Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis)

Location: Just north of Kane Hall at the corner of Spokane Lane and Chelan Lane.

Identifying Features light: A smaller tree, the Western Juniper occupies drier sites up and down the western mountain ranges. Differentiating between different species of Juniper can be immensely difficult, as they share many of the same traits. This species has gray-green glandular foliage (with small holes on the leaves), with overlapping foliage, i.e. each small leaf overlaps the next in pairs and threes. They generally reach a height of 20-30 feet in height and a trunk girth of 2-3ft (although many specimens are stunted to the size of a ground shrub in more extreme environments). Often the cinnamon colored trunks are twisted and gnarled by the extreme environment they prefer, and it is not uncommon for multiple trunks to be present. The fruit of this coniferous evergreen are blue-black berries about a quarter inch in diameter with a tough resinous skin protecting 2-3 bony seeds. This is a relatively young specimen of a tree seldom seen in western Washington, but their native ranges they may live a thousand years or more.

Identifying Features In Depth:

1. Form: A smaller tree, often with multiple trunks due to a harsh native environment, generally growing to 20 or 30 ft (6-9m) in height but in known to reach a height of 78ft (25m) in one case. In the harshest settings they spread like a groundcover, seeming more as a low bush than a tree.

2. Leaves: Leaves of this tree are scale like and overlapping, gray-green in color and have distinctive gland pits on the back (a feature which helps distinguish them from other junipers and is clearly visible on this specimen). They are arranged alternately in pairs or threes and fringed with fine teeth.

3. Bark: Bark of this tree is cinnamon colored and stringy in nature, arranged in long diagonal fissures. On older specimens it is not uncommon for the reddish brown or light wood to be exposed by missing patches of bark.

4. Reproductive Bodies: The Juniper, although a conifer, produces berries of a blue to black color and containing between 2 and 3 hard seeds about 1/8 of an inch long (0.3 cm) with deep grooves on the back. The berries are round with a thick skin and thin resinous flesh, usually about a quarter to a third of an inch in diameter (0.6-0.8cm).

Historical Background: A hearty specimen, the Western Juniper occupies a harsh and unforgiving niche. In the desert it grows on dry sites facing blistering heat and drought, while in the mountains of California is faces the prospect of heavy snows deep enough to bury a good size specimen entirely. Junipers in general are a widespread group, the most common woody plant in the northern hemisphere in fact. As a result, they have been used by humans for a wide variety of purposes, perhaps the best known being the production of Gin from Juniper berries. In North American, indigenous peoples used the berries as a diuretic, and they were incorporated into treatments of diabetes, as well as for contraceptive. They were used by the Paiute for sore throats and colds, and as food. In contemporary times, timber of these sculptural trees was found by ranches to make exceptional fenceposts due to the slow rate of their decay, though the wood is far to gnarled and knotty to make it profitable as a source of timber for construction. This is perhaps a blessing, since the tree takes at least 20 years to become reproductively active and may take as many as 50 to produce a good crop of seeds. The largest specimen of the Western Juniper near Sonora Pass in California is thought to be more than 3000 years old. The berries are a food source for many small mammals and birds, who eat them and disseminate the undigested seeds in their droppings, including those of Robins and Coyote. Fruit takes 2 years to mature, so the ripe must be picked out from new growth. The berries (which are actually cones since this is a conifer) act as an important winter food source, especially in the rugged niche this tree thrives in.

Native Range: A rare tree in Washington State, it occurs southeastern portion of the state in the high desert plains. South of Washington it becomes more common, occurring in the empty country of eastern Oregon as well as on the slopes of the Cascades (although it is rare on the west side). It occurs readily on both sides of the Sierra Nevada and grow to elevations above 10,000 feet in that range and in the San Bernadino Mountains to the south of it.