3427 x 5150 px | 29 x 43,6 cm | 11,4 x 17,2 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
4 settembre 2009
Altre informazioni:
Juniper can be found both on moors in the north and chalk downs in southern England. It is a slow-growing tree with two forms, one of columnar habit, the other prostrate and spreading. Both have blue-green, aromatic, leaves that are spiky to touch and grouped in threes. The bark is very thin and flaky, with a bluish-grey colour and very aromatic. The juniper is unisexual: male and female flowers grow on separate trees. The male flowers are small yellow cones, but the female flowers are green, ripening into green berries in the first year, then turning dark purple in the second. When fully ripe the berries are used for flavouring meat and gin. Juniper berries take two to three years to ripen, so that blue and green berries may occur on the same plant. Only the blue, ripe berries are picked and it is from these that commercial oil of juniper is obtained.
