Phoenician juniper
| Juniperus phoenicea | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Cupressaceae |
| Genus: | Juniperus |
| Species: | J. phoenicea |
| Binomial name | |
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Juniperus phoenicea L. |
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| Natural range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Juniperus phoenicea, the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Italy, Turkey and Egypt, south on the mountains of Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, and also on Madeira and the Canary Islands. It mostly grows at low altitudes close to the coast, but reaches 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) altitude in the south of its range in the Atlas Mountains. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of El Hierro.
Juniperus phoenicea is a large shrub or small tree reaching 5–8 metres (16–26 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 1–2 metres (3 ft 3 in–6 ft 7 in) in diameter and a rounded or irregular crown. The bark, which can be pealed in strips, is dark greyish-brown. The leaves are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves 5-14 mm long and 1 mm wide on seedlings, and adult scale-leaves 1–2 mm long on older plants with a green to blue-green color; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three. It is largely monoecious, but some individual plants are dioecious. The female cones are berry-like, 6–14 mm in diameter, orange-brown, occasionally with a pinkish waxy bloom, and contain 3-8 seeds; they are mature in about 18 months, and are mainly dispersed by birds. The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring, which is wind-pollinated.
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