Juniper (Juniperus communis L.)

The berry-like cones. They take two years to ma­ture.

In the botanical sense, cones are no fruits, as they do not develop from a ovary (conifers do not enclose their seeds, but develop them open or naked). There­fore, desig­nations like juniper berries or juniper fruits are equally in­accurate, while pseudo­fruit is accept­able.

Cupressaceae (cypress family).

Aromatic with a sweet accent, similar to the South Ameri­can pink pepper. See also lico­rice for a dis­cussion of sweet spices.

Apart from up to 33% sugars and 10% resin, juniper berries owe their use in the kitchen to an essential oil (0.2 to 2%, dependent on provenance). The essential oil is mainly composed of monoterpenes: 80% α- and β-pinene, thujene, sabinene, 5% terpinene-4-ol, α-terpineol, borneol and geraniol; sesqiterpenes (α- and β-cadinene, caryophyllene) are found in traces.

Unripe juniper berries

Ripe juniper cones

Several species of the genus Juni­perus grow all over tem­perate Europe and Asia.

The classical Latin name of that plant, iuni­perus, cannot be ex­plained satis­factorily; possibly, it is a Celtic loan. Other theories assume it is a Latin com­pound: It could be a con­traction of iuveni-parus (too) young (early) bearing, which would refer to the abortive action of the related species Juniperus sabina. Or it could contain iuncus rush, reed, in reference to the flexible branches of juniper usable for plaiting. Also, connections to Iupiter (genetive case: Iovis) have been proposed, which might hint at otherwise unknown cultic uses.

Names of juniper in several European languages, especially Romance languages, derive from that name: Besides English juniper, we have Dutch jeneverbes, Italian ginepro, Spanish enebro (Old Spanish ginebro), Provençal genèbre, Romanian ienupăr and even Hebrew juniper [ג’וניפר]. In English, the French loan juniper supplanted the Old English name of that plant, cwicbēam life-tree (modern quickbeam), which was also used for rowan (mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia).

Juniper tree in column-shape © Martin Flux, Head Gardener, Fishbourne Roman Palace

Juniper tree with ripe cones

The German name Wachol­der (of which Machan­del is a Northern variant) contains a stem which might be related to wachsen grow (cf. English wax increase), but is more probably derived from the Proto-Indo–European root WEG weave, web (cf. English veil, wick), since its branches have been used for weaving. Incidentally, the same root also lies behind English wax as in beewax.

The Germanic tree suffix d(e)r, as seen in Wachol­der, appears in several other German plant names. At the bottom lies Proto-Indo–European DERU with the basic meaning tree, particularly oak and the derived meaning strong, firm, reliable. This is a very prominent root, which hardly any Indo–European language is free of: Gothic triu tree, wood, Sanskrit darvi [दर्वि] wooden, Farsi dar [دار] wood, Greek drys [δρῦς] (Mycenaean drus [𐀉𐀬]) tree, oak, Old Irish daur oak, Russian derevo [дерево] tree, Latvian darva tar, furthermore Latin durus strong, robust, Lithuanian drūtas thick, strong and Old English trum strong, firm. Examples from Modern English include tree, tray, tar, true and trust.

In some Middle Eastern languages, cinnamon bears the name Chinese wood, where the latter element is represented by words of the DERU kin, e. g., Hindi dal chini [दालचीनी]. See cassia for a more detailed discussion. Another spice plant name which might derive from that root is laurel.

Indian Spices: Juniper (indianetzone.com) Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Wacholder (rezkonv.de via archive.org) Nature One Health: Juniper Poisonous Plants of North Carolina: Juniper