A hardy, coniferous, evergreen shrub, of upright, dwarf form with needle-like leaves. It grows very slowly, at 2-3cm per year. Suitable for a trough: growing 80cm (32in) high by 45cm (18 in) wide. The small, spherical fruits, borne on the female plants, are green at first, and take two years to ripen to blue-black. Contact with the foliage may aggravate skin allergies.

Traditional Herbal Medicine Registration (THMR).

Prescription only medicine: Taxanes.

communis- common, general, growing in company.

Its perfume ‘driveth away serpents’. Some people to prevent being stung by serpents ‘rub or anoint their bodies with a liniment made from Juniper seed or berries’. Seeds and berries used in antidotes to poisons, against stomach and chest pains, coughs, wind and swellings ‘tumours’. Berries in wine against convulsions, cramps, ruptures, colic, uterine pain and sciatica. Diuretic.