274 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



inch lonpf, sprcadin;^ nearly horizontally, except at the apex of the 

 shoots, those at the base of eacli shoot much shorter and more boat- 

 shaped than the others, glaucous above, exce})t on the margins. 

 Flowers dioecious, axillary, minute, with imbricated scarious brown 

 bracts at the base of the catkins. Galbules the size of small peas, 

 green until they have attained their full size, after which they do not 

 ripen till the autumn of the year succeeding in wliich they were 

 formed, when they become purplish-black with a white bloom like 

 that on the sloe. Seeds trigonous, brown, unequal. 



Common Juniper. 

 Frencli, Genevrier commun. German, Gcmeincr Wachholder. 

 Tlio juniper, Avliioli is an evergreen slinili, is common in all the northern parts of 

 Europe, both in fertile and barren soils, but it abounds on chalk downs and limestone 

 ► lulls. On the sides of hills its trunk grows tall, but on the tops of rocky mountains 

 and in bogs it is only a shrub. The juniper is mentioned in the Bible, in the First Book 

 of Kings, as the tree under which the prophet Elijah took refuge in the wilderness of 

 Beersheba, when fleeing from the persecutions of King Ahab, It was known to the 

 Greeks, who used its berries medicinally, though they thought its shade unwhole- 

 some. Pliny says the juniper has the same properties as the cedar, adding that in his 

 time it grew in Spain to a great size, but that wberever it grows its heart is always 

 sound. He says that a piece of juniper wood, if ignited and covered with ashes of 

 the same wood, will keep on fire for a whole year. The botanists of the middle ages 

 appear to have had a high opinion of the virtiies of the common juniper. Tagus 

 asserts that its berries will cure all diseases, and Mathiolus that its virtues are too 

 numerous to mention. Turner, as quoted by Mr. Loudon, says, " The juniper groweth 

 most plenteouslie in Kent ; it groweth also in the bisshopiyche of Durram, and in 

 Northumberlande. It groweth in Germany in greate plentye, but in no place in 

 gi'eater than a lyttle from Bow, where at the time of year the feldefares fede only of 

 juniper's berries, the people eate the feldefares undrawen, with guttes and all, because 

 they are full of the berries of the juniper." Culpepper says, " This admirable bush is 

 scarce to be parallel'd for liis vertues," and he then enumerates a list of diseases 

 which the berries will cure long enough to tire the most credulous. Gerarde says, 

 " It is most certain that the decoction of these berries is singular good against an 

 old cough, and against that with which children are now and then troubled, called 

 the chincough." He adds, " Divers in Bohemia do take, instead of other drinke, the 

 water wherein those berries have been steeped, who live in wondcrfidl good health." 

 He says also, " The smoke of the leaves and wood drives away serpents and all infec- 

 tion and corruption of the air, which bring the plague or such like contagious diseases. 

 The juice of the leaves is laid on with wine, and also drunke, against the bitings of 

 the viper." The wood is finely veined, of a reddish yellow tint, and very aromatic. 

 It is valuable for veneering, and for turning cups and other small articles ; the smaller 

 stems make good walking-sticks. It makes excellent fuel, and in Scotland and Sweden 

 is used for smoking hams. The bark is made by the Laplanders into ropes. The 

 berries ai-e, however, the most useful product of the juniper. Many kinds of birds 

 feed on them, and, when crushed and distilled, they yield an essential oil. In Holland, 

 and to a certain extent in this country, they are used to flavour gin. In some parts 

 of France a kind of beer is made from the berries with barley, called genevretfe. It is 

 bright, Sparkling, and is said to possess diuretic properties. The common name ghi, 



