Phoenician juniper

The commonest shrub of the Green Mountain in Cyrenaica – Phoenician juniper forms extensive scrub on its limestone slopes.

An evergreen shrub or small tree, usually growing to 2–8 m, with tiny, scale-like leaves pressed against the twigs. The fruit is a globular berry-like cone that takes two years to ripen, changing colour from green to reddish brown. It grows on dry, rocky, often limestone slopes from the coast to the mountains, withstanding long droughts and salty sea winds. Its hard, rot-resistant wood was used for posts, beams and firewood, and the berries in folk medicine.

Significance in the country

Phoenician juniper dominates the maquis of Jabal al Akhdar, Libya’s largest forested area, and protects its soils from erosion. This scrub is shrinking fast, however, because of cutting for firewood and charcoal and the spread of building.

Where it grows

On the limestone slopes and plateaus of Jabal al Akhdar in Cyrenaica, from around Al Marj to Al Qubbah and Derna.

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