Juniper Berry :: Botany

Juniper Berry Juniper is a short evergreen shrub whose fruit and oil provides a flavoring agent used extensively in the food, perfume, and soap industries. Juniper berry is probably best known as the unique flavoring agent of gin, an important component of the dry martini, a popular intoxicant and a putative calmative revered by western culture for over 300 years. As a medicinal remedy, juniper has a long history of use employed as a treatment for numerous diseases by ancient Greek and Arab healers, as well as Native American Indians.(2) Juniper berries have been used since the 16th century in herbal medicines. They are rich in vitamin C, volatile oils and other nutrients. (11) The junipers are also used in aromatherapy, which is the use of essential oils through inhalation, massage, bathing, or ingestion to create good health and beauty. The science of aromatherapy can be traced back over 5000 years to the Egyptians. The practice of employing the essences of plants for medicinal and therapeutic beauty treatments is thousands of years old. (10) The scientific name of juniper is Juniperus communis. It belongs to the family Cupressaceae. Common names include juniper berry, genepro, and enebro. (7) The genus has about 60 to 70 species of aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. (6) About 15 species occur in North America. (7) Juniper foliage may be scale-like, needle-like, or both, and it often has a distinctive odor that can be detected from quite a distance. (1) The juvenile leaves of a juniper are needle-like and the older leaves are scale-like. Mature leaves are awl-shaped, spreading, and arranged in pairs or in whorls of three. Some species have small, scale-like leaves, often bearing oil glands that are pressed closely to the rounded or four-angled branchlets. Male and female reproductive structures usually are borne on separate plants (6), so only female trees have fruit. (1) The reddish brown or bluish cones are fleshy and berrylike and often have a grayish, waxy covering. (6) Their fruits are soft and look like blue berries, and are round cones, but they are softer than most and they have a blue, red, or copper color. They mature in I to 3 seasons and contain I to 12 seeds, usually 3. (6) There are three junipers native to the Pacific Northwest, but chances are good that western juniper is the only one you will see.