PINE FAMILY 



and central Europe. In North America though not abundant 

 it is generally distributed. It is evidently one of those trees 

 which has been driven from the better lands by more power- 

 ful competitors, for in its temperate habitat it is found on 

 dry, sterile, gravelly slopes, or worn-out pastures or upon high 

 mountain-sides. Because of its enormous geographical range 

 it naturally varies greatly in form, changing from a tree 

 twenty-five feet Ijigh with a trunk ten inches in diameter to a 

 prostrate shrub. Its remains occur in the tertiary rocks of 

 Europe. 



The Juniper may be readily recognized among evergreens, 

 by its awl-like leaves, arranged in whorls of threes, spread- 

 ing, sharp pointed, channelled and hoary above, shining 

 green below. 



The fruit reaches maturity very slowly. The species is 

 dioecious and the flowers appear late in the spring. During 

 the first year the fruit does not enlarge, it looks during all 

 its first winter like a flower-bud, but at the blooming period 

 of the second year it feels the impulse of quickening life and 

 begins to grow, and by the second winter it has become a 

 hard, green, tiny sphere about three-quarters of its full size, 

 covered with white bloom. During the following season it 

 continues to develop and in early autumn becomes dark blue 

 or bluish black covered with a glaucous bloom, with soft, 

 mealy, aromatic flesh, and one to three seeds. This aromatic 

 fruit is gathered in large quantities and used in the manu- 

 facture of gin ; whose peculiar flavor and medicinal proper- 

 ties are due to the oil of Juniper berries, which is secured by 

 adding the crushed fruit to undistilled grain spirit, or by al- 

 lowing the spirit vapor to pass over it before condensation. 

 The seeds of the Juniper are almost as slow to germinate as 

 they were to mature, requiring two years. Thirteen varieties 

 of Juniperus communis are reported in the Check List of the 

 Forest Trees of the United States and several foreign species 

 are also in cultivation. All are tolerant of the knife, and it 

 affords gardeners much pleasure to make them assume pecul- 

 iar and fantastic shapes. 



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