Common Juniper
The scientific name of this medicinal plant is Juniperus communis.
Common Juniper is a medicinal plant belonging to the family Cupressaceae.
This herb can also be found with the names of: Dwarf Juniper, Mountain Common Juniper, Old Field Common Juniper, Prostrate Juniper, and others.
This herb is native to North America, Europe, and North Africa. But today this medicinal plant is distributed almost everywhere in the world, supporting almost any soil and situation, tolerates drought and wind. Although prefers full sun or partial shade.
The Common Juniper is grown as an ornamental pruning it resists, so it is used for hedges.
This medicinal plant is resistant wood used to make small objects.
This medicinal plant is a shrub of 1-6 m, in some cases can measure up.
Common Juniper leaves are flat on top, sharp and arranged in threes, and have a single band on the upper face pale, green and gray on the bottom.
This medicinal plant is a dioeciously tree, so that the plants are separated into male and female members.
The flowers of this herb are male and small yellow oblong up position.
The fruits are berry-shaped cones ball between 4-12 mm. in diameter, grayish green when mature, in about 18 months, go to black with a bluish waxy patina.
Gin is an alcoholic beverage flavored with juniper berries.
The parts used for medicinal purposes of this herb are its fruits (berries).
Juniperus communis is used as digestive, appetizer, diuretic and is useful in catarrh of bladder and lung.
This medicinal plant is composed of camphor essential oil, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, horneol, camphene, limonene and terpineol, bitter principle (juniperina, alcohols), flavonoids, resin, tannins catechists, ascorbic acid, glyceric and glicórico, and acids organic (acetic, caffeic, chlorogenic, cinnamic, formic, glucuronic, maleic, oxalic and paracumarínico).
Recipes from this medicinal plant
Fruits of this herb are used to flavor gin, as a condiment and as diuretics.
Cooking: place a tablespoon of Common juniper berries and leaves per cup of water. He drinks two or three cups a day.
Tags: digestive, diuretic
