| Scientific Name: | Juniperus communis |
| Common Name: | common juniper |
| Family Name: | Cupressaceae |
| Origin: | Central / west Asia, Europe, North America |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 2: (-46 to -40 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Conifer, Ground cover |
| Mature Size: | 2 - 3m x 1.5 - 2.0m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Spreading |
| Form: | Creeping / Mat-like |
| Texture: | Fine |
| Landscape Uses: | Alpine, Attract birds, Erosion control, Filler, Group or mass planting, Mixed shrub border, Reclamation, Rock garden, Security/barrier |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Soil or Media: | Rocky or gravelly or dry, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Needle-like, Whorled, Prickly, Glabrous, Glaucous, Distinctive smell, Linear, Other, Entire |
| Flowers: | n/a (male cone), Yellow, Brown, Mar-Apr |
| Fruit: | Cone (winged seeds), Blue, Sep-Oct |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Habit variable, from low - prostrate - spreading shrub in windy locations to rarely upright, 3m tall multi-stemmed tree (specimens on campus are so far upright, but there are numerous cultivars) leaves needle-like in whorls of three (branchlets 3-sided), most 7-13mm long, sharply tipped, whitish stomatal channel on upper surface, glaucous, many shorter needles arising from axilliary buds; usually dioecious - pollen cones yellow then brown, 2-3mm long; seed cones subglobose, 4-9(-13)mm wide, with three fleshy scales (berry-like), green maturing bluish-black with a blue waxy coating, 2 or 3 seeds. <a href ="https://www.conifers.org/cu/Juniperus_communis.php" target="_blank">Conifers.org</a> | |