Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Cupressaceae > Juniperus > Juniperus occidentalis

Juniperus occidentalis (Western Juniper; Pencil wood; Sierra juniper)

Synonyms:
Language: Chi; Fre; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Rus

Wikipedia Abstract

Juniperus occidentalis (western juniper or Sierra juniper) is a shrub or tree native to the western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of 800–3,000 metres (2,600–9,800 ft) and rarely down to 100 metres (330 ft).
View Wikipedia Record: Juniperus occidentalis

Infraspecies

Juniperus occidentalis var. australis (Sierra Juniper) (Attributes)
Juniperus occidentalis var. occidentalis (western juniper)

Attributes

Edible [1]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [1]  Monoecious
Janka Hardness [2]  630 lbf (286 kgf) Soft
Leaf Type [1]  Evergreen
Pollinators [1]  Wind
Specific Gravity [3]  0.47
Structure [1]  Tree
Usage [1]  The bark is employed as a tinder and is also made into a slow match; The crushed bark was twisted into a rope, tied at intervals with yucca (Yucca species), and wrapped into a coil. The free end was set on fire and kept smouldering by blowing on it at intervals. Fire could be carried in this fashion for several hours; The bark can be wound around a stick and used as a torch to provide light and carry fire to a new campsite; The bark can be rubbed between the hands until it is soft and the fibres can then be woven into clothing; The bark can also be rolled into rope, coiled and then sown to form sandal shoes; The root fibre is used to make twined baskets; The branches have been burnt as an incense and fumigant in the home; The dried seeds have been used as beads or as the 'rattle' in rattles; Wood - very close-grained, light, soft, exceedingly durable. It is easily worked and can be exquisitely finished. Because of its small size, however, it is mainly used for fencing, fuel;
Height [1]  59 feet (18 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Juniperus occidentalis

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument III 8594 Oregon, United States

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Trachykele blondeli (Western Cedar Borer)[9]
Trachykele opulenta[9]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 2Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 3Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 4HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 5Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 6del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 7Sylvilagus nuttallii, Joseph A. Chapman, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 56, pp. 1-3 (1975)
♦ 8Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0