722
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
Juniperus commu'nis, Linn. L. E. D.— The Common Ju'niper.
Cacumina; Baccae, D.
History. —It is very questionable whether this shrub is mention 0 .)in the Old Testament , though its name occurs in several places (Jo jch. xxx. v. 4, 1 Kings, ch.xix. v. 4, in our translation). The fruit, caw .by the Greeks and used by Hippocrates in some disorders 0
females, was the produce of a species of Juniperus ; either J. commV ntS jwhich Dr. Sibthorpe (Prod. FI. Greecce) found growing on Olympus a,ltAthos; or J. phoenicia, which is very common in Greece and the isl :U1(of the Archipelago , and whose fruit is yellowish, but has the size, f orlU ’and powers of that of the common juniper.
Botany. Gen. Chau. — Dioecious, rarely monoecious. Males: — Cat^ovate ; the scales verticillate, peltato-pedicellate. Anthers four to eig' 1 ;’unilocular. Females:—Catkins globose ; the three concave scales unit 0 'Stigma gaping. Galbulus, composed of the united and fleshy scalesand containing three triquetrous, osseous seeds.
Sp. Chau. — Leaves three in a whorl, mucronate, spreading or i' 11 ^ 1cated, longer than the galbulus.
A bushy shrub . Leaves evergreen, numerous, linear, pungent, gift 11 *'*! 1 ..on the upper side, dark green beneath. Flowers axillary, sessile, ’the males discharging a copious cloud of yellow pollen: females g reCl Jon scaly stalks. Fruit commonly called a berry, but is in reality ^ ^kind of cone, called by botanists a galbulus, which has fleshy, coalcs 0 ^carpclla, whose heads are much enlarged. It requires two season®arrive at maturity.
Two varieties (some botanists consider them to be distinct species) are described* ^
?<• i c ' >mmun is, Smith .—Stem erect. Leaves spreading* Fruit scarcely nW ehalf the length of the leaves.
0. J. nana. Smith.—Stem procumbent. Leaves imbricated. Fruit nearly asas the leaves.
DIab. North of Europe . Indigenous, growing on hills and hca 1
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ati flClJ
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downs, especially where the soil is chalky. It flowers in MayDescription. —In this country the fruit and tops, on the conthe wood also, are officinal.
Juniper berries (baccae juniperi), as the dried fruit of thecommonly termed, are about the size of a pea, of a blackish-purple -covered by a glaucous bloom. They are marked—superiorly,radiate groove, indicating the adhesion of the succulent carpella ta jnriorly, with the bracteal scales, which assume a stellate form. They f* ^;three seeds. Their taste is sweetish, with a terebiuthinatetheir odour is agreeable and balsamic. Juniper tops (cacumina scmitates juniperi) have a bitter, terebinthinate flavour, and a 'odour. Jumper wood {lignum juniperi) is obtained either from yor root; it evolves a balsamic odour in burning, and, by distilla 1 ^ r t!'
water, yields volatile oil. On old stems there is sometimes f°sinous substance (resina juniperi; sandaraca germanica)■ fro* 1 *
Commerce. —Juniper berries arc imported in bags and barre