Juniperus excelsa

Taxobox
name = "Juniperus excelsa"

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Juniperus excelsa" subsp. "polycarpos"
status = LR/lc | status_system = IUCN2.3
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Pinophyta
classis = Pinopsida
ordo = Pinales
familia = Cupressaceae
genus = "Juniperus"
species = "J. excelsa"
binomial = "Juniperus excelsa"
binomial_authority = M.Bieb.

"Juniperus excelsa" (Greek Juniper) is a juniper found throughout the eastern Mediterranean, from northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria across Turkey to Syria and the Lebanon, and the Caucasus mountains. A subspecies, "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", syn. "J. macropoda".

It is a large shrub or tree reaching 6-20 m tall (rarely 25 m), with a trunk up to 2 m diameter and a broadly conical to rounded or irregular crown. The leaves are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves 8-10 mm long on seedlings, and adult scale-leaves 0.6-3 mm long on older plants. It is largely dioecious 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. ISBN 1-4120-4250-X.
*Farjon, A. (2005). "Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1-84246-068-4.
* [http://www.conifers.org/cu/ju/excelsa.htm Gymnosperm Database: "Juniperus excelsa"]
* [http://www.pinetum.org/PhotoMPF/junexc.gifphoto of tree in southwest Turkey]