JuniperNathan Van Cooten, CC BY 4.0
Native · Up to 8 m

Juniper

Juniperus communis · Cupressaceae

Juniper is an evergreen, usually a low, spreading shrub. Its sharp needles grow in threes, each with a white stripe on the inner face. The berries ripen black under a bluish waxy coating.

Know it byNeedlesUp to 1 cm, one white stripe down the cupped inner face.BerriesRound, 7 to 9 mm, green at first, on female bushes only.ShootsMostly upright, green when new, reddish brown after a year.

Then check · BarkGreyish brown, very shaggy and stringy, peeling away in thin sheets and long strings on older stems.

How to identify a juniper

Juniper: needlesZeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0
Needles

Sharp, up to 1 cm long and set in threes, each with one white stripe down its cupped inner face.

Juniper: berrieschrisdt, CC BY 4.0
Berries

Round and 7 to 9 mm, green at first, then black under a bluish waxy coating, on female bushes only.

Juniper: shootsZeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0
Shoots

Mostly upright and three-sided, with a ridge along each face, green when new and reddish brown after a year.

Learn the juniper in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Juniper shoots and needles: sharp needles in threes, one white bandZeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0
Shoots and needlesSharp needles in threes, one white band
Juniper berries: round and black under a bluish waxy coatingchrisdt, CC BY 4.0
BerriesRound and black under a bluish waxy coating
Juniper shape: low spreading shrub to small bushy treeNathan Van Cooten, CC BY 4.0
ShapeLow spreading shrub to small bushy tree

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Berries

In leaf: all year · Flowers: March to June · Berries: all year

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Wild on steep chalk slopes and downland in the south, and on open moorland, limestone crags and in old Scottish pine woods in the north and west. It is seldom planted. It is much rarer than it was, because so much of the open ground it grows on has gone.

What it’s mistaken for

  • YewBoth are native evergreens with needle leaves and a fleshy fruit. Leaf. Juniper: sharp, in threes round the twig. Yew: flat, in two rows, bending under a finger.
  • Leyland cypressBoth are evergreens of the cypress family. Leaf. Juniper: sharp needles in threes, to 1 cm. Leyland cypress: tiny overlapping scales, 2 to 3 mm.
  • Lawson cypressBoth are evergreens of the cypress family, with foliage that smells when you crush it. Leaf. Juniper: apples, lemons or gin. Lawson cypress: sour and green, like parsley.

More cypresses, junipers and redwoods

Giant redwoodSequoiadendron giganteumLawson cypressChamaecyparis lawsonianaWestern red cedarThuja plicata
In the app

There’s more of the juniper in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the juniper on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Nathan Van Cooten (CC BY 4.0), Zeke Marshall (CC BY 4.0), chrisdt (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.