Juniperus procera

{{Speciesbox

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=Juniperus procera |volume=2013 |page=e.T33217A2835242 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T33217A2835242.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}

| image = Juniperus procera Kenya1.jpg

| parent= Juniperus sect. Sabina

| genus = Juniperus

| species = procera

| authority = Hochst. ex Endl.{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/9400389 |title=Name – Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl. |quote=Type-Protologue: Locality: ETHIOPIA: Semen, Adda Mariam near Enschedcap: Collector: Schimper |work=Tropicos |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |location=Saint Louis, Missouri |access-date=March 1, 2013}}

| synonyms =

Juniperus abyssinica K.Koch
J. hochstetteri Antoine
Sabina procera (Hochst. ex Endl.) Antoine

| synonyms_ref = {{cite web |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2332772 |title=TPL, treatment of Juniperus procera |work=The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet) |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden |year=2010 |access-date=March 1, 2013}}

}}

Juniperus procera (known by the common English names African juniper, African pencil-cedar, East African juniper, East African-cedar, and Kenya-cedar){{GRIN | access-date=March 1, 2013}} is a coniferous tree native to mountainous areas in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a characteristic tree of the Afromontane flora.

Description

Juniperus procera is a medium-sized tree reaching {{Convert|20–25|m|abbr=off}} (rarely {{Convert|40|m|abbr=on|disp=or}}) tall, with a trunk up to {{Convert|1.5–2|m|ft|abbr=on|frac=2}} diameter and a broadly conical to rounded or irregular crown. The leaves are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves {{Convert|8–15|mm|frac=8}} long on seedlings, and adult scale-leaves 0.5–3 mm long on older plants, arranged in decussate pairs or whorls of three. It is largely dioecious with separate male and female plants, but some individual plants produce both sexes. The cones are berry-like, 4–8 mm in diameter, blue-black with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain 2–5 seeds; they mature in 12–18 months. The male cones are 3–5 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring.(Page archived by the Wayback Machine). {{cite web|url=http://www.conifers.org/cu/ju/procera.htm |title=The Gymnosperm Database – Juniperus procera |author=Christopher J. Earle |date=April 14, 2009 |access-date=March 1, 2013 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903011136/http://www.conifers.org/cu/ju/procera.htm |archive-date=September 3, 2010 }}

Distribution

Juniperus procera is native to the Arabian Peninsula (in Saudi Arabia and Yemen), and northeastern, eastern, west-central, and south tropical Africa (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

It is the only juniper to occur south of the equator, and is thought to be a relatively recent colonist of Africa; the species shows very little of the variability associated with a long period of evolution.{{cite book |author=Farjon, A. |year=2005 |title=Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |isbn=1-84246-068-4}} It is closely related to Juniperus excelsa from southwestern Asia, probably deriving from a common ancestor with that species in southwestern Asia.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

Taxonomy

According to Tropicos, Juniperus procera was originally described and published in Synopsis Coniferarum 1847. The type specimen was collected from Ethiopia, by "Schimper" (possibly Wilhelm Philipp Schimper, but there were other contemporary collectors with this surname).Original description by {{cite web |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/52342#page/34/mode/1up |author=Stephano Endlicher |title=Synopsis Coniferarum |year=1847 |page=26 |publisher=Sangalli [together with] Scheitlin & Zollikofer |language=la |quote=Schimper Herb. Abyssin. II. n. 537 |access-date=March 1, 2013}}

Uses

It is an important timber tree, used for building houses, poles, and furniture. The bark is used for beehives.{{Cite web |url=http://database.prota.org/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?ac=qbe_query&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fdatabase.prota.org%2Fsearch.htm&tn=protab~1&qb0=and&qf0=Species+Code&qi0=Juniperus+procera&rf=Webdisplay |title=Inmagic DB/Text WebPublisher PRO: 1 records |access-date=2022-07-11 |archive-date=2014-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210092804/http://database.prota.org/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?ac=qbe_query&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fdatabase.prota.org%2Fsearch.htm&tn=protab~1&qb0=and&qf0=Species+Code&qi0=Juniperus+procera&rf=Webdisplay |url-status=dead }}

File:Juniperus procera 2.jpg|East African juniper, northern Tanzania

File:Juniperus procera 3.jpg|East African juniper, northern Tanzania

File:Juniperus procera cones.JPG|East African juniper, northern Tanzania

File:Juniperus procera fence stakes.JPG|East African juniper, used as termite resistant fence stakes