Alligator Juniper

(Juniperus deppeana)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Stephen J. Baskauf

Alligator Juniper (Juniperus deppeana)

Identifying Characters: The checkered black to gray-black bark is very distinctive.

Similar Species: No similar species.

Measurements: A tree with a short, thick trunk and a rounded, spreading crown; height of mature individuals between 20 to 50 feet and diameter at breast height 3 to 5 feet.

Female Cones: Female cones berry-like, 0.4 to 0.5 inches in length and globular; color brown with a white bloom, hard and dry; 3-5 seeds, most commonly 4.

Leaves: Leaves scale-like, opposite in 4 rows; twigs quadrate (4- sided); scales sharp-pointed, between 1/8 and 1/16 inches in length; color blue-green with a gland dot and common with a dot of resin.

Bark: Bark black or gray-black, thick, and broken into a series of rectangular to square plates.

Native Range: Alligator Juniper is commonest in the dry mountain ranges of Arizona and New Mexico extending as far north as the San Francisco Peaks of Arizona and as far east as the Trans-Pecos region of western Texas. The species is widely distributed in Mexico.

Habitat: The species occurs on the dry rocky slopes of mountains within its range in association with pinyon pines and other juniper species.