193 
JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS. 
Common Juniper * 
For Class, Order, Nat. Ord. and Gen. ChAR. 
see JuNiPERUS Sabina. 
Spec. Char. Leaves in ternaries, expanding, acute, longer 
than the berry. 
This species of Juniper is a native of Britain, growing on heaths 
and chalky hills, and flowering in May. Juniper is supposed to be the 
ai^%ev^og of the ancient Greeks, who distinguished it into two kinds. 
By Virgil the juniper tree was thought to be noxious, notwithstanding 
its extreme fragrance. The common juniper is a^so a native of Japan 
and Morocco : at the former place, it is known by the name of 
thuya and arar ; f by the Japanese it is called bjakusi.l In Morocco, 
the roofs and ceilings of the houses are made of the wood of this 
tree. The resinous substance known by the name of gum sandarach§ 
is said to be the product of this tree; in warm climates it exudes 
through the crevices of the bark, or the perforations made by insects. 
The common juniper is a low, branching, evergreen shrub, rising 
but a few feet in h^ght ; but when cultivated in a good soil it often 
rises to fifteen feet or more. The leaves (which are very numerous) 
stand in ternaries, are very narrow, entire, sharply pointed, channelled, 
of a glaucous colour on the upper surface, and placed sessile on the 
branches; the catkins are axillary, sessile, solitary, small, ovate, 
and furnished with bracteas ; the male flowers are yellow at first, 
changing to brown, with a great abundance of pollen ; the female 
flowers are smaller, and of a yellowish green, the parts of fructifi- 
cation resemble those of the Juniperus Sabina ; the fruit is a globular 
berry of a blackish purple with a glaucous bloom; the berries 
remain two years on the tree before they are perfectly ripe, when 
* Fig. a. represents a sprig of a male plant, h. A small cutting of a female plant, 
with the flower and fruit, c. A female fioWer magnified, rf. A male catkin, e. Trans- 
verse section of the fruit. /. A seed. 
•f- Jackson's Travels in Morocco, p. 78. 
X Flor. Japan, p. 264. 
$ This resin, when finely powdered, is also known bj the name of pounce. 
