Scientific name: Juniperus foetidissima Willdenow 1806

Synonyms: Juniperus phoenicea Pall., Juniperus sabinoides Griseb., Sabina foetidissima (Willd.) Antoine, Sabina grisebachii Antoine

Common names: Stinking juniper, Kokulu ardıç (Turkish), Tsrtneni (Armenian), Erke-ardysh (Tatar)

Description

Tree to 15(-20) m tall (or a creeping shrub near timberline), with single trunk to 2(-3.5) m in diameter. Bark gray, furrowed and peeling in long vertical strips. Crown dense and irregular, with spreading branches. Branchlets dense, four-sided, coarse, 1.2-2 mm thick, bad smelling when crushed (hence both the common and scientific names). Adult leaves in alternating pairs, scalelike, those of branchlets 2-3 mm long, usually without conspicuous glands, the edges smooth, the tip bluntly pointed, pressed against the twig or slightly spreading. Pollen and seed cones on the same or different plants. Pollen cones nearly spherical, 2-3 mm long, with four to six alternating pairs of pollen scales. Seed cones om a very short straight branchlet, spherical, 5-13 mm through, dark blue or blackish with a waxy coating, maturing in 2 years. Seeds one or two (or three), stuck together, the combined mass 5-7 mm thick, light brown, with an inconspicuous basal attachment scar.

Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Cyprus, northern side of the Black Sea, and the Caucasus. In open places of mixed woodlands and forests, usually in the mountains. Near sea level (in the Crimea) to almost 2,000 m (in Cyprus).

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(This widespread species is not globally threatened)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland