On bottomlands in southern states it may live to be 300 years old, more than 100 feet tall, and more than four feet in diameter. Its sky blue berries are used to flavor gin and as kidney medicine. They furnish winter food for wildlife and the tiny wingless seeds are scattered by birds. It is in great demand for pencils, cigar boxes, fence posts, poles, woodenware, canoes, and lining for clothes chests and closets. Moths avoid it.
Cedar oil is distilled from the twigs and leaves.
The common Juniper is a smaller tree, very variable and more likely to be a low spreading shrub. In the west we have the Utah or Desert juniper and the Sierra juniper. In the southwest there are four species, including the burly Alligator juniper with its thick bark checkered into scaly squares. Many of the earliest prehistoric people lived in or near the pinon pine and juniper forests which furnished them food, fuel, and wood for shelter or utensils. Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Harold Myron, Ph.D., Division Director.