Yalovets Cossack – Cossack Juniper

A low-growing slender dioecious evergreen shrub of the cypress family. The leaves are intensely green, scaly, rhombic or rhombic-lanceolate, slightly pointed, there are three on the branches, arranged in 4 rows on the branches in a tile-like manner, rounded on the back, with an elongated or spindle-shaped gland. The sporulation organs are located at the ends of small axillary branches covered with small scaly leaves; male cones are directed upwards, ovoid, formed by round scales with 3-4 anthers; female cones are almost spherical, consist of 4-6 seed scales and three seed primordia. After fertilization, the scales of the female cone grow and form a juicy green cone berry. Ripe cone berries are hanging, black, with a bluish coating, 5-8 mm in diameter. It is pollinated in May. Pine cones ripen in the autumn of the first or the following year.

Distribution . Cossack juniper grows on limestone rocks in Crimea and Transcarpathia. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in many parks.

Procurement and storage . Young annual twigs with leaves (Herba Juniperi, a synonym of Herba Sabinae) are used for the manufacture of medicines, which are harvested in May-June and used fresh or dried, spread out in a thin layer on paper or cloth in the shade in the open air or in a well-ventilated room. Ready raw materials stored in well-closed cans or cans in a dry room, observing the rules for storing poisonous plants.

The plant is unofficial.

Chemical composition . Juniper twigs and leaves contain essential oil, flavonoids, pinipicrin glycoside, tannins and resinous substances, wax, saponins and ascorbic acid. Sabinol alcohol is the main component of essential oil.

Pharmacological properties and use . The highly poisonous properties of juniper limit its therapeutic use. Most often, it is used as an external remedy in the form of an ointment (rubbed into the hairy part of the head in case of baldness, lubricated areas of the body affected by scabies, scabies, ringworm), tincture (lubricated warts to get rid of them) and powder (sprinkled on purulent ulcers). The essence of fresh twigs with leaves is used in homeopathy.

Medicinal forms and applications.

Externally , for lubrication and rubbing, use ointment made from fresh twigs with leaves (cooked on pork lard or butter in a ratio of 1:4) and tincture (20 fresh twigs of Cossack juniper and western thuja to infuse for 20 days in 100 ml of strong vodka).

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