The round blue mystery seeds from last week were juniper “berries.”

mystery-seed-26

Although they look like berries, they are actually female cones. If you look just to the left of the top row of three cones, you can see the seed that is normally inside the cone. You can also see a few dead leaves.

juniper

Junipers have scale-like leaves.

juniper2

Junipers grow in the mountains of Arizona. One of the most popular is the so-called alligator juniper, which has unusual bark that forms rectangular patches. Oneseed junipers and Utah junipers are also common. Another name for the Utah juniper is shaggybark juniper, which is what this one appears to be.

Note:

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