Family |
Cupressaceae
Juniperus excelsa
M.-Bieb.
Juniperus excelsa M.Bieb.
First published in Tabl. Prov. Mer Casp.: 120 (1798).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 19, Pl. VII, 3; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Tree reaching 20 m, with a more or less pyramidal crown, fissured greyish bark and reddish-yellow branchlets.
Leaves: Small, overlapping, triangular-ovate scales, tightly pressed against the shoots and marked on the back by an oblong gland.
Reproductive structures: Pollen cones oval, erect or nodding.
Seed cones: Berry-like cones, brown to bluish-black with a waxy bloom; scales completely fused at maturity, enclosing 3–6 seeds.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Pollen cones appear in spring.
Habitat & elevation: High mountain woodland and slopes, reaching 2,800 m above the Cedars; uncommon south of the Beirut–Damascus axis.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Afqa, Ehden, Qamoua, Marj Hin, Jbab el Homr, Sir, the Cedars, Foumm el Mizhab, upper Akkar, the slopes above the Orontes springs, Yammouneh, Ainata, Hermel, Sannine and Fnaidek.
Syrian distribution: Anti-Lebanon: Talaat Moussa, Jabal Halime, north of Zabadani and Jabal Abou el Haoua.
Native range: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Transcaucasus, Türkiye.
Introduced into: Italy.