Juniperus californica – “California Juniper”

Family: Cypress (Cypressaceae)
Bloom Period: Plant does not make flowers.
Form: Shrub or small evergreen tree, 3-18 feet (1-6 m) tall
Habitat: Mountainsides and adjacent flatlands throughout the southwest deserts
Leaves: Tiny overlapping scales pressed flat against the twigs
Translation: “Juniperus” is simply the Latin name for this plant; “californica” means “Californian.”
Notes: Not a flowering plant and does not produce fruit. The blueish “berries” are actually cones. Junipers tend to be dominant or co-dominant in the areas where they grow: arid areas up to 6000 feet (1800 m) above sea-level. The hot flats are too dry for this plant, so in some landscapes, forests of it form a “band” on rocky slopes, starting at the elevation that is cool enough and ending at the one that is too high.
Native American Uses: The Cahuilla ate the berries fresh, sun-dried them for storage, and ground them dried into a meal for making porridge or bread. The Kawaiisu boiled the berries and ate them cold, made a porridge of the seeded, pounded berries that they ate right away or formed into cakes and dried for storage, and put away unprocessed berries for later use. They also used the bark as a covering for houses and the wood for making kitchen tools and hunting bows. The Kumeyaay considered the berries to be a starvation food only but used an infusion of the leaves and bark to treat hangovers and high blood pressure.
Animal Associations: The dense branches provide shelter and habitat for birds, including the Pinyon Jay, which nests there. Burrowing mammals dig their homes at the tree’s base among the roots and under the fallen wood. The cones are eaten by many birds and mammals, including the Ring-tailed Cat, Rock Squirrel, Panamint Chipmunk, Desert Woodrat, Cactus Mouse, Coyote and various species of White-Footed Mice such as the Pinyon Mouse. Leaves are eaten by the Bushy-Tailed Woodrat. Larval food plant for the Juniper Hairstreak butterfly, Loki Juniper Hairstreak butterfly and the Sequoia Sphinx moth.