Juniperus drupacea

Syrian juniper or prickly juniper is in the cypress or Cupressaceae family and is native to the eastern Mediterranean region in southern Greece , southern Turkey, western Syria and Lebanon, growing on rocky sites from 800–1700 m altitude.

• It is the tallest species of juniper, forming a conical tree up to 25 m tall.
• Leaves are green, needle-like, in whorls of 3, 5–25 mm long and 2–3 mm across, with a double white stomatal band on the inner surface.
• Species is mostly dioecious (separate male and female plants); seed cones are the largest of any juniper, berry-like but hard and dry, green ripening in about 25 months to dark purple-brown with a pale blue waxy coating; they are ovoid to spherical, 20–27 mm long and 20–25 mm diameter, and have six or nine fused scales in 2-3 whorls, each scale with a slightly raised apex; male cones are in clusters (unlike any other juniper) of 5-20 cones together, yellow, 3–4 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in early spring.