{{Short description|Western North American species of juniper}} {{Speciesbox | name = Utah juniper | image = Juniperus osteosperma 1.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=''Juniperus osteosperma'' |volume=2013 |article-number=e.T42241A2965708 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42241A2965708.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> | status2 = {{TNCStatus}} | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{cite web |last1=NatureServe |title=''Juniperus osteosperma'' |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.160068/Juniperus_osteosperma |access-date=5 September 2024 |location=Arlington, Virginia |date=2024}}</ref> | genus = Juniperus | species = osteosperma | authority = (Torr.) Little, 1948 | synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=132523-2 |title=''Juniperus osteosperma'' (Torr.) Little |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list | Juniperus californica subsp. osteosperma | (Torr.) A.E.Murray (1982) | Juniperus californica var. osteosperma | (Torr.) L.D.Benson (1981) | Juniperus californica var. utahensis | Engelm. (1877) | Juniperus cosnino | Lemmon (1902) | Juniperus knightii | A.Nelson (1898) | Juniperus megalocarpa | Sudw. (1907) | Juniperus monosperma var. knightii | (A.Nelson) Lemmon (1900) | Juniperus occidentalis var. utahensis | (Engelm.) A.H.Kent (1881) | Juniperus tetragona var. osteosperma | Torr. (1857) | Juniperus utahensis | (Engelm.) Lemmon (1890) | Juniperus utahensis var. cosnino | Lemmon (1902) | Juniperus utahensis var. megalocarpa | (Sudw.) Sarg. (1919) | Sabina knightii | (A.Nelson) Rydb. (1905) | Sabina megalocarpa | (Sudw.) Cockerell (1908) | Sabina osteosperma | (Torr.) Antoine (1857) | Sabina utahensis | (Engelm.) Rydb. (1905) }} }} | range_map = Juniperus osteosperma range map.jpg | range_map_caption = Natural range }}
'''''Juniperus osteosperma''''' ('''Utah juniper'''; syn. ''J. utahensis'') is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States.
== Description == The plant reaches {{Convert|3–6|m|ftin|sp=us}}, rarely to 9 m, tall. The shoots{{which|date=February 2023}} are fairly thick compared to most junipers, {{Convert|1.5–2|mm|frac=32}} in diameter. The leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last1=Arno |first1=Stephen F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDD4DwAAQBAJ |title=Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees |last2=Hammerly |first2=Ramona P. |publisher=Mountaineers Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-68051-329-5 |edition=field guide |location=Seattle |page=177 |language=en |oclc=1141235469 |orig-date=1977}}</ref> or whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long (to 5 mm on lead shoots) and 1–1.5 mm broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, {{Convert|5–10|mm|abbr=on|frac=32}} long. The cones are berry-like, {{convert|8|–|13|mm|abbr=on|frac=32}} in diameter, blue-brown with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain a single seed (rarely two); they mature in about 18 months and are eaten by birds and small mammals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Little |first=Elbert L. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region |year=1994 |orig-date=1980 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50761-4 |edition=Chanticleer Press|page=317}}</ref> The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It is mostly monoecious with both sexes on the same plant, but around 10% of plants are dioecious, producing cones of only one sex.
The plants frequently bear numerous galls caused by the juniper tip midge ''Oligotrophus betheli'' (Bibionomorpha: Cecidomyiidae); these are conspicuous pale violet-purple, produced in clusters of 5–20 together, each gall {{convert|1|–|2|cm|frac=8}} in diameter, with dense modified spreading scale-leaves {{convert|6|–|10|mm|abbr=on|frac=16}} long and 2–3 mm broad at the base.
<gallery> Juniperus osteosperma 4.jpg|''J. osteosperma'' leaves, female and male cones Utah juniper cones 1.jpg|Utah Juniper galls 2013-07-04 15 10 08 Utah Juniper sapling along Interstate 80 east of Wells in central Elko County, Nevada.jpg|Seedling in northeastern Nevada Utah Juniper on Stansbury Island.jpg|Juniperus osteosperma on the northwest shore of Stansbury Island </gallery>
== Distribution and habitat == The species is native to the southwestern United States, in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western New Mexico, western Colorado, Wyoming, southern Montana, southern Idaho and eastern California. It grows at moderate altitudes of {{convert|1,300|-|2,600|m|abbr=on}}, on dry soils, often together with ''Pinus monophylla''.
== Ecology == Seeds are dispersed by a variety of mammals and birds. Mammals include jackrabbits (mostly the black-tailed jackrabbit ''Lepus californicus'' spp.) rodents and to a lesser extent by coyotes (''Canis latrans'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chambers|first1=Jeanne C.|last2=Vander Wall|first2=Stephen B.|last3=Schupp|first3=Eugene W.|date=January 1999|title=Seed and seedling ecology of piñon and juniper species in the pygmy woodlands of western North America|journal=The Botanical Review|volume=65|issue=1|pages=1–38|doi=10.1007/bf02856556|bibcode=1999BotRv..65....1C |s2cid=38377131|issn=0006-8101}}</ref> Most notable among the birds that disperse juniper berries is the Townsend's solitaire (''Myadestes townsendi'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Poddar|first1=Saradell|last2=Lederer|first2=Roger J.|date=July 1982|title=Juniper Berries as an Exclusive Winter Forage for Townsend's Solitaires|journal=American Midland Naturalist|volume=108|issue=1|page=34|doi=10.2307/2425289|issn=0003-0031|jstor=2425289}}</ref>
== Uses == Native Americans such as the Havasupai used the bark for a variety of purposes, including beds, and ate the cones both fresh and in cakes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/371 371] |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/371 }}</ref> The Havasupai used the gum to make a protective covering over wounds. Additionally, the Yavapai gave their women a tea made from the leaves to calm their contractions after giving birth, and fumigated them with smoke from the leaves placed over hot coals. The Navajo sweep their tracks with boughs from the trees so death will not follow them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |author-link=Donald C. Peattie |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |year=1953 |publisher=Bonanza Books |location=New York |pages=265–66}}</ref>
A small quantity of ripe berries can be eaten as an emergency food or as a sage-like seasoning for meat. The dried berries can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Elias|first1=Thomas S.|title=Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods|last2=Dykeman|first2=Peter A.|publisher=Sterling|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4027-6715-9|location=New York|pages=194, 197|oclc=244766414|orig-date=1982}}</ref>
Utah juniper is an aromatic plant. Essential oil extracted from the trunk and limb is prominent in α-pinene, δ-3-carene, and cis-thujopsene. Essential oil extracted from the leaf is prominent in camphor and bornyl acetate.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wilson TM, Poulson A, Packer C, Marshall J, Carlson RE, Buch RM|title=Essential oils of whole tree, trunk, limbs and leaves of Juniperus osteosperma from Utah|journal=Phytologia|volume=101|issue=3|pages=188–193}}</ref> The trunk of Utah juniper retains essential oil for at least 20 years after the tree dies, and is prominent in cedrol and cis-thujopsene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson T.M., Poulson A., Packer C., Carlson R.E., Davis R., Dey M.G., Owen N.M., Smalley S.W., Dodge R., Zahn G., Baadsgaard A., Stevens M.T. |date=December 22, 2021 |title=Essential oil, insect, and microbe relationships in Juniperus osteosperma (Cupressaceae) trees killed by wildfire |url=https://www.phytologia.org/uploads/2/3/4/2/23422706/103_4_106-118wilsonjuniperusosteosperma_12-20-21.pdf |journal=Phytologia |volume=103 |issue= 4|pages=106–118}}</ref>
==See also== *Pinyon-juniper woodland
==References== {{Reflist}} *R.P. Adams. ''Junipers of the World: The genus Juniperus''. Trafford Publishing {{ISBN|1-4120-4250-X}} *
==External links== {{Commons category|Juniperus osteosperma}} *[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=JUOS USDA Plant Profile: ''Juniperus osteosperma''] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050924084856/http://www.conifers.org/cu/ju/osteosperma.htm Gymnosperm Database: ''Juniperus osteosperma''] *[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500737 Flora of North America: ''Juniperus osteosperma''] *[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_cpn.pl?29774 Jepson Manual - ''Juniperus osteosperma''] *[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=ucjeps&where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Juniperus+osteosperma&title_tag=Juniperus+osteosperma ''Juniperus osteosperma'' - Photo Gallery] *[http://www.plantmaps.com/nrm/juniperus-osteosperma-utah-juniper-native-range-map.php Interactive Distribution Map of ''Juniperus osteosperma''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325210013/http://www.plantmaps.com/nrm/juniperus-osteosperma-utah-juniper-native-range-map.php |date=2013-03-25 }} {{Cupressaceae}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q2004617}}
osteosperma Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States Category:Flora of Colorado Category:Flora of Idaho Category:Flora of Montana Category:Flora of Wyoming Category:Trees of Northern America