The genus is divided into three sections, _Sabina_, _Oxycedrus_ and _Caryocedrus_. _Juniperus Sabina_ is the savin, abundant on the mountains of central Europe, an irregularly spreading much-branched shrub with scale-like glandular leaves, and emitting a disagreeable odour when bruised. The plant is poisonous, acting as a powerful local and general stimulant, diaphoretic, emmenagogue and anthelmintic; it was formerly employed both internally and externally. The oil of savin is now occasionally used criminally as an abortifacient. _J. bermudiana_, a tree about 40 or 50 ft. in height, yields a fragrant red wood, which was used for the manufacture of "cedar" pencils. The tree is now very scarce in Bermuda, and the "red cedar," _J. virginiana_, of North America is employed instead for pencils and cigar-boxes. The red cedar is abundant in some parts of the United States and in Virginia is a tree 50 ft. in height. It is very widely distributed from the Great Lakes to Florida and round the Gulf of Mexico, and extends as far west as the Rocky Mountains and beyond to Vancouver Island. The wood is applied to many uses in the United States. The fine red fragrant heart-wood takes a high polish, and is much used in cabinet-work and inlaying, but the small size of the planks prevents its more extended use. The galls produced at the ends of the branches have been used in medicine, and the wood yields cedar-camphor and oil of cedar-wood. _J. thurifera_ is the incense juniper of Spain and Portugal, and _J. phoenicea_ (_J. lycia_) from the Mediterranean district is stated by Loudon to be burned as incense.
_J. communis_, the common juniper (see fig.), and several other species, belong to the section _Oxycedrus_. The common juniper is a very widely distributed plant, occurring in the whole of northern Europe, central and northern Asia to Kamchatka, and east and west North America. It grows at considerable elevations in southern Europe, in the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada (4000 to 8000 ft.). It also grows in Asia Minor, Persia, and at great elevations on the Himalayas. In Great Britain it is usually a shrub with spreading branches, less frequently a low tree. In former times the juniper seems to have been a very well-known plant, the name occurring almost unaltered in many languages. The Lat. _juniperus_, probably formed from _juni_--crude form of _juvenis_, fresh, young, and _parere_, to produce, is represented by Fr. _genièvre_, Sp. _enebro_, Ital. _ginepito_, &c. The dialectical names, chiefly in European languages, were collected by Prince L. L. Bonaparte, and published in the _Academy_ (July 17, 1880, No. 428, p. 45). The common juniper is official in the British pharmacopoeia and in that of the United States, yielding the oil of juniper, a powerful diuretic, distilled from the unripe fruits. This oil is closely allied in composition to oil of turpentine and is given in doses of a half to three minims. The _Spiritus juniperi_ of the British pharmacopoeia is given in doses up to one drachm. Much safer and more powerful diuretics are now in use. The wood is very aromatic and is used for ornamental purposes. In Lapland the bark is made into ropes. The fruits are used for flavouring gin (a name derived from _juniper_, through Fr. _genièvre_); and in some parts of France a kind of beer called _genévrette_ was made from them by the peasants. _J. Oxycedrus_, from the Mediterranean district and Madeira, yields cedar-oil which is official in most of the European pharmacopoeias, but not in that of Britain. This oil is largely used by microscopists in what is known as the "oil-immersion lens."