Juniperus thurifera description

photograph

Source, Montes and Bertaudiere (2005) [T. Gauquelin].

Juniperus thurifera Linnaeus 1753

Common Names

Genévrier thurifère (Montes and Bertaudiere 2005).

Taxonomic notes

Description

Range

S France, N and SE Spain, Morocco, N Algeria (Farjon 2005). See Montes and Bertaudiere (2005) for details, a map, and photos showing habitat. In the High Atlas Mountains of Algeria, it is the only tree species at the upper tree line (about 2500 m, with isolated specimens found above 3000 m). At the lowest altitudes, Quercus ilex is generally associated with J. thurifera. In the Middle Atlas mountains, J. thurifera is often associated with Cedrus atlantica (Nicolas Montes email 5-Mar-1998).

Big Tree

An individual 19 m tall with a girth (due to its multistemmed form) of 16 m, photograph in (2), located in the Middle Atlas, near the "Col du Zad," about 50km N of Ifrane (Nicolas Montes email 5-Mar-1998).

Oldest

Ongoing dendrochronological research (Montes and Bertaudiere 2005) has not yet established precise ages, but the maximum is probably more than 500 years (Nicolas Montes email 5-Mar-1998).

Dendrochronology

Montes and Bertaudiere (2005) provide information on ongoing research.

Ethnobotany

Extensive remarks in Montes and Bertaudiere (2005).

Observations

Not seen. Montes and Bertaudiere (2005) provided clues on where to find native specimens. Several stands occur in the High and Middle Atlas mountains (Nicolas Montes email 5-Mar-1998).

Remarks

Citations

Montes, Nicolas and Valèrie Bertaudiere. 1999. Le Genevrier Thurifere (Juniperus thurifera L.) au Maroc: Une Espëce en danger. http://n.montes.free.fr/uspage.html, last accessed 16-Nov-2005.