Altıkardeşler means six siblings, and the name is a description: the trunk of this juniper divides into six forks. That is why its girth at ground level, 7.5 metres, sits oddly against a stated trunk diameter of three metres — the bole is not a circle. The tree is 27 metres tall.
The species is Grecian juniper, Juniperus excelsa.
The tree stands at 1,750 metres on level ground facing southwest. Its general appearance is good, it has not been pruned, its health is good and there is no rot or hollow in the trunk. It was registered on 16 October 2002 on 0.10 hectares, on forest land under the Kazancı range of the Ermenek Forest Management Directorate. Local people call it Altıkardeş.
It lies at about the eighth kilometre of the road running from Kazancı town towards Sarıvadi and Ardıçkaya village, in Ermenek district of Karaman province.
- Designated
- 16.10.2002
When to go
- Climate
- Across Karaman as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.7 °C in January to 23.5 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (47 mm) and lightest in August (6 mm). Long-term means for 1951-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
