Juniperus deppeana


Juniperus deppeana is a small to medium-sized tree reaching 10–15 m tall. It is native to central and northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It grows at moderate altitudes of on dry soils.
The bark is usually very distinctive, unlike other junipers, hard, dark gray-brown, cracked into small square plates superficially resembling alligator skin; it is however sometimes like other junipers, with stringy vertical fissuring. The shoots are 1-1.5 mm diameter; the leaves are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three; the adult leaves are scale-like, 1-2.5 mm long and 1-1.5 mm broad. The juvenile leaves are needle-like, 5–10 mm long. The cones are berry-like, 7–15 mm in diameter, green maturing orange-brown with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain 2–6 seeds; they are mature in about 18 months, and are eaten by birds and mammals. The male cones are 4–6 mm long, and shed their pollen in spring. It is largely dioecious, producing cones of only one sex on each tree, but occasional trees are monoecious.
There are five varieties, not accepted as distinct by all authorities:
The berrylike cones are eaten by birds and mammals.