September 10, 2010

Common Juniper


On hazy mornings in September the Common Junipers (Juniperus communis) are disguised as Christmas trees ahead of time. They are covered with spider webs, made visible by morning dew. The spiders like the Junipers because many small insects find enough to eat there. The berries are also edible for us, they have a particular flavour and a strong, sweet-bitter taste. Delicious in sauerkraut. (Yes, also the berries give their name to the dutch beverage 'jenever', which became 'gin' in english, but in modern jenevers nearly no juniper berry is to be found!)



Here is a female Juniper with ripe berries between the spider webs. They need nearly two year to ripen and turn into this blue colour.
















In april-mai the Juniper flowers. Here are some branches of a male bush, just starting to flower. Junipers have wind pollination, when you touch them the pollen disperses like a cloud of smoke.