Native Plants
![](../_images/smarty_plants.gif)
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
![](../_images/mr_smarty_plants_logo_web_200w.jpg)
rate this answer
![](../_images/star_00.gif)
Tuesday - August 23, 2011
From: Golden, CO
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Plant Identification, Trees
Title: Average lifespan of Pinchot's Juniper from Golden CO
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
What is the average lifespan of Juniperus coahuilensis (syn. Juniperus texensis) trees?ANSWER:
Neither the names Juniperus coahuilensis, redberry juniper, nor Juniperus texensis appear in our Native Plant Database. However, further search online in the USDA Plant Database did provide the fact that it is, indeed, native to North America. Our Native Plant Database is an ongoing work in progress, and this will probably get added someday. However, in further search, we found several scholarly articles on Juniperus coahuilensis, including this one from treesofnorthamerica.net. The major problem in getting precise facts about this tree is that it grows in areas where it apparently interbreeds with other closely related junipers.
Digging a little further, we searched on Juniperus texensis, and learned that is a synonym for Juniperus pinchotii (Pinchot's juniper), which is in our Native Plant Database. By following that link to our page on Pinchot's Juniper, which read, we learned that is also referred to as "redberry juniper" as is the J. coahuilensis.
From the Gymnosperm Database, we found the only reference to age, on Juniperus pinchotii (Pinchot's juniper).
"Oldest
Ages to 175 years have been reported from isolated buttes in Garza County, Texas (Ellis and Schuster 1968, Mullins and Mitchell 1996)."
Unhappily, the answer to your question about average age is-we don't know and can't find out. We can say, from our research, that other members of the Juniperus family do live longer, up to 300 years, but very little research on tree age, especially in the remote areas in which these trees grow, means there just isn't any data to even use in making averages. Looking at the one figure we have, 175 years being the oldest, we would guess whichever of these junipers is the tree you are asking about would have an average age of about 100 years. This is purely a Mr. Smarty Plants guess, no quoting us in scholarly papers or using it to answer an exam question.
From the Image Gallery
More Trees Questions
Identification of tree with outrageous thorns
August 10, 2014 - Can you identify this tree? It has these outrageous thorns on its trunk. They are in clusters and are anywhere from 1" long to 4" long or so.
view the full question and answer
Webbing on the bark of a hackberry tree.
October 03, 2007 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants. We have a large hackberry tree in our back yard that has what appears to be extensive spider webbing covering large areas of the bark at the trunk . . and extending well up th...
view the full question and answer
Tree for fast shade in Huckabay, TX
July 31, 2013 - What tree should I plant for fast shade?
view the full question and answer
Non-native peanutbutter tree suckering in Oregon City OR
August 02, 2011 - I have a beautiful 'peanutbutter tree' in my yard. I have noted that there are plantlets coming up that appear to be attached to the main root(s) of the tree. I have been breaking them off as I don...
view the full question and answer
Non-branching mimosa tree
June 26, 2008 - I have a Mimosa Tree, just about 2 years old, grown from seed. The problem with it is that it has not branched out, it looks like one long branch growing out of the ground, about 5 feet if stood strai...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |