''Juniperus californica'', the California juniper, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
native to southwestern North America.
Description
''Juniperus californica'' is a
shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
or small
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
reaching , but rarely up to tall. The bark is ashy gray, typically thin, and appears to be "shredded".
The shoots are fairly thick compared to most
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
s, between in diameter.
The foliage is bluish-gray and scale-like. The juvenile
leaves
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
(on the seedlings) are needle-like and long. Arranged in
opposite
In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...
decussate pairs or whorls of three, the adult leaves are scale-like, long on lead shoots and broad.
The
cones
In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''.
A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...
are
berrylike, in diameter, blue-brown with a whitish waxy bloom, turning reddish-brown, and contain a single
seed
In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...
(rarely two or three).
The seeds are mature in about 8 or 9 months. The male cones are long and shed their pollen in early spring. This juniper is largely
dioecious
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...
, producing cones of only one sex, but around 2% of plants are
monoecious
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...
, with both sexes on the same plant.
The California juniper is closely related to the Utah juniper (''
J. osteosperma'') from further east, which shares the stout shoots and relatively large cones, but differs in that Utah juniper is largely monoecious. Its cones take longer to mature (two growing seasons), and it is also markedly more cold-tolerant.
Distribution and habitat
As the name implies, it is mainly in numerous
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s, although its range also extends through most of
Baja California
Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
, a short distance into the
Great Basin
The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...
in southern
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, and into northwestern
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. In California it is found in: the
Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Pacific Coast Range ...
,
Transverse Ranges
The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of Southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Ba ...
,
California Coast Ranges
The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte County, California, Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Trans ...
,
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...
foothills,
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
, and at higher elevation
sky island
Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau and has extended to similarly isolated high-elevation forests. The isolation has s ...
s in the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
ranges.
It is also found off of the North American continental shelf, on
Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island () is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The various volcanoes are extinc ...
in the Pacific Ocean, where there are less than 10 individuals.
It grows at moderate altitudes of . Habitats include:
pinyon–juniper woodland
Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a biome found mid-elevations in arid regions of the Western United States, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen Juniperus, junipers, pinyon ...
with single-leaf pinyon (''
Pinus monophylla
''Pinus monophylla'', the single-leaf pinyon, (alternatively spelled piñon) is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range is in southernmost Idaho, western Utah, Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Nevada, eastern and southe ...
'');
Joshua tree
''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names.
This monocotyledonous tre ...
woodland; and
foothill woodlands, in the
montane chaparral and woodlands and
interior chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregions.
Conservation
The species is listed by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
as
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
, and not considered globally threatened. However, one of the southernmost populations, formerly on
Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island () is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The various volcanoes are extinc ...
off the
Baja California Peninsula coast, was almost destroyed by
feral
A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
s in the late 19th century, with only a few plants remaining.
Ecology
''J. californica'' provides food and shelter for a variety of native species, such as turkeys, deer, and many others. However, as the species matures, it becomes too tall to provide adequate food and shelter for deer and other ground animals of similar size. is a larval host for the native moth sequoia sphinx (''
Sphinx sequoiae
''Sphinx sequoiae'', the sequoia sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found in the United States from Oregon south through California, Nevada, and south-eastern Utah to Arizona and further south into Mexico's northern Baja Californi ...
'').
Uses
The plant was used as a traditional Native American
medicinal plant
Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...
, and as a food source, by the
indigenous peoples of California
Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and afte ...
, including the
Cahuilla people
The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California.[Kumeyaay people
The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai-Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Uni ...]
(''Diegueno''),
Serrano, and
Ohlone people
The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited ...
.
They gathered the berries to eat fresh and to grind into meal for baking.
The wood was also used for sinew-backed bows.
''J. californica'' is cultivated as an
ornamental plant
Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...
, as a dense shrub (and eventual tree) for use in
habitat garden
A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plan ...
s, heat and
drought-tolerant
In botany, drought tolerance is the ability by which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tole ...
gardens, and in
natural landscaping
Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden.
Benefits
Maintenance
Natural landscaping is adapted to t ...
design.
It is very tolerant of
alkali soil
Alkali, or alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH (greater than 8.5), a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico ...
, and can provide erosion control on dry slopes. It is also a popular species for
bonsai
Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...
.
References
Further reading
* Adams, Robert P. (1993): 10
''Juniperus californica'' ''In:'' Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.): ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' vol. 2.
* Adams, Robert P. (2004): ''Junipers of the World: The Genus'' Juniperus. Trafford Publishing .
External links
Calflora Database: ''Juniperus californica'' (California juniper)Gymnosperm Database: ''Juniperus californica''''Juniperus californica'' — UC Photos gallery
{{Authority control
californica
Flora of California
Flora of Nevada
Plants used in Native American cuisine
Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Pre-Columbian California cuisine
Pre-Columbian Southwest cuisine
Plants used in bonsai
Taxa named by Élie-Abel Carrière
Trees of Northern America