ROCKY MOUNTAIN JUNIPER
juniperus scopulorum

• other common names: Western Juniper, Rocky Mountain Red Cedar

UNIQUE FEATURES:

• often develop massed outgrowths of branches called Witches' Brooms
• the only juniper that grows to tree size
• it is a shrubby tree with an irregularly rounded, wide, knotty and twisted trunk

LOCATION:

• mainly in southern British Columbia but can be found scattered throughout the province
• favours dry rocky or sandy soils
• found in moist rocky canyon bottoms, on dry, rocky southern facing ridges, along lake and stream shores

SIZE:

• can reach 13 metres in height

CONES:

• rounded, small, fleshy and berry-like
• found at the end of the branches
• green when young, bright to dark blue with a whitish bloom when mature
• have a gin fragrance
• ripen in second season, so can sometimes observe two generations of cones on the same tree

NEEDLES/LEAVES:

• scale-like
• appear in pairs, overlapping
• pale, yellowish green when young, greyish-green when mature

BARK:

• reddish-brown
• narrow, flat ridges broken into thin, shredded stringy strips

WOOD CHARACTERISTICS:

• reddish colour
• hard and durable
• fine grained, often knotty
• distinctive odor

USES:

• modern - carving, cooking, berries from certain species flavour gin
• traditional - wood: bows, clubs, spoons, carving; boughs: disinfectant, air freshener, in sweat houses, smoking hides; berries: tea, cooking