72
CONIFER.*.
species is rich in tannin . 1 The fruits of Juniperus contain an essential aromatic oil; they were usedby the Greeks and Romans and by the Arabs in medicine, and are still gathered in Europe , especiallyin southern France , Italy , and Austria , and employed, generally as an adjuvant to more activemedicines, as a diuretic and stimulant; those of Juniperus communis , a native of both hemispheres, areused to give the peculiar flavor to gin . 2 Savin oil is distilled from the young tender fragrant branchletsof Juniperus Sabina, and is a powerful uterine stimulant employed in medicine ; 3 and the ointment ofsavin is used as a stimulating dressing for wounds and sores . 4 Tar obtained by the destructivedistillation of the wood of Juniperus Oxycedrus 5 was once utilized in southern Europe in veterinarypractice. The large blue fleshy succulent fruits of Juniperus drupacea 6 of Asia Minor are edible.
Several of the species of Juniperus are cultivated for the decoration of gardens, and during theeighteenth century were frequently cut into curious and fantastic forms.
In North America the species of insects 7 attacking Juniperus are not numerous, although those
grant, light or dark red, and close-grained; in India it is used inbuilding and in the manufacture of many small articles. It burnsquickly, emitting a peculiar odor, and is used as incense and largelyfor fuel in some of the dry nearly treeless interior valleys. Theresinous fruit is employed medicinally, and is also made into in-cense (Madden, Jour. Agric. and Hort. Soc. Ind . iv. pt. iv. 256; vii. pt.ii. 138 [ Himalayan Conferee ]. — Brandis, Forest FI. Brit. Ind . 538,t. 68. — Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 412. — Balfour, Cyclopaediaof India , ed. 3, ii. 455). In southern Afghanistan it forms nearlypure open forests sometimes of great extent. The soft light woodis used in building and largely for fuel ; strips of the thick barkare utilized by the Pathans for roofing their huts. The fruit isused in tanning leather and in the preparation of a spirituousliquor. (See Lace & Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 296, 305,307, 320 [ Veg. Brit. Baluchistan '].')
1 Trimble, Garden and Forest, ix. 162.
2 Oleum Juniperi is of a greenish oily color, with a sweetish resin-ous flavor; it is stimulant, carminative and diuretic, and is generallycombined with more active remedies (Keeluz, Jour, de Pharm. xiii.215 [Note sur les fruits de Genevrier ]. — Nicolet, Jour, de Pharm.xvii. 309 [ Essais physiologique et chimique sur les fruits du genreJuniperus ]. — Soubeiran & Capitaine, Jour, de Pharm. xxvi. 78[Essence de Genievre ]. — U. S. Dispens. ed. 16, 1013). The pe-culiar flavor and diuretic properties of gin are due to the oil ofJuniper berries, and are secured by adding the crushed fruit, usu-ally that of Juniperus communis , to undistilled grain spirit, or byallowing the spirit vapor to pass over it before condensation(Spons, Encyclopaedia of the Manufactures, Industrial Arts, and RawCommercial Products, i. 22).
8 Fliickiger & Hanbury, Pharmacographia, 565. — Johnson, Man.Med. Bot. N. Am. 261.
4 Fliickiger & Hanbury, l. c. 567.
5 Linnaeus , Spec. 1038 (1735). — Desfontaines, FI. Atlant. ii.370. — De Candolle , Lamarck FI. Fran/;, ed. 3, iii. 278. — Willde-now, Spec. iv. pt. ii. 854. — Nouveau Duhamel, vi. 47, t. 15, f. 2. —Visiani, FI. Dalmat. i. 202. — Reiehenbacli, Icon. FI. German, xi.6, t. 537. — Antoine, Cupressineen-Gattungen, 12, t. 11, f. A-J, t.12-15. — Willkomm & Lange, Prodr. FI. Hispan. i. 22. — Tchihat-cheff, Asie Mineure, iii. 489. — Parlatore, FI. Ital. iv. 80 ; De Can-dolle Prodr. xvi. pt. ii. 477. — Laguna, FI. Forestal Espanola, pt. i.98, t. 11 in (part). — Boissier, FI. Orient, ii. 707. — Hempel &Wilhelm, Baume und Straucher, i. 192, f. 112, A, D, E, L,
P, Q.
Juniperus macrocarpa, Tenore, Syll. FI. Neap. 483 (in part)
(not Sibthorp & Smith) (1831).
Juniperus rufescens. — Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 11 (1847). —K. Koch, Linncea, xxii. 302. — Antoine, l. c. 18, t. 23-25.
Juniperus Oxycedrus, a gibbosa, Antoine, l. c. 12, t. 11, f. T-V (1857).
Juniperus rufescens, var. a Noei, Antoine, l. c. 18, t. 26 (1857).Juniperus Oxycedrus is a much-branched shrub common on aridmountain slopes in all the Mediterranean Basin , and distributedfrom Madeira to Asia Minor , northern Syria , and northern Persia .
Pyroleum cadinum or huile de cade, so called from the French name of this Juniper , was popular two centuries ago in southernEurope as an external remedy, chiefly in veterinary practice. (SeeOlivier des Serres , Theatre d’Agriculture, 941. — Parkinson , Theatr.1033. — Pomet, Hist. Gen. Drog. 289.) The huile de cade nowmanufactured in France , and sometimes recommended for thetreatment of skin diseases, is of unknown origin (Fliickiger & Han-bury, l. c. 563).
6 La Billardibre, Icon. PI. Syr. ii. 14, t. 8 (1791). — NouveauDuhamel, vi. 47. — Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. s4r. 2, xvi. 289 ; Hist.Veg. xi. 312. — Endlicher, l. c. 8. — Tchihatchefif, Rev. Hort. 1854,165, 10 ; Asie Mineure, l. c. — Boissier, l. c. v. 706.
Arceuthos drupacea, Antoine & Kotschy, Oestr. Bot. Wochenbl.1854, 249; Conif. Cilic. Taurus, i. t. 1 to 3. — Antoine, l. c. 3,t. 4, 5.
Arceuthos drupacea, var. a acerosa, Antoine, l. c. t. 1 (1857).
Arceuthos drupacea, var. $ obtusiuscula, Antoine, l. c. t. 2, 3(1857).
Juniperus drupacea, which is a small shrubby tree, occasionallythirty feet in height, although usually much smaller, is the onlyspecies of the section Caryocedrus, distinguished by capitate stami-nate flowers and united seeds ; it is widely distributed throughGreece , Asia Minor , and northern Syria , and is common on moun-tain slopes at elevations of from two to five thousand feet abovethe sea-level, where it is often gregarious, or is scattered throughthe forests of Oak or Pine.
7 Packard (5th Rep. TJ. S. Entomolog. Comm. 1890, 904) recordsonly twenty-two species as having been found on Juniperus mNorth America , and several of these probably attack only diseasedor dead plants. Most of them are uncommon, and borers in theliving wood are unknown.
Phlceosinus dentatus, Say, has been found in its larval state as abark-borer in dead or decaying trees, and in Kansas the beetles aresaid to do much damage by boring under the bark and by girdlingyoung twigs. The larva of Callidium antennatum, Newman, is acommon borer under the bark of dead or dying Junipers , which aresupposed to be bored also by Hylotrupes ligneus, Fabricius.