Common Juniper – Juniperus communis

  1. Home
  2. Common Juniper – Juniperus communis

Common Juniper Juniperus communis

Common Juniper

хвойна, Common Juniper

The blue juniper or so-called Common Juniper is a shrub, and under favorable conditions it can grow up to 12m high tree with irregularly cone-shaped crown from the Cypress family.

The twigs evolved during the last growing season are reddish-brown, and the bark is grayish. The leaves are sharp, needle-shaped, splayed, with a whitish line, glossy green underneath. The berries are round, bluish-black, often with hindsight, usually with 3 gray-brown seeds. It blooms in May - June, and the seeds ripen in autumn next year.

In Bulgaria the juniper could be found single or in group, on the slopes of all our mountains up to 1700 m altitude.

From the juniper are used the fruits (called the Fructus Juniperi, the Galbulae Juniperi), the needles and the twigs. Picking time: September - November. Berries are first ripened in the autumn of the second year of the living plant. When chewed they have a nice aroma and a sweet taste.

The juniper berries contain essential oil (0.5-1.5%) in the composition comprising: cadenic, α-pinene, borneol, α-terpine, Iquererol, camphén, terpineol, , juniper camphor and others. Also contains invert sugar (30%), flavon glycosides, bitter glyceride finerine, pectin, organic acids, dyestuffs, etc.

In medicine the juniper is used as a spasmolytic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and flavoring agent for chronic inflammation of the kidneys and bladder also for joint pain, dermatitis, gastric and liver diseases. The diuretic action is due to the combined terpenium-4 and juvenile.

The Juniper oil is used to rub joints in rheumatic diseases.

After the fermentation of the juniper fruit is produced alcohol. It is usually used for the preparation of the gin alcoholic drink, from which comes its specific aroma.

The berries  are too bitter to be eaten raw, but when they’re dried they are used as a spice for meat, sauces and various types of stuffing. They are crushed so that the could give off their aroma.

The juniper wood is widely used in the furniture industry.

>> Back