soils, and can provide erosion control on dry slopes. California Juniper is also a popular species for bonsai.

A species that is not currently considered to be globally endangered, but which is a IUCN least-concern listed species. In the latter part of the 19th century, feral goats decimated one of the most southern populations on Guadalupe Island, off the Baja California Peninsula Coast.

Distribution

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 can grow at altitudes between 750-1600m (2,460-5.250 ft). Habitats include: pinyon-juniper woodland with single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla); Joshua tree woodland; and foothill woodlands, in the montane chaparral and woodlands and interior chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregions.