Utah Juniper Juniperus
Osteosperma
Description
And Distribution
Is a shrub or short tree
growing between 3-6m, 10-20 feet and on rare occasions up to
9m, 30-feet tall. It is a native of southwestern United States,
ranging through Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western New Mexico,
western Colorado, Wyoming, southern Montana, southern Idaho as
well as eastern California.
Poisonous
Cones
Utah Junipers bare cones that are of
blue wax enclosed berry-like composition. The cones are
poisonous to the majority animals whilst being a nutritious
food source to others like the cedar waxwing.
Misshapen And
Dying, But Looking Great
Older junipers have
charm and character developing with age as their large trunks
twist and contort to become attractively misshapen. The reason
for their strange shapes relates to lack of water, nutrients
and sap as a result of their transport mechanisms within their
tissue dying on one side of the trunk. With one side of the
tree receiving everything required for life and the other side
not receiving anything at all, one side grows and the other
not, so the growing side is biased and is pulled downwards and
towards the dead side whilst always trying to reach for the
sky.
Parasitic
Mistletoe Is The Culprit
The cause of the
tissue damage originates from a parasitic infection of
mistletoe, which taps into the tissues below the bark.
Eventually the Juniper will die. Birds initiate the disease by
eating the sticky mistletoe berries, some of which attach
themselves to the birds beak. The birds obviously find the
sticky mistletoe berries uncomfortable and remove them by
swiping the beak from side to side on the juniper branches.
Some of the berries remain lodged within the tree bark, from
where they begin their life cycle that eventually kills the
juniper. The cycle repeats time and again.
Tolerant Of
Drought But Susceptible To Fire
The tree can tolerate almost drought conditions and is often
found on desert fringes and it is their ability to in effect
partly die that enables them to live in extremes. As they
inevitably end up with reduced growth, they produce far less
leaf drop, which reduces the vegetation on the forest floor.
Also, as a consequence, those suffering the effects of tissue
damage, also become dry and susceptible to rapid and raging
fire damage.
Utah Juniper Juniperus
Osteosperma
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