Juniperus communis is a spreading shrub that often forms large clones. The stiff and sharp-pointed leaves can be painful to handle. The leaves are all spreading and whorled on the twigs, i.e there are often three leaves at a node as opposed to the other Wisconsin Junipers which have 2 opposite, mostly small, scale-like and tightly appressed leaves at each node of the twig. There is usually a light-colored stripe along the length of the top surface of each leaf.

Common juniper in Wisconsin is found mostly on sandy, sunny sites in counties near the shores of the Great Lakes or near the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, and in rocky or sandy, sunny disturbed sites at scattered locations in southern Wisconsin, and rarely in northern Wisconsin.