Its scientific name is Juniperus phoenicea. The name “juneprus” indicates the sour taste of the fruit, while “phoenicia” it means red, and purple, and refers to the color of cuddles, berries, and ripe. 

Name Prickly Juniper comes from the production of raw fruits called “cuddles”. The berries are a good food for foxes, mustelids, and birds.

The presence of the Phoenicians in Sardinia is attested to in many ways and in many think that the phoenician juniper, “Zinniberi Burdu” in sardinian, is called in this way because it brought here by the ancient civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, in reality, in this case it is not true it Is a shrub or evergreen shrub, tall, 1 to 6 m, alive for a long time until reaching the age of secular and large size. In the Island there are some that have been recognized as “Monumental Trees“.

More frequently it is located on the limestone of the central-eastern area. The bark has a pale reddish-brown and cracks in a shallow and elongated. The leaves are green and growing to 1-2 mm in length, are arranged like tiles (imbricate) to form a branch. The male flowers yellowish, and the female green, are born on different plants. It blooms in march-April and the fruits globose fruits or cuddling (pseudofrutto typical of the junipers, where fleshy scales wrap the seeds. Often, with time, take on the form of twisted and creeping. 

From the distillation of the wood you get a particular oil that is especially useful to treat diseases of the skin, while in veterinary medicine to combat scabies and ulcers of the cattle. With the globose fruits are preparing jams and preserves. By macerating globose fruits, whole or broken, brandy or alcohol are preparing liqueurs (table or medicines). Look at the originality of certain trees, and the courage of so many others: the wind is not their enemy, is their hair, and produced masterpieces. Provide proof of extraordinary strength, and a lesson for all of us, convinced that he who is strong does not have to change, at the cost of breaking. The junipers are very strong because you bend, adapt, change, suffer. And doesn't break almost never. There are also beautiful juniper trees in the vicinity. The trunks of these trees, which are normally only shrubs are used by the shepherds to cover a cone of their home called Cuili.

We wish you a good reading, a big hug from Juniper.

Author: Elisa Sassu and Ferrer Agus