Plant · P-654

Juniper Berry

Juniperus communis

Juniper Berry is a slow-growing, needle-leaved evergreen whose blue-black cones - actually fleshy, fused scales rather than true berries - are the classic flavouring in gin, and also season game, sauerkraut and red cabbage once roasted. It is dioecious, so only female plants bear fruit and both sexes are needed nearby for any crop, and each cone takes two to three years to ripen. Birds strip the cones for food and nest in the dense growth, while cattle, sheep and horses mostly leave the foliage alone. It handles real winter cold but declines where summers run long, hot and humid, and grows equally well in acidic sand or alkaline limestone.