Common Names

Phoenician juniper (Vidakovic 1991), genévrier Phénicie (French).

Taxonomic notes

Two subspecies, the type and J. phoenicia L. subsp. turbinata (Guss.) Nyman 1881. Synonymy (Farjon 1998):

Subsp. phoenicia:

• Juniperus tetragona Moench 1794
• Juniperus terminalis Salisb. 1796
• Sabina phoenicia (L.) Antoine 1857
• Sabinella phoenicia (L.) Nakai 1938
• Juniperus phoenicia (L.) subsp. eumediterreanea P. Lebreton et S. Thivend 1981
• Juniperus lycia L. 1753
• Sabina lycia (L.) Antoine 1857
• Juniperus phoenicia L. var. lobelii Guss. 1826
• Juniperus oophora Kunze 1846
• Juniperus phoenicia L. var. malacocarpa Endl. 1847
• Juniperus phoenicia L. var. sclerocarpa Endl. 1847
• Juniperus bacciformis Carr. 1855
• Sabina bacciformis (Carr.) Antoine 1857

Subsp. turbinata:

• Juniperus turbinata Guss. 1844
• Sabina turbinata (Guss.) Antoine 1857
• Juniperus phoenicia L. var. turbinata (Guss.) Parl. 1868

Forma megalocarpa Maire differs from the type in having larger, purplish-brown fruits. Morocco: on the Atlantic coast (Vidakovic 1991).

Description

"A shrub or a small tree up to 6 (10) m high. Crown dense, conical. Bark dark brown. Shoots very slender, about 1 mm in diameter, roundish. Foliage scale-like, and needle-like on young plants; scale-like leaves ovate to rhombic, closely appressed, opposite or in whorls of 3, dark or blue-green, 1 mm long; needle-like leaves in whorls of 3, about 6 mm long, with 2 stomata bands on both the upper and lower surfaces. Monoecious or dioecious species. Fruit globose, about 1 cm across, glossy, yellowish or reddish-brown, slightly pruinose, on a stalk about 5 mm long, ripening in the second year, composed of 6 to 8 scales, with 3 to 9 seeds" (Vidakovic 1991).

Range

The type subspecies is native to the Canary Islands, Portugal, coastal Mediterreanean, Saudi Arabia, and Sinai near the Red Sea. Subspecies turbinata is native to the western Mediterreanean (Farjon 1998). "In North Africa it occurs on hills and dunes and in arid mountain regions ascending to 2200 m. In European area of the Mediterranean it grows up to 1200 m elevation. In Yugoslavia it occurs in the coastal region" (Vidakovic 1991), and it is also native to Croatia (Idojitic et al. 2003).

Big Tree

Oldest

"It attains over 1000 years of age" (Vidakovic 1991).

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Citations

Marilena Idojitic, Joso Graçan and Davorin Kajba. 2003. Country report on national activities on gene conservation of conifers. EUFORGEN. http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/networks/euforgen/Networks/viewreport.asp?recordcount=2&pktxtMeetingAcronym=CN02&pktxtCountryCty=HRV (4-Apr-2004).

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 1040.

Sherif, A. S. and A. El-Taife. 1986. Flora of Libya. Al Faateh University Faculty of Science.

See Also

Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.