Flora of North America species comparison

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Juniperus scopulorum

Rocky Mountain juniper, Rocky Mountain redcedar, seaside juniper
Habit Trees dioecious, to 20 m, single-stemmed (rarely multistemmed); crown conic to occasionally rounded.
Bark

brown, exfoliating in thin strips, that of small branchlets (5–10 mm diam.) smooth, that of larger branchlets exfoliating in plates.
Branches

spreading to ascending;

branchlets erect to flaccid, 3–4-sided in cross section, ca. 2/3 or less as wide as length of scalelike leaves.
Leaves

light to dark green but often glaucous blue or blue-gray, abaxial gland elliptic, conspicuous, exudate absent, margins entire (at 20x and 40x);

whip leaves 3–6 mm, not glaucous adaxially; scalelike leaves 1–3 mm, not overlapping to overlapping by not more than 1/5 their length, keeled to rounded, apex obtuse to acute, appressed or spreading.
Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, of 2 distinct sizes, generally with straight peduncles, globose to 2-lobed, 6–9 mm, appearing light blue when heavily glaucous, but dark blue-black beneath glaucous coating when mature (or tan beneath glaucous coating when immature), resinous to fibrous, with (1–)2(–3) seeds.
2n

= 22.

Juniperus scopulorum
Habitat Rocky soils, slopes, and eroded hillsides
Elevation 1200–2700 m (0 m at Vancouver Island and Puget Sound) (3900–8900 ft (0 ft at Vancouver Island and Puget Sound))
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Juniperus scopulorum hybridizes with its eastern relative J. virginiana in zones of contact in the Missouri River basin (C. W. Comer et al. 1982) and with J. horizontalis (J. × fassettii Boivin; N. C. Fassett 1945). Relictual hybridization with J. virginiana is known in the Texas panhandle (R. P. Adams 1983).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Cupressaceae > Juniperus > sect. Sabina
Sibling taxa
J. ashei, J. californica, J. coahuilensis, J. communis, J. deppeana, J. flaccida, J. horizontalis, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J. osteosperma, J. pinchotii, J. virginiana
Synonyms Sabina scopulorum
Name authority Sargent: Gard. & Forest 10: 420, fig. 54. (1897)
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).



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