Handbook of Teees of the !N"oetiieen States and Canada 



The Juniper though generally only an 

 humble shrub has the distinction of being the 

 most widely distributed tree of the northern 

 hemisphere. It is found not only ranging 

 over the greater part of the North American 

 continent but also central and northern Eu- 

 rope, and Asia as far south as nearly to the 

 Mediterranean and to the Himilayas, but only 

 in very limited areas of this vast domain does 

 it become a tree; in America only on the hills 

 of a few counties of southern Illinois. It 

 usually sends out a cluster of stems close to 

 the ground and these curving upwards form a 

 flat saucer-shaped bush, sometimes 20 ft. across 

 and only 3 or 4 ft. high. When a tree it attains 

 the height of 20 or 30 ft. with an irregular 

 open head and short trunk sometimes 10-12 in. 

 in diameter. 



Its wood is hard, but rather liglit and easily 

 worked, very close-grained, durable and of a 

 light brown color with lighter sap-wood. In 

 Europe it is sometimes used for fuel and in 

 India burned as incense. In Europe its sweet- 

 ish fruit is used as an ingredient of gin. 



Leaves in whorls o£ 3, spreading, %-% in. 

 long, often curved, rigid with sharp tips, articulate 

 at base, lustrous dark green or bronze-green below, 

 snowy white with bands of stomata above ; buds 

 scaly. Flowers in late spring, axillary ; stami- 

 nate composed of 5 or 6 whorls each of ;-! stamens 

 bearing broad connectives and 3 or 4 anther-cells ; 

 pistillate consisting of 3 ovules open at apex, 

 alternate, with 3 minute fleshy scales and sur- 

 rounded with .5 or 6 whorls of ternate scales. 

 Fruit matures the third season, subglobose, about 

 Vi in. in diameter, dark blue with bloom, sweet 

 flesh and 1-3 bony seed.s which are about i^ in. 

 long, angled, and penetrated with resin glands. 



