The cones are berry-like, 4–8 mm in diameter, blue-black with a whitish waxy bloom, and contain 2–5 seeds; they mature in 12–18 months.

The male cones are 3–5 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring.

[5] Juniperus procera is native to the Arabian Peninsula (in Saudi Arabia and Yemen), and northeastern, eastern, west-central, and south tropical Africa (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

[4] It is the only juniper to occur south of the equator, and is thought to be a relatively recent colonist of Africa; the species shows very little of the variability associated with a long period of evolution.

[citation needed] According to Tropicos, Juniperus procera was originally described and published in Synopsis Coniferarum 1847.