JUNIPERUS 671 



the young growths of a golden yellow, habit spreading, producing a few long 

 branches; and japonica AUREO-VARIEGATA with portions of the young 

 growths golden-yellow, also dwarf. 



J. SPHCERICA, Lindley. Trees under cultivation by this name do not 

 appear to differ from J. chinensis. The 'true plant, according to Henry, has 

 much larger fruits (^ in. diameter) spherical, not glaucous, and containing 

 numerous seeds. It was originally discovered by Fortune in 1846, in China, 

 and is probably not now in cultivation. 



J. COMMUNIS, Linnceus COMMON JUNIPER. 



A shrub of spreading habit, sometimes a small tree, usually 6 to 12 ft. high 

 (occasionally 20 to 40 ft.). Young shoots three-cornered, bearing the leaves 

 in whorls of threes. Leaves spreading, to \ in. long, ^ in - wide J always awl- 

 shaped and terminated by a needle-like point, concave on the upper surface, 

 with one comparatively broad glaucous band of stomata up the centre, 

 divided sometimes by a green line towards the base ; beneath, the leaf is green 

 and keeled. Fruit globose or rather oval, about \ in. diameter, black covered 

 with a blue bloom, and containing two or three seeds embedded in resinous, 

 mealy pulp, ripening the second or third year. 



Native of Europe from the mountains of the south to Russia and Norway ; 

 reaching eastwards to the Himalaya and Kamtschatka. It is widely spread 

 in Britain, and is also found in both eastern and western N. America. The 

 common juniper is essentially a shrub of limestone hills, and in elevated 

 gardens on that formation, it and its varieties are some of the most satisfactory 

 and pleasing of evergreens. It is not uncommon as a tree in Scandinavia, 

 but grows so slowly when it has reached that state, that scarcely any difference 

 is perceptible in one man's recollection. It is best raised from seeds, which 

 frequently lie dormant a year. The berries were once used as a diuretic in 

 medicine, and are still employed to flavour gin. In Norway a kind of bee^ is 

 made from them. 



There are several named varieties, both wild and of garden origin : 



Var. AUREA. Young shoots and young leaves yellow. 



Var. COMPRESSA. A slender, cone-shaped shrub of minute dimensions, 

 with branches and leaves so dense as to form a rigid mass, the leaves very 

 short. This remarkable shrub is the daintiest of conifers, and probably the 

 slowest growing of them. Plants twenty years of age will often not have 

 reached i| ft. in height. It is sometimes called the Irish juniper (hibernica), 

 but that name, I think, belongs to var. fastigiata (q.v.). 



Var. ECHINIFORMIS. Hedgehog Juniper. Of dwarf, globose habit. 



Var. FASTIGIATA (syns. var. hibernica ; var. suecica). Irish Juniper. A 

 slender, perfectly columnar tree with short leaves, very striking when in good 

 health. The best specimens I have seen are in Scotland. There is one at 

 Abercairney over 20 ft. high and 3 ft. in diameter, and another at Scone 

 Palace. The tree is extremely effective in formal arrangements. It is found 

 wild in Norway, Sweden, etc. 



Var. HEMISPHERICA. A dwarf, globose variety, said to grow wild on 

 Mount Etna and other mountainous parts of S.E. Europe. 



Var. NANA (syn. alpina). A dwarf, alpine form, growing about I ft. high, 

 with a stunted habit, short branches, and small fruit. Its dwarfness is 

 apparently due merely to climate conditions, as both it and an intermediate 

 form (INTERMEDIA) are said to revert to ordinary communis under lowland 

 conditions. It is found wild in the Tyrol, etc., and similar forms occur in 

 X. America, which have been called CANADENSIS. 



