Juniperus excelsa M.-Bieb. subsp. excelsa

Tree: evergreen; erect; 30.5 m maximum height; monoecious, or dioecious. Trunk: 2.5 m maximum diameter. Bark: grey, red, or brown; peeling off in strands, furrowed, or smooth – scaly. Crown: dense, or rather open; globose – irregular, or columnar to narrowly or widely conical (pyramidal), or procumbent. Branches: ascending, horizontal, or drooping. Ultimate branchlets: 0.6–1 mm wide; 5–15 mm long; arranged in one plane; roundish or quadrangular in cross-section.

Leaves: adult and juvenile leaves on adult plants; needle-like (linear: flattened in cross-section), or scaly. Needle leaves: 5–10 mm long; 0.8–1.2 mm wide; arranged in whorls of 3; spreading; dark green; tip acute; dorsal side keeled; with two white stripes; decurrent and not jointed at the base. Scale leaves: 0.5–1.1 mm long; 0.4–0.8 mm wide; arranged oppositely or in whorls of 3; bright green; apically spreading, or closely appressed; only one type of leaves (no differentiation in lateral and facial leaves = monomorphic); tip blunt, or acute; with conspicuous glands; without white resin; dorsal side rounded; with smooth margin; tip curved outwards.

Male cones: 3–4 mm long; 2–3 mm wide; solitary; 8–10 male cone scales; 4–5 male cone scale whorls; ovoid; yellow or bright brown. Male cone scales: arranged oppositely; 3–4 pollen sacs per male cone scale.

Female cones: 8–13 mm long; 6–13 mm wide; 4–6 cone scales; globose; berry-like (closed after maturity); fleshy; not disintegrating after maturity; reddish, or bluish, or dark; young cones green with bluish coating, or reddish; female-cone bearing-branchlets straight, or curved. Female cone scales: arranged oppositely; without several small additional cone scales on the female cone; with small dorsal umbo; umbo more or less in the centre. Columella: absent.

Seeds: 4.1–6 mm long; 3.1–4 mm wide; 2–8 seeds per cone; red, or bright – middle brown; 1–2 seed(s) per female cone scale; non-flattened; tubercled; without conspicuous hilum. Seed wings: absent (sometimes only small rips).

Supplement: maturity in the second year; 2–6 cotyledones; 22 chromosomes (2n). Cultivation: cultivated in Germany; cultivated outdoor in the Ruhr Area (hardiness zone 7); Distribution: Europe: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus; Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kygystan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran. IUCN Red List: not listed. Synonyms: Juniperus foetida Spach., Juniperus foetida Spach. var. excelsa (M.-Bieb.) Spach., Juniperus sabina L. var. excelsa (M.-Bieb.) Georgi [1800], Juniperus sabina L. var. taurica Pall., Juniperus taurica (Pall.) Lipsky, Juniperus lycia (Pall.), Juniperus isophyllos K. Koch, Juniperus olivieri Carrière, Juniperus aegaea Gieseb., or Juniperus excelsa M.-Bieb. subsp. excelsa var. depressa O. Schwarz, Sabina excelsa (M.-Bieb.) Antoine, Sabina isophyllos (K. Koch) Antoine, Sabina olivieri (Carrière) Antoine, Sabina religiosa Antoine. Common name: Grecian Juniper (ENG).