Return to Native Trees of the Southern Rocky Mountains

Three kinds of juniper are common small trees on the foothills, low mountain slopes, and the mesa country of the southern Rockies. Junipers are easy to distinguish from the other evergreens. They have leaves or needles which are tiny triangular or pointed overlapping scales, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, usually pressed close to the stem. On young stems the leaves or needles may stick out from the stem.

The fruit is berrylike, blue or brown, often about a quarter of an inch across, containing only a very few seeds. The berries are actually miniature cones whose scales have grown in size and united. The berry requires from one to three years to mature the hard-shelled seeds inside. Juniper berries are a valuable food source for birds, thought they are not appetizing to humans. The seed inside the juniper berry passes through a bird's digestive tract unharmed, and the seeds are widely distributed in this way.

The reddish-brown or grey bark is thin and breaks into scales or long, fibrous shreds. It is used by birds to line nests, and was used by Indians for several purposes.

You must note details to distinguish between the three junipers. Often the location is enough to give the answer. For example, the juniper that dots the canyon country of western Colorado is usually the Utah juniper. In Wyoming and along the Colorado foothills north of Colorado Springs you are looking at Rocky Mountain juniper. All three species grow near each other only in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado.