255 JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS 



ports. In this country, however, the oil, which is alone official, is 

 directed to be distilled from the unripe fruit in Britain. 



The juniper fruits of commerce are round, about the size of a 

 pea or a black currant, of a deep purplish-black colour, and 

 covered by a glaucous bloom. They are marked at the summit 

 with three radiate furrows, and below with stellt ely arranged 

 minute scales. Each fruit contains three bony seeds enveloped 

 in a brownish-yellow pulp. The fruits have an agreeable 

 aromatic odour when bruised ; and a warm, somewhat spicy, 

 sweetish, slightly terebinthinate taste. 



Their properties are essentially due to a volatile oil (see 

 Oleum Juniperi). They also contain a large quantity of sugar, 

 some resin, and a very small proportion of an uncrystallisable 

 substance named juniperin. 



2. OIL OF JUNIPEE. This is readily obtained by submitting the 

 fruit to distillation with water. The volatile oil is most abundant 

 in the full-grown green fruit, as in the course of ripening some of 

 the oil becomes converted into resin. The amount of oil obtain- 

 able varies from 1 to 2 per cent. The oil is a colourless or pale 

 greenish-yellow liquid, of a sweetish odour, and warm aromatic 

 taste. It is limpid, transparent, levogyrate, and has a specific 

 gravity varying from 0*839 to about 0'900. It is a mixture of 

 two oils. 



Juniper tops were formerly official, and possess similar properties 

 to the fruit. Both the tops and juniper wood yield a volatile 

 oil, which is frequently distilled abroad. It is sometimes substi- 

 tuted in this country and the United States of America for the 

 official oil of juniper. It is sold at a much lower price than the 

 true oil of juniper ; and in its characters closely resembles oil of 

 turpentine. 



Medical Properties and Uses of Juniper Fruit and Oil. Juniper 

 fruit and oil possess carminative, stimulant, and diuretic pro- 

 perties ; their action closely resembling terebinthinate substances. 

 They communicate a violet odour to the urine of those taking 

 them ; and in large doses sometimes occasion irritation of 

 the bladder and urinary passages. They have been found espe- 



