l86 CYPRESSES AND JUNIPERS 



Of the wood uses of the Libocedri we only get such 

 sketchy descriptions that are hardly worth producing. 

 We hear of them being used for shingles, as are many 

 of their tribe. If some day wooden shingles come 

 into demand for the more ornamental annexes of 

 houses, for verandahs or porches, and take the place 

 of the old heavy but picturesque stone tile, all these 

 sorts of Cupressineae wood may be sought after and 

 have their day in the markets of the world. 



JUNIPERS 



(Of the natural order of CONIFER^E, of the 

 FAMILY PINACEiE, of the tribe CUPRESSI- 



NEiE, OF THE SUB-TRIBE JUNIPERINiE) 



The birch- tree swang her fragrant hair. 



The bramble cast her berry, 

 The gin within the juniper 



Began to make him merry. 



Tennyson, Old Amphion (1857 ed.). 



The origin of the name Juniper is to be traced 

 to the Latin words juvenis (young) and the verb 

 parere (to produce). Presumably it was so named 

 on account of a curious habit that it displays, in many 

 of its species, of producing two entirely different- 

 looking sets of leaves upon the same tree — ^namely, 

 the gossamer-looking, awl-shaped, acicular young or 

 juvenile leaves, and the mature, appressed-to-the- 

 stem, Cypress-in-appearance, adult foliage. The 

 French call the tree Genevrier, or Genievre, and from 

 the first syllable of this word a spirituous compound, 

 familiarly known in all alcoholic circles by the labelled 

 title of Gin, derives its name, as if in mutual obligation 

 and acknowledgment of the fact that the drink 

 derives the benefit of its flavour from the fruit of the 

 tree. 



Nor is it a tree without its little accompaniment 



