''Juniperus excelsa'', commonly called the Greek juniper, is a

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

found throughout the eastern Mediterranean, from northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria across Turkey to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and Lebanon, Jordan, the Caucasus mountains, and southern coast of Crimea. A

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

, ''J. excelsa'' subsp. ''polycarpos'', known as the Persian juniper, occurs in the Alborz and other mountains of Iran east to northwestern Pakistan, and an isolated population in the Jebal Akhdar mountains of Oman; some botanists treat this as a distinct species, ''

Juniperus polycarpos ''Juniperus polycarpos'', commonly known as Persian juniper, is species of juniper native to western Asia. Some authorities classify it as a subspecies or variety of ''Juniperus excelsa''."''Juniperus polycarpos''". ''The Plant List''. Accessed ...

''."''Juniperus polycarpos''" . ''The Plant List.'' Accessed 6 December 2020

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Description

''Juniperus excelsa'' is a large

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or tree reaching tall, rarely . It has a trunk up to in diameter, and a broadly conical to rounded or irregular crown. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves long on seedlings, and adult scale-leaves 0.6–3 mm long on older plants. It is largely

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

with separate male and female plants, but some individual plants produce both sexes. The cones are berry-like, 6–11 mm in diameter, blue-black with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain 3-6 seeds; they are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 3–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring. It often occurs together with '' Juniperus foetidissima'', being distinguished from it by its slenderer shoots 0.7–1.3 mm diameter (1.2–2 mm diameter in ''J. foetidissima''), and grey-green, rather than mid green, leaves. The Algum wood mentioned in the Bible may be from this species, but is not definitely so.

References

* *Adams, R. P. (2004). ''Junipers of the World: The genus Juniperus''. Victoria: Trafford. . *Farjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. .
Gymnosperm Database: ''Juniperus excelsa''photo of tree in southwest Turkey

External links

''Juniperus excelsa''
- information, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN) {{Taxonbar, from=Q773892 excelsa Flora of Europe Least concern plants Flora of Bulgaria Dioecious plants