Official name: Common juniper

Latin name: Juniperus communis L.

Other names: blue juniper, mountain spruce, blue spruce, myrtle, spruce

Description: Common juniper is an evergreen shrub (or low tree) of the Cypress family, up to 12 m. tall, with an irregular or conical crown and gray-brown bark. In our country, it is found singly or in groups on deforested slopes, in coniferous and oak forests and in mountains with an altitude of up to 1700 m. The juniper leaves are needle-shaped, hard, spreading and sharp. The flowers are cones - female and male. The fruits of the medicinal plant are spherical, bluish-black, sometimes with a wax coating, 5-9 mm in diameter. Common juniper blooms in May-June, and the fruits ripen in the autumn of the following year.

Used part of the plant: Fruits (Fructus Juniperi)

Harvest time: Juniper fruits are harvested in the second year in September - November, when they are fully ripe. The collected material is dried in ventilated rooms or in a dryer at a temperature of up to 30° C. Dried juniper berries are globular, smooth, dark blue and shiny with a pleasant aroma and a sweetish-hot taste.

Content and properties: Juniper fruits contain tannins, essential oil (Oleum Juniperi aethereum), bitter substances, vitamin C, pectin, terpene junene, xylose, fructose, resin, invert sugar, organic acids. Unripe fruits contain pectin, acetic, formic and malic acids, waxes, tannins, vitamin C, etc. Juniper leaves contain arbutin, umbelliferon, xylosides and flavones, and juniper bark - sesquiterpenes, cymol, longifolene, essential and fatty oil, formic, acetic and malic acids, juniperol, junene, bitter and resinous substances, flavonoids, potassium and calcium salts, vitamin C.

Healing action and application: Common juniper disinfects the urinary tract, has a carminative and anti-inflammatory effect. The herb is known for its soothing, warming, antirheumatic and antispasmodic properties. It supports digestive processes, is used for problems with urination, sand and stones in the kidneys and bladder, cystitis, white discharge, rheumatism, chronic rheumatism, joint pain, flatulence, gout, liver diseases, neuralgia, hemorrhoids, irritable stomach, reduced appetite. Externally, the medicinal plant can be used for inhalations for shortness of breath, bronchitis and for baths for eczema and skin diseases.

Possibilities to offer at the customer's request:

Vesselino Ltd. offers their customers the plant in the following varieties:

• Juniper berries (Fructus Juniperi) - dried whole, crushed, cut to a certain size at the customer's request, ground into powder/flour