3. [Juniperus californica] Carr. Desert White Cedar. Sweet-berried Cedar.
Leaves usually in 3’s, closely appressed, thickened, slightly keeled and conspicuously glandular-pitted on the back, pointed at apex, cartilaginously fringed on the margins, light yellow-green, about ⅛′ long, dying and turning brown on the branch at the end of two or three years; on vigorous shoots linear-lanceolate, rigid, sharp-pointed, ¼′—½′ long, whitish on the upper surface. Flowers from January to March; male of 18—20 stamens, disposed in 3’s, with rhomboidal short-pointed connectives; scales of the female flower usually 6, ovate, acute, spreading, obliterated or minute on the fruit. Fruit short-oblong or ovoid, ½′—¾′ long, reddish brown, with a membranaceous loose skin covered with a thick glaucous bloom, thick fibrous dry sweet flesh, and 1 or 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, obtusely pointed, irregularly lobed and angled, and 4—6 cotyledons.
A conical tree, occasionally 40° high, with a straight, large-lobed unsymmetrical trunk 1°—2° in diameter; more often shrubby, with many stout irregular usually contorted stems forming a broad open head. Bark thin and divided into long loose plate-like scales ashy gray on the outer surface and persistent for many years. Wood soft, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, light brown slightly tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood; used for fencing and fuel. The fruit is eaten by Indians fresh or ground into flour.
Distribution. Dry mountain slopes and hills at altitudes between 400° and 4000°, from Moraga Pass and Mt. Diabolo, Contra Costa County, California, southward on the coast ranges, spreading inland to their union with the Sierra Nevada, and northward at low altitudes along the western slopes of the Sierras to Kern and Mariposa Counties; on the desert slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains, the northern foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, on the western slopes of the San Jacinto and Cayamaca Ranges, and southward in Lower California to Agua Dulce; arborescent and probably of its largest size on the Mohave Desert.
4. [Juniperus utahensis] Lemm. Juniper.
Leaves opposite or in 3’s, rounded, usually glandular, acute or often acuminate, light yellow-green, rather less than ⅛′ long, persistent for many years. Flowers: male with 18—24 opposite or ternate stamens, their connectives rhomboidal; scales of the female flower acute, spreading, often in pairs. Fruit ripening during the autumn of the second season, subglobose or short-oblong, marked by the more or less prominent tips of the flower-scales, reddish brown, with a thick firm skin covered with a glaucous bloom and closely investing the thin dry sweet flesh, ¼′—⅓′ long, with 1 or rarely 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, obtusely angled, marked to the middle by the hilum, with a hard bony shell, and 4—6 cotyledons.
A bushy tree, rarely exceeding 20° in height, with a short usually eccentric trunk sometimes 2° in diameter, generally divided near the ground by irregular deep fissures into broad rounded ridges, many erect contorted branches forming a broad open head, slender light yellow-green branchlets covered after the falling of the leaves with thin light red-brown scaly bark; more often with numerous stems spreading from the ground and frequently not more than 8°—10° high. Bark about ¼′ thick, ashy gray or sometimes nearly white, and broken into long thin persistent scales. Wood light brown, slightly fragrant, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely used locally for fuel and fencing. The fruit is eaten by Indians fresh, or ground and baked into cakes.
Distribution. Southwestern Wyoming (J. Knightii A. Nels.), southwestern Idaho (Pocatello, Bannock County), western Colorado, eastern Utah, and western New Mexico to northern Arizona and southeastern California at altitudes from 5000° to 8000°; the most abundant and generally distributed tree of the Great Basin, forming in the valleys open forests of stunted trees and shrubs, and on arid slopes more numerous and of larger size in dense nearly pure forests.