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JUNIPER. JUNIPERUS. 



Natural order, Conifera. A genus of the Diacia Mona- 

 delphia class. 



" From lowest Juniper to Cedar tall." 



OF this class of trees we reckon twelve different spe- 

 cies and several varieties. 



Etymologists are not agreed from what source the 

 generic name of this tree is derived ; some say Juniperus, 

 quod juniores et novellos fructus pariat, because the new 

 fruit is produced before the old is ripe, which is seldom 

 matured until the second year ; others give its derivation 

 from irvp, ignis, from the pyramidical form of the leaves. 



The earliest mention of the juniper-tree will be found 

 in the first book of Kings, about 906 years before the 

 Christian era, when the prophet Elijah took refuge in the 

 wilderness of Beersheba, to avoid the persecution of King 

 Ahab. " He went a day's journey into the wilderness, 

 and came and sat down under a juniper- tree : And as he 

 lay and slept under a juniper-tree, behold then an angel 

 touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat." 



The juniper is also a native of most of the cold moun- 

 tainous parts of Europe. Gerard says, " The common 

 juniper-tree grows, in some parts of Kent, unto the big- 

 ness and stature of a fair great tree." It is found growing 

 wild in considerable quantities on many parts of the Sus- 

 sex and Surrey hills, from whence it is often transplanted 

 into shrubberies. Being of a bluish evergreen, it con- 



