Juniperus excelsaM.Bieb.

Crimean JuniperGrecian JuniperGrecian juniperGreek Juniper

WFO wfo-0000355502 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Ben Costamagna
fig. a Ben Costamagna, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-06 / obs. 195358439
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. b Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133617358
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Kristof Zyskowski
fig. c Kristof Zyskowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 122172139
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Михаил Орлов
fig. d Михаил Орлов, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 100630645
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Михаил Орлов
fig. e Михаил Орлов, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 81435269
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Михаил Орлов
fig. f Михаил Орлов, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 81428561
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Andrew Bazdyrev
fig. g Andrew Bazdyrev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 81160239
Juniperus excelsa, photographed by Andrew Bazdyrev
fig. h Andrew Bazdyrev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 81153833

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 21 botanical countries

Regions where Juniperus excelsa is native: Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Oman, Palestine, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen. AfghanistanCyprusIranKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusOmanPalestineTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaBulgariaGreeceKrymNW. Balkan Pen.
Native distribution of Juniperus excelsa, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Albania ALB EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Greece GRC
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,991 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -3.7 °C -0.4 °C 0.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.0 °C 25.9 °C 27.4 °C
Annual rainfall 574 mm 827 mm 1,017 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 104 mm 152 mm 192 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,991 research-grade observations of Juniperus excelsa that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 43 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Juniperus aegaea Griseb.
  • Juniperus excelsa Griff.
  • Juniperus excelsa f. stricta (R.Sm.) Rehder
  • Juniperus excelsa subsp. seravschanica (Kom.) Imkhan.
  • Juniperus excelsa subsp. turcomanica (B.Fedtsch.) Imkhan.
  • Juniperus excelsa var. depressa O.Schwarz
  • Juniperus excelsa var. pendula Sénécl.
  • Juniperus excelsa var. polycarpos (K.Koch) Silba
  • Juniperus excelsa var. seravschanica (Kom.) R.P.Adams
  • Juniperus excelsa var. stricta R.Sm.
  • Juniperus excelsa var. turcomanica (B.Fedtsch.) R.P.Adams
  • Juniperus foetida var. excelsa (M.Bieb.) Spach
  • Juniperus himalayaensis Carrière
  • Juniperus isophyllos K.Koch
  • Juniperus kulsaica V.D.Dmitriev
  • Juniperus lasdeliana P.Lawson ex Gordon
  • Juniperus lycia Pall.
  • Juniperus olivieri Carrière
  • Juniperus perkinsii Gordon
  • Juniperus pingii subsp. polycarpos (K.Koch) Takht.
  • Juniperus polycarpos K.Koch
  • Juniperus polycarpos subsp. turcomanica (B.Fedtsch.) Silba
  • Juniperus polycarpos var. pendula Mulk.
  • Juniperus polycarpos var. seravschanica (Kom.) Kitam.

and 19 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.