FRUCTUS JUNIPERI. 625 



in the greater part of Europe it forms a bushy shinib from 2 to 6 feet 

 high, but in the interior of Norway and Sweden it becomes a small 

 forest tree of 30 to 36 feet, often attaining an age of hundreds of years.^ 

 In high moimtain regions of temperate Europe and in Arctic countries 

 it assumes a decimibent habit (Junijjeni^ iiana Willd.), rising only a 

 few inches above the soil. 



History — The fruits of juniper, though by no means exclusively 

 those of J. commun is, were commonly used in medicine by the Greek 

 and Roman as well as by the Arabian physicians ; they had a place 

 among the drugs of the Welsh " physicians of Myddvai " (see Appendix), 

 and are mentioned in some of the earliest printed herbals. The oil was 

 distilled by Schnellenberg- as early as 1540. 



Popular uses were formerly assigned in various parts of Europe to 

 juniper berries. They were employed as a spice to food ;^ and a spirit, 

 of which wormwood was an ingredient, was obtained from them by 

 fermentation and distillation. The spirit called in French Genievre 

 became known in English as Geneva, a name subsequently contracted 

 into Gin.^ 



Description — The flowers form minute axillary catkins ; those of 

 the female plant consist of 3 to 5 whorls of imbricated bracts. Of these 

 the uppermost three soon become fleshy and scale-like, and alternate 

 with three upright ovules having an open pore at the apex. After the 

 flowers have faded these three fleshy bracts grow together to form a 

 berry-like fruit termed a galhulus, which encloses three .seeds. The 

 three points and sutures of the fruit-scales are conspicuous in the upper 

 part of the young fruit; but after maturity the sutures alone are 

 visible, forming a depressed mark at its summit, A small point, sur- 

 roimded by two or three trios of minute bracts, indicates the base of 

 the fruit. 



This fruit or pseudo-beiTy remains ovate and green during its first 

 year, and it is not until the second autumn that it becomes ripe. It is 

 then spherical, i% to yV of an inch in diameter, of a deep purplish 

 colour, with a blue-grey bloom. Its internal structure may be thus 

 described : — beneath the thin epicarp there is a loose yellowish-brown 

 sarcocarp, enclosing large cavities, the oil-ducts ; the three hard seeds 

 lying close together, triangular and sharp-edged at the top, are attached 

 to the sarcocarp at their outer sides, and only as far as the lower half. 

 The upper half, which is free, is covered by a thin membrane. In the 

 longitudinal furrows of the hard testa towards the lower half of the 

 seed are small prominent sacs growing out into the sarcocarp. Each 

 seed bears on its inner side 1 or 2, and on its convex outer surface 4 to 

 8 of these sacs, which in old fruits contain the resinified oil in an 

 amorphous colourless state. 



Juniper berries when crushed have an aromatic odour, and a spicy, 

 sweetish, terebinthinous taste. 



Microscopic Structure— The out^r layer of the fruit consists of 

 a colourless transparent cuticle, which covere a few rows of large cubic 



^ ' Schubeler, CuUurpflanzen Norwfgenn, * The gin distilled in Holland is flavoured 



Christiania, 1873-1875. 140, with fig. with juniper Ijerries, yet, as we are told, but 



2 Artzneyhuch, Kdnigsberg, 1556. 35. very slightly, only 2 lb. being use<l to lUO 



' Valmont de Bomare, Dkt. d'Hlst. not. gallons, 

 ii. (1775) 4.J. 



2r 



