Evergreen tree, dioecious, up to 20 m in height, columnar or rounded in shape, irregular, broadly ovate-conical in young specimens. Trunk generally straight, sometimes tortuous, twisted, up to 3 m in diameter, although Maire (1952) cites a diameter of up to 5 m, with the presence of several basal branches being common. Bark ashen, striated, fissured longitudinally, detaching into narrow strips. Branches thick, ashen. Branchlets flattened, subtetragonal in section, covered in squamiform leaves (1.5-2 mm), \u00b1 acute, with a non-scarious margin, imbricate but with a raised apex, giving it a rough touch. Leaves in younger specimens are acicular, as in the rest of the family. Male cones ovoid or oblong, arranged at the end of the branchlets. Female cones or galbuli appear in short side branchlets, subglobose (6-8 mm) black-bluish or dark purple when mature, usually covered with a waxy bluish-white powder, especially when maturing. The type subspecies, which is European, has more tetragonal branches, with leaves more keeled and longer and less appressed, and galbuli slightly larger (6-10 mm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12804","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n