Common juniper is possibly
the most widely distributed tree in the world.
Common juniper is highly valued as an
ornamental, provides good ground cover even on
stony or sandy sites. This species was first
cultivated in 1560. This circumboreal species
occurs across North America, Europe, northern
Asia and Japan. Common juniper is almost
completely circumpolar within the exception of a
gap in the Bering Sea region. It is widespread
in North America beyond the northern limit of
trees, occurring from western Alaska and British
Columbia to Newfoundland, Greenland, and
Iceland. Common juniper extends southward
through New England to the Carolinas and
westward through northeastern Illinois, Indiana,
northern Ohio, Minnesota, and Nebraska to the
western mountains of Washington, California,
Arizona, and New Mexico.
Common
names:
* common juniper (Source: World Econ
Pl )
* malchangel (Source: Monog
Cupressaceae )
* genévrier (Source: HerbSpices )
[French]
* genièvre commun (Source:
HerbSpices )
* gemeine Wacholder [German]
* Wacholder (Source: HerbSpices )
[German]
* ginepro (Source: HerbSpices )
[Italian]
* zimbreiro (Source: Dict Rehm )
[Portuguese]
* enebro (Source: HerbSpices )
[Spanish] |
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Botanic Characteristics:
Common juniper is a native, evergreen shrub or
columnar tree. Throughout most of North America,
common juniper most often grows as a low,
decumbent mat-forming shrub reaching up to 4.9
feet (1.5 m) in height and 7.6 to 13.1 feet (2-4
m) across. In parts of New England common
juniper occasionally grows up to 25 feet (7.6 m)
in height, and a treelike growth form is
reportedly common in Europe. Height at maturity
can range from 2 to 50 feet (0.6-15.3 m). At
polar limits, common juniper grows as a dwarf
shrub in forest tundra.
The bark of common juniper is thin, shreddy or
scaly, often exfoliating into thin strips. Twigs
tend to be yellowish or green when young but
turn brown and harden with age. Leaves are
simple, stiff and arranged in whorls of 3.
Younger leaves tend to be more needlelike
whereas mature leaves are scalelike. Male
strobili are sessile or stalked, and female
strobili are made up of green, ovate or
acuminate scales. Berrylike cones are red at
first, ripening to a glaucous bluish-black. |
Habitat and Plant
Communities:
Common juniper is an indicator in a number of
forest and shrubland habitat types and community
types. It grows as an understory dominant with
ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii), lodgepole pine (Pinus
contorta), limber pine (P. flexilis), white fir
(Abies concolor), Engelmann spruce (Picea
engelmannii), white spruce (P. glauca), quaking
aspen (Populus tremuloides), blue spruce (Picea
pungens), whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis),
subalpine fir (A. lasiocarpa), or Rocky Mountain
bristlecone pine (P. aristata).
Common associates in northern Utah include
common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus),
gooseberry currant (Ribes montigenum),
Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens), hairy
telegraphplant (Heterotheca villosa), timber
milkvetch (Astragalus miser), silvery lupine
(Lupinus argenteus), Thurber fescue (Festuca
thurberi), elk sedge (Carex geyeri), and
bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides).
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock:
Wild ungulates generally eat only trace amounts
of common juniper. Deer and mountain goats
browse common juniper to at least a limited
extent in some areas including Wyoming and
Montana. Levels of use are typically greatest
during the winter or early spring. Common
juniper can be important winter mule deer food
during some years in parts of the Black Hills.
It is also used consistently through the winter
months by white-tailed deer in the Swan Valley
of Montana . Caribou have been observed feeding
on common juniper after fire. Moose feed on
common juniper "sparingly" in northern Michigan.
It also receives some light summer use by
mountain goats in Montana. In northern Canada,
barren-ground caribou browse "fairly often" on
common juniper where lichen growth is poor.
Hares browse common juniper in parts of Ontario
where use may range from low to high.
Domestic livestock rarely utilize common
juniper. The foliage may be poisonous to
domestic goats, although livestock in parts of
Europe have reportedly been fed sprays of common
juniper with no ill effects. Cones of most
junipers are eaten by many species of birds and
mammals. Numerous animals, including the
American robin and black-capped chickadee, feed
on the cones of common juniper whenever they are
available. American robins frequently consume
large numbers of cones during the spring and
fall. In eastern Ontario, cones provide food for
cedar and Bohemian waxwings. Wild turkeys also
feed on cones of common juniper.
The shade and cover value of common juniper
tends to be greatest for birds and small
mammals. It provides especially good nesting
cover for Merriam's wild turkeys in the Black
Hills of South Dakota. In New Jersey, it
provides winter roosts for short-eared owls. In
the Northwest Territories, common juniper
branches are used in woodrat nests.
Common juniper was used by Native Americans of
the Great Basin as a blood tonic. Native
Americans from the Pacific Northwest used tonics
made from the branches to treat colds, flu,
arthritis, muscle aches, and kidney problems.
Cones were used by the southern Kwakiutl of
British Columbia for treating stomach ailments
and wood or bark was used to treat respiratory
problems. The Interior Salish used cones to make
medicines for a variety of ailments. Eurasians
made tonics from common juniper for kidney and
stomach ailments, and rheumatism. Common juniper
contains a volatile oil, terpinen-4-ol, which is
known to increase kidney action [130]. Common
juniper extract, which can be fatal in even
fairly small amounts, was used to make gin and
as a meat preservative.
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