late summer, opening the following spring before pollination. Pollen is disseminated primarily by wind from inconspicuous yellow male flowers on short branchlets, each flower usually containing six stamens. Female flowers are composed of three to eight pointed scales which become fleshy and fuse to form small indehiscent strobili, commonly called "berries" (15,18).

The berries ripen the second year after pollination from mid-September to mid-December and remain on the tree until March or April of the following spring; however, some fruits may persist on the tree for as long as 3 years (18). Immature berries are green and glaucous; ripe berries are bluish purple and covered with a conspicuous white, waxy bloom. The rounded fruit is resinous with a thin coat and averages about 5 to 8 min (0.2 to 0.3 in) in diameter.

Seed Production and Dissemination- Rocky Mountain juniper may begin bearing seed at 10 years of age, under favorable conditions. The optimum age for seed production is 50 to 200 years. Trees that are open grown, stunted, or under stress often are prolific seed producers. Rocky Mountain juniper is rated as a good to prolific seed producer throughout most of its range, but in parts of Idaho and Montana, production is reported as only fair. The interval between heavy seed crops varies from 2 to 5 years, but some seed is produced almost every year. Rocky Mountain juniper is as good a seed producer as its other tree associates, with the possible exception of Utah juniper and singleleaf pinyon.