Juniperus procera

Appearance

''Juniperus procera'' is a medium-sized tree reaching 20–25 m tall, with a trunk up to 1.5–2 m diameter and a broadly conical to rounded or irregular crown. The leaves are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves 8–15 mm 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 are mature in 12–18 months. The male cones are 3–5 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring.

Distribution

''Juniperus procera'' is native to the Arabian Peninsula , and northeastern, eastern, west-central, and south tropical Africa

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. It is closely related to ''Juniperus excelsa'' from southwestern Asia, probably deriving from a common ancestor with that species in southwestern Asia.

Uses

It is an important timber tree, used for building houses, for poles, for furniture; bark used for beehives.