Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Juniperus deppeana

Juniperus osteosperma

alligator juniper, cedro Chino, checker bark juniper

sabina morena, Utah juniper
Habit Shrubs or trees monoecious, to 6(–12) m, multi- or single-stemmed; crown rounded.
Bark

exfoliating in thin gray-brown strips, that of smaller and larger branchlets smooth.
Branches

spreading to ascending;

branchlets erect, 3–4-sided in cross section, about as wide as length of scalelike leaves.
Leaves

light yellow-green, abaxial glands inconspicuous and embedded, exudate absent, margins denticulate (at 20x);

whip leaves 3–5 mm, glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–2 mm, not overlapping, or, if so, by less than 1/10 their length, keeled, apex rounded, acute or occasionally obtuse, appressed.
Seed(s)

cones maturing in 1–2 years, of 1–2 sizes, with straight peduncles, globose, (6–)8–9(–12) mm, bluish brown, often almost tan beneath glaucous coating, fibrous, with 1(–2) seeds.

Juniperus deppeana

Juniperus osteosperma
Habitat Dry, rocky soil and slopes
Elevation 1300–2600 m (4300–8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 5 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Juniperus osteosperma is the dominant juniper of Utah. It is reported to hybridize with J. occidentalis in northwestern Nevada (F. C. Vasek 1966).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina
Sibling taxa
J. ashei, J. californica, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana
J. ashei, J. californica, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. pinchotii, J. scopulorum, J. virginiana
Subordinate taxa
J. deppeana var. deppeana
Synonyms J. tetragona var. osteosperma, J. californica var. utahensis, Sabina osteosperma, Sabina utahensis
Name authority Steudel: Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2 1: 835. (1841) (Torrey) Little: Leafl. W. Bot. 5: 125. (1948)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers