CHAP. CXIII.

CONI FER33. JUNPPERUS.

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flowers are sometimes on the same plant withthe females, though at a distance from them;but they are commonly on distinct plants. Thefemale flowers are succeeded by roundish ber-ries, which are first green, but, when ripe, areof a dark purple or blackish blue colour, co-vered with a bloom. They continue on thebush two years, and are sessile in the axils ofthe leaves. They are juiceless, spongy-fleshed,and each contains 3 stones. Each berry ismarked at top with 3 raised dots and a 3-forkedgroove, received at bottom into a very small star-red involucre. When planted in a deep sandyloam, the common juniper will grow 15 ft. or16 ft. high, and will form a handsome bushyshrub. In Birch Wood, near Farningham, is the juniper of which Jig. 2350. is aportrait to a scale of 1 in. to 12 ft., for the drawing of which we are indebtedto J. F. Christy, Esq. This remarkable tree is 20 ft. high, with a trunk 5 ft.8 in. in circumference at the base, and 4 ft. 1 in. at 2 ft. from the ground. Inthe grounds at Pain’s Hill is a bush 15 ft. high, and 36 ft. in diameter. AtWhite Knights, there are several hundreds of plants, varyingin height from 2 ft. to 12 ft.; but the largest of the species inEngland is probably that at Wardour Castle, which is 30 ft. high.

Of the variety J. c. 2 suecica, there is a specimen at FarnhamCastle,40ft. high. The rate of growth of the taller-growingvarieties, in the climate of London, is from 6 in. to 9 in. ayear, till the plants are 6 ft. or 8 ft. high, after which theygrow more slowly; and their duration is more than a cen-tury.

Geography. The juniper is common in all the northernparts of Europe, both in fertile and barren soils, on hills andin valleys, in open sandy plains or in moist and close woods.

On the sides of the hills, its trunk grows tall; but on thetops of rocky mountains, and in bogs, it is only a shrub. InEngland, it is found chiefly on open downs, in a chalky orsandy soil. In the southern countries of Europe, it is less common, except invery elevated situations. According to Pursh, it is found in North America,about rocks, near the falls of rivers, in Canada, and the western part of NewYork; and the variety J. c. depressa in the state of New York, and particu-larly in the province of Maine, in rocky or gravelly situations. The commonjuniper, he adds, “ may probably have been originally brought from Europe ;but the variety, or, probably, distinct species, .7. c. depressa, seems to bereally a native.” (Pursh FI. Amer. Sept., ii. p. 646.) In Asia, the commonjuniper was found by Capt. Webb in Nepal, and on the Bhotan Alps. In allthese countries it generally grows in dry soil, and never attains a large sizebut in soils which are dry and deep.

History. The juniper is mentioned in the Bible, in the First Book ofKings, as the tree under which the prophet Elijah took refuge in the wilder-ness of Beersheba, to avoid the persecution of King Ahab. It was known tothe Greeks, who used its berries medicinally, though they thought its shadeunwholesome. Pliny says the juniper has the same properties as the cedar ;adding that, in his time, it grew in Spain to a great size; but that whereverit grows its heart is always sound. He also says that a piece of juniperwood, when ignited, will, if covered with ashes of the same wood, keep onfire a whole year. It is mentioned by Virgil, who says that its shade is hurt-ful both to men and corn. The species referred to by the classical writers is,in all probability, not the common juniper, but the Phoenician, or some otherspecies of the south of Europe. The botanists of the middle ages appear tohave had a high opinion of the virtues of the common juniper. Tragus asserts