128 JUNIPERUS, OR 



Fruit, a globular kind of berry, composed of a fleshy or 

 fibrous juicy substance, covered with a glossy skin, more or 

 less furnished externally with minute scales, and sometimes 

 angular and naked at the apex. 



Seeds, from one to five, but mostly three in each fruit, ob- 

 scurely three-cornered, and covered with a hard bony covering, 

 having gland-bearing pits towards the base. 



Leaves, simple, opposite or ternate, lanceolate or scale-formed, 

 and either in extended whorls, or closely imbricated in four 

 rows. 



Seed-leaves, in twos. 



All evergreen shrubs or small trees ; found in the temperate 

 and frigid regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. 



The trees and shrubs belonging to this genus generally pro- 

 duce the male and female flowers on separate plants, with the 

 leaves mostly sharp-pointed, stiff, and usually in whorls of 

 three; but sometimes they are mere scales, closely imbricated 

 in four rows (as in the Cypress), or occasionally both kinds 

 occur on the same plant at different stages of its growth. The 

 male strobili are small, ovate bodies, and either placed at the 

 ends of the branchlets or in the axil of the leaves, and with 

 from four to eight one-celled anthers at the back of each scale. 

 The fertile catkins consist of three fleshy scales, at first nearly 

 concealed by imbricated bracts, from which they gradually rise, 

 grow more succulent, and finally become consolidated into a 

 small, round, fibrous, spongy berry, enclosing from one to three 

 bony seeds, but mostly three, which are convex on one side, and 

 angular on the other. The berries (Galbules), when ripe, are 

 for the most part either of a deep purple, black, or reddish 

 brown, and when crushed, emit a strong resinous smell. 



Section I. OXYCEDRUS, the true Junipers. 



Leaves, in whorls of three, spreading in the adult plants, 

 jointed at the base, and glandless on the back. 

 Fruit, globular and smooth. 



