Utah juniper
A short, twisted evergreen of dry canyon country, rooting in cracked rock at Mesa Verde, Black Canyon, and the Craters of the Moon lava fields.
Utah juniper at a glance
Juniperus osteosperma YOO-tah JOO-nih-per; Juniperus osteosperma is joo-NIP-er-us oss-tee-oh-SPER-mah
- Type
- Plant · conifers
- Diet
- Producer
- Size
- A short, often twisted tree, usually well under 20 feet tall, roughly two stories at most.
- Lifespan
- Among the longest-lived trees at Colorado National Monument, where the oldest reach about 900 years.
Like any conifer, it makes its own food from sunlight, water, and air in its scale-like leaves.
Is it safe to touch?
Harmless. The scale-like foliage feels a little scratchy, and the small blue-gray cones aren't food for people, but there's no real hazard here. Fine to walk past and touch.
A green tuft grows straight out of a crack in black rock, roots that found the one line of weakness in solid lava. At Craters of the Moon, NPS says Rocky Mountain juniper is the dominant tree of the lava country below 5,000 feet, but Utah juniper holds its own ground there too, low and twisted, wedged into the same broken flows.
The same tree does the same trick in completely different rock hundreds of miles away. At Black Canyon of the Gunnison, pinyon-juniper woodland is the predominant plant community in the park, and Utah juniper also turns up scattered along the river at the bottom of the canyon, mixed in with ponderosa pine and box elder wherever the sheer walls leave it a foothold. It isn’t picky about which hard place it grows in, lava or canyon rock, as long as there’s a crack to hold onto.
At Mesa Verde, that same pinyon-juniper woodland counts as one of the park’s largest plant communities, which means this short, scratchy-leaved tree is quietly one of the most common things underfoot on a mesa-top trail. Slow down at the next twisted trunk growing out of bare stone, and it’s likely one of these.
Did you know?
- At Craters of the Moon, Utah juniper grows in the park's lower-elevation lava country, alongside the more dominant Rocky Mountain juniper.
- Pinyon-juniper woodland is the predominant plant community at Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and Utah juniper also grows in scattered patches along the river at the canyon bottom.
- Pinyon-juniper woodlands are also among the largest plant communities at Mesa Verde.
Common questions
Does Utah juniper grow in lava rock?
Yes, at least at the edges. NPS says Rocky Mountain juniper dominates the lower lava country at Craters of the Moon, but Utah juniper grows there too.
Where does Utah juniper grow?
In dry, rocky country across the interior West, often paired with pinyon pine, including at Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and the lower lava country at Craters of the Moon.
Is Utah juniper dangerous to touch?
No. The scale-like foliage is a little scratchy, but there's no real hazard in walking past or touching one.