Cupressaceae
Juniperus

Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl.

First published in Syn. Conif.: 26 (1847)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Eritrea to Zimbabwe, SW. Arabian Peninsula. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Cupressaceae, John Lewis. Flora Zambesiaca 1:1. 1960

Morphology General Habit
Straight evergreen trees up to 40 m. tall; bark papery, reddish-brown.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves on young plants in threes, subulate, spine-tipped, with an elongate gland abaxially; mature foliage of decussate scale-like leaves, varying in size as the individual ages down to 1 mm. long, abaxial gland elliptic.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Cones
Male cones c. 3 mm. long, elliptic; scales c. 10, each bearing 2–3 pollen-sacs.
sex Male
Male cones c. 3 mm. long, elliptic; scales c. 10, each bearing 2–3 pollen-sacs.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Strobili
Female strobili of 6–8 scales.
sex Female
Female strobili of 6–8 scales.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Ripe fruit c. 6 mm. in diam., globose, blue-black, with the tips of the scales just distinguishable.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Mature seeds 5 mm. long, 1 or 2, brown; aborted seeds 1–3, smaller.<div>
[FZ]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/33217/2835242

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Forest, F. et al. 2018. Gymnosperms on the EDGE. Scientific Reports 8: 6053. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24365-4.

Conservation
Juniperus procera is rated as Least Concerned (LC) according to IUCN Red List criteria and has received a EDGE score of 1.14, which places it in position 915 on the EDGE Gymnosperm list. It has a Evolutionary Distinctiveness of 7.47, ranked 660. More information on the EDGE Gymnosperm project here https://www.edgeofexistence.org.
[EDGE]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Tree to 40 m tall, in Somalia rarely above 15 m and often just 3–4 m tall
Morphology General Bark
Bark papery, greyish- or reddish-brown
Morphology Leaves
Leaves on young plants in threes, needle-shaped, to 10 mm long, with an elongate gland beneath; mature leaves scale-like, opposite, acute, with narrow translucent margins and an elliptic gland
Morphology Reproductive morphology Cones
Female cones of 6–8 scales, c. 6 mm in diam. and blue-black when mature Male cones c. 3 mm long, with c. 10 scales; each bearing 2–3 pollen sacs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Mature seeds 5 mm long.
Distribution
N1–3 East Africa and S Arabia
Ecology
Altitude range 1350–2000 m.
Vernacular
African pencil cedar (English), deyib (Somali).
Note
Closely related to the East Mediterranean J. excelsa Bieb., and Kerfoot in RBG Edinburgh 41: 483 (1984) even treated J. procera as a synonym of this. As the substantiating data have not yet been published I prefer to continue to use J. procera. J. procera was also regarded as a distinct species by Farjon in Edinb. J. Bot. 49: 267–271 (1993). J. procera is a timber tree of major economic importance, particularly in Kenya. The Somali stands are generally small and scattered and in need of protection.
[FSOM]

Sources

  • EDGE Gymnosperms

    • EDGE of Existence (Gymnosperms)
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images