Common juniper is possibly the most widely distributed tree in
the world [78]. This circumboreal species occurs across North
America, Europe, northern Asia and Japan [78,88]. Common juniper is
almost completely circumpolar within the exception of a gap
in the Bering Sea region [65]. It is
widespread in North America beyond the northern limit of trees,
occurring from western Alaska and British Columbia to
Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland [78,88].
Common juniper extends southward through New England to the
Carolinas and westward through northeastern Illinois, Indiana,
northern Ohio, Minnesota, and Nebraska to the western mountains of
Washington, California, Arizona, and New Mexico [47,56,78,88].
Distribution of North American varieties is as follows
[47,56,78,88,136,63]:
Juniperus communis var. depressa northeastern North America, Idaho, Montana, the Great
Plains, and Great Basin; found up to the low arctic in eastern North America
Juniperus communis var. montana high-northern latitudes, circumboreal [45]
1 Jack pine
12 Black spruce
13 Black spruce-tamarack
14 Northern pin oak
15 Red pine
16 Aspen
18 Paper birch
19 Gray birch-red maple
35 Paper birch-red spruce-balsam fir
45 Pitch pine
107 White spruce
109 Hawthorn
110 Black oak
111 South Florida slash pine
201 White spruce
202 White spruce-paper birch
204 Black spruce
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
208 Whitebark pine
209 Bristlecone pine
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
216 Blue spruce
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
237 Interior ponderosa pine
239 Pinyon-juniper
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
248 Knobcone pine
249 Canyon live oak
251 White spruce-aspen
252 Paper birch
253 Black spruce-white spruce
254 Black spruce-paper birch
256 California mixed subalpine
Common juniper is an indicator in a number of forest and
shrubland habitat types and community types. It grows as an
understory dominant with ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa),
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), lodgepole pine
(Pinus contorta), limber pine (P. flexilis),
white fir (Abies concolor), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii),
white spruce (P. glauca), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides),
blue spruce (Picea pungens), whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis),
subalpine fir (A. lasiocarpa), or Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata).
Common associates in northern Utah include common snowberry
(Symphoricarpos albus), gooseberry currant
(Ribes montigenum), Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens),
hairy telegraphplant (Heterotheca villosa), timber
milkvetch (Astragalus miser), silvery
lupine (Lupinus argenteus), Thurber fescue
(Festuca thurberi), elk sedge (Carex geyeri), and
bottlebrush squirreltail
(Elymus elymoides) [84,90]. Common juniper is listed as a
codominant indicator species in the following classifications:
Old-growth forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountain national
parks [1]
Forest vegetation on National Forests in the Rocky Mountain and
Intermountain Regions: habitat and community types [4]
Forest vegetation of the Medicine Bow National Forest in southeastern
Wyoming: a habitat type classification [5]
Classification of the forest vegetation on the National Forests of
Arizona and New Mexico [6]
The vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland
Districts of the Custer National Forest: a habitat type
classification [49]
Preliminary forest habitat types of the Uinta Mountains, UT [51]
Forested plant associations of the Olympic National Forest
[52]
Forest vegetation of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in
central Colorado: a habitat type classification [53]
Forest vegetation of the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming: a habitat type
classification [57]
Forest vegetation of the Routt National Forest in northwest
Colorado: a habitat type classification [58]
Forest vegetation of the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota and
Wyoming: a habitat type classification [59]
Forest vegetation of the Gunnison and parts of the Uncompahgre
National Forests: a preliminary habitat type classification
[72]
Forest and woodland habitat types (plant associations) of
northern New Mexico and northern Arizona [74]
Field guide for forested plant associations of the Wenatchee
National Forest [76]
Coniferous forest habitat types of northern Utah [84]
Aspen community types of the Intermountain Region [89]
Aspen community types of Utah [90]
A forest habitat type classification of southern Arizona and its
relationship to forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental of
Mexico [91]
Forest habitat types of Montana [100]
Forest habitat types of central Idaho [122]
Coniferous forest habitat types of central and southern Utah [138]
Aspen community types on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in
western Wyoming [139]
Classification and gradient analysis of forest vegetation of
Cape Enrage, Bic Park, Quebec [140]
Related categories for
SPECIES: Juniperus communis
| Common Juniper
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Information
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System
