 | Juniperus drupacea Labill. 1791Common NamesSyrian juniper (3).Taxonomic notesSyn: Arceuthos drupacea (Labill.) Antoine et Kotschy (3). The sole member of Juniperus sect. Caryocedrus Endlicher; this section is allied to sect. Juniperus but differs in the larger pedunculate cones with fused seeds, and broader leaves.DescriptionA tree 10-20 (40) m high. Crown conic. Bark rather thick, brown-gray, longitudinally fibrous. Branches spreading or ascending. Branchlets three-sided, with prominent ridges, one-year shoots greenish and two-year ones brown. Leaves needle-like, in whorls of 3, horizontally spreading, tough, 15-25 mm long, 2.5-3.5(-4) mm wide, broadest in the lower third, upper surface slightly chanelled and with 2 white stomata bands; lower surface green, occasionally glaucous (4). Dioecious plant. Fruit globose to ovate, the largest in the genus, 15-25 mm in diameter, ripening in the second year, edible, composed of 6-9 fleshy scales, initially greenish with a waxy bloom and when ripe turning blue-violet to brown and pruinose; axillary on a 5-8 mm peduncle, the peduncle with short (3-4 mm) leaves. Seeds 3 to a fruit, fused together in a hard nut, 10-12 mm long (3, 5).RangeGreece (rare, Mt Parnonas, SE Peleponnisos); Turkey (Toros Daglari [Taurus Mts], in mountainous and coastal forests and maquis; esp. frequent in Central Taurus); Syria; Lebanon; Israel (Golan Heights) (1, 2, 3)."It occurs either in small groups or solitary in stands composed of Cedrus libani, Abies cilicica, Pinus nigra, Juniperus foetidissima and Juniperus excelsa. Optimal elevation for this species is between 600 and 1500 m. It succeeds on lime terrains (Člicin, 1974)." (3). USDA hardiness zone 8.Big TreeApprox 40 m tall and 1.1 m dbh, Kasimdede cemetery, Kalekaya village (980 m altitude), Hartlap district, Kahramanmaras, Turkey; among a group of equally large Cedrus libani:"[A]mong those competing individuals, there was one which made us excited and forget the cedars: a juniper with a girth of at least 350 cm and a height of 40 m like cedars. . . . I hugged and caressed it." (4). Possibly the tallest Juniper in the world?OldestDendrochronologyEthnobotanyObservationsRemarksCitations(1) Silba 1986.(2) Vladimir Dinets, e-mail communications, 12 Jan 1998. (3) Vidakovic 1991. (4) H. Karaca. 1994. Monumental trees of Turkey: 6. Juniperus drupacea. Karaca Arboretum Magazine 2 (3): 135-136. (5) M.P. Frankis, personal communication 5-Feb-1999. This page edited with the help of M.P. Frankis, Feb-1999. |
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