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Utah Juniper
Scientific Name:
Juniperus osteosperma
Type:
Tree
Habitat:
Pinyon-juniper woodlands
Range:
American West
Status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Utah junipers are irregularly shaped trees, often described as bushy in appearance and typically less than 30 feet tall. They have rounded crowns as well as (usually) multiple trunks. Utah junipers are evergreen trees, and their leaves are dark green, flat and scaly. Their bark is gray-to-reddish and looks shredded. Utah junipers have tiny pine cones which each hold one seed.
Fast Facts:
The extensive root system of Utah junipers allow them to thrive in areas where sufficient water sources are scarce and most other trees find it impossible to survive.
Nearly one-fifth of the state of Utah is occupied by the Utah junipers.
These trees grow extremely slowly. Some Utah junipers may only reach 5 feet tall by age 50. Junipers can live well over 350 years, sometimes living to be 700!
Sources:
National Parks Service, The Indomitable Juniper, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/cany/learn/nature/utahjuniper.htm
Utah State University, Utah Juniper, 2017, https://extension.usu.edu/rangeplants/shrubs-and-trees/JuniperUtah
IUCN Red List, Utah Juniper, 2013, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/42241/2965708
Pyramid Lake, The Paiute Language, 2021, http://www.numuinc.com/home/the-tribe/the-paiute-language/
Image: Famartin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-04-26_14_45_17_Old_Utah_Juniper_on_the_summit_of_Grindstone_Mountain,_Nevada.jpg, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Faviola Rodriguez (research & content)
Bridget Mulkerin (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)