Juniperus communis (fruit)

Nomenclature

Juniperus communis L.   Cupressaceae  
Standardized common name (English): juniper  
Ayurvedic name(s): hapusha

Botanical Voucher Specimen

Source: MOBOT, Tropicos.org

Organoleptic Characteristics

[Juniperus communis (fruit) have an ...] aromatic odor; taste sweet, pleasant, terebinthinate, slightly bitter. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918) [Juniperus communis (fruit) have a ...] spicy, aromatic odor and a bitterish, turpentinelike taste. Source: American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance (1930)

Macroscopic Characteristics

Juniper is an evergreen shrub sometimes attaining the height of a small tree, with erect trunk and spreading branches, covered with a shreddy bark. The leaves are straight and rigid, awl-shaped, about one-fourth to one-half an inch long, with sharp, prickly points. The male and female flowers produced in April and May are usually bourne on separate plants, the male flowers in short catkins and the female flowers in short cones. The fleshy, berrylike fruit, which does not ripen until the second year, is roundish, dark purple, covered with a pale-bluish bloom and contains three bony seeds embedded in a brownish pulp. Source: American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance (1930) [Juniperus communis (fruit)] are nearly globular, about 8 mm. in diameter; externally smooth, shining, black-brown to purplish-black with a blue-gray bloom, at the apex a three-rayed furrow marks the cohesion of the three fleshy bracta forming the pericarp; internally loosely fleshy, greenish-brown, containing numerous large schizogenous cavities; seeds three, triangular ovate, hard, brown, with large uneven oil glands on the surface. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918) Source: PlantaPhile Source: PlantaPhile

Microscopic Characteristics

Sections, when examined under the microscope, exhibit a pericarp consisting of an epiderm of a single row of rounded polygonal cells filled with a brown granular substance, at the sutures of the bracts these become blunt papillae; a hypodermis of two or three rows or brown-red, collenchymatous cells thickened at the angles; the fleshy portion (mesophyl) composed of loose, irregular parenchyma with large oval canals and traversed by fibro-vascular bundles with areolated fibers; a sclerenchymatous ring of six to eight rows of very thick cells with pitted walls, many enclosing prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate; the seed-testa shows a layer of two to ten rows of stone cells with radial markings on the walls and each enclosing a polygonal crystal of calcium oxalate; endosperm and embryo rich in fat and aleurone. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918) Epicarp observed at 400x with Acidified Chloral Hydrate Glycerol Solution. Source: Elan M. Sudberg, Alkemist Laboratories Idioblasts of the fruit flesh observed at 400x with Acidified Chloral Hydrate Glycerol Solution. Source: Elan M. Sudberg, Alkemist Laboratories