Juniper (juniperus, the ancient Latin name), a genus of evergreen shrubs and trees, of the cypress subfamily of the order coniferce. The leaves in this genus are awl-shaped or scalelike, rigid, and sometimes of two shapes in the same tree; the flowers, mostly dioecious, are in small axillary aments; the sterile aments consist of shield-shaped scales, beneath each of which are three to six anther cells; the fertile have three to six fleshy, one-ovuled, coa-lescent scales, and in ripening become a berrylike fruit. The common juniper (J. communis), also a native of Europe, is abundant in the northern states, especially on dry sterile hills near the coast, where it is not rare to find plants only a foot or two high spreading close to the ground, and forming a circular mat 30 ft. in circumference. It sometimes rises to the height of 5 to 10 ft., and old specimens attain a much greater size. One at the Bartram garden, near Philadelphia, a few years ago, measured 35 ft. The leaves are articulated with the stem in whorls of three, spreading and prickly-pointed; the upper surface is glaucous white, the under dark green.

The berries are about the size of a pea, and dark purple; they contain a brownish pulp, with three seeds; their taste is sweetish, warm and bitterish, with a peculiar terebinthinate flavor; they contain a volatile oil (oil of juniper), which is separated by distillation. The berries are stimulant and diuretic, and have long been used for urinary diseases; they are used in the manufacture of gin, and give to that liquor its peculiar flavor and diuretic properties. In Europe a kind of tar is prepared from the wood, which under the name of oil of cade is used for cutaneous diseases. The common juniper varies greatly; in a bed of seedlings it is difficult to find two alike; some of its forms are useful in ornamental planting. A very prostrate form, the variety alpina, found along the great lakes and northward, is a useful plant for rockwork. The well known Irish (var. Hibernica) and Swedish (var. Suecica) junipers are remarkably erect varieties of this species; these, especially the latter, are much used in ornamental planting, where their columnar forms afford a marked contrast to other trees. They are liable to be bent out of shape by the accumulation of snow among their dense erect branches; this can be prevented by winding the tree with a cord or fine wire at the approach of winter.

A related species from the south of Europe, J. hemisphcerica, is remarkably dwarf, a plant ten years old being not over a foot high; this is known as the hedgehog juniper, and is a favorite with planters for the decoration of small grounds. - The section of savin junipers differs from the true junipers, to which the foregoing belong, in having their leaves opposite and not articulate with the stem. A prominent representative of this section is the red cedar (J. Virginiana), which is found from Canada to the gulf of Mexico. Few trees present in their wild state a greater variety of form; in some localities every specimen takes an erect habit and forms a dark green column, tapering but slightly from the base, and as regular in outline as if artificially pruned; in other places, especially inland, the tree has a clear trunk and handsome open head, with somewhat pendulous branches; those which grow days; or if I did, they would attaint me by bill." In other letters he speaks with the utmost confidence. " As to me, be assured that it is not in the nature of things that they, or you, or anybody else should ever know me, unless I make myself known; all arts, or inquiries, or rewards would be equally ineffectual." And in his dedication to the English nation he declared: " I am the sole depositary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me." Junius appears to have written in a disguised hand.

Various prescribed signals, as " C.," " A letter," or a scrap of Latin poetry, were made to him in the notices to correspondents in the " Public Advertiser." Answers and parcels from the printer were left for him according to his, orders in a great variety of places, addressed to different names. Who the person was who thus foiled the scrutiny of his own age has been the subject of more than 100 volumes or pamphlets, and of a vast number of essays in periodicals. Efforts have been made at different times to identify him with Sergeant James Adair, Col. Isaac Barre, Hugh Macaulay Boyd, Edmund Burke, Bishop John Butler, Lord Camden, Lord Chatham, Lord Chesterfield, J. L. De Lolme, John Dunning (Lord Ashburton), Samuel Dyer, Henry Flood, Dr. Philip Francis, Sir Philip Francis, Edward Gibbon, Richard Glover, Henry Grattan, William Greatrakes, George Grenville, James Grenville, William Gerard Hamilton, James Hollis, Sir William Jones, John Kent, Gen. Charles Lee, Charles Lloyd, Thomas Lord Lyt-telton, Laughlin McLean, the duke of Portland, Gov. Thomas Pownall, Sir Robert Rich, John Roberts, the Rev. Philip Rosenhagen, Lord George Germaine (Viscount Sackville), the earl of Shelburne, Earl Temple, John Horne Tooke, Horace Walpole, John Wilkes, Alexander Wedderburn (Lord Loughborough), Dr. James Wilmot, and Daniel Wray. Several of these laid claim to the honor of which they were ambitious, while the real author may have declined to accept a brilliant literary fame with the stigma of an almost fiendish malignity of character.

The first attempt to fix the authorship upon Sir Philip Francis was made in 1816 by John Taylor, in his "Identity of Junius with a Distinguished Living Character Established," and it has from that time been more generally ascribed to him than to any other. According to Macaulay, "the case against Francis, or, if you please, in favor of Francis, rests on coincidences sufficient to convict a murderer." Besides numerous and constant coincidences in dates and circumstances, and resemblance of character and handwriting, it should be observed that he never directly denied the charge. In answer to an inquiry, he wrote evasively: "Whether you will assist in giving currency to a silly malignant falsehood is a question for your own discretion." Lady Francis affirms that his first gift to her after marriage was an edition of Junius, which he bade her take to her room, keep from sight, and never to speak on the subject; and he made a posthumous present to her of a sealed copy of Taylor's "Identity of Junius," found in his bureau.

According to her statement, also, Sir Philip made himself known as Junius to the king, Lord North, and Lord Chatham, under an engagement of secrecy, and received in consequence his Indian appointment; and the secret was faithfully kept by each of the contracting parties, who were equally interested in not divulging it. Since the publication of the facsimiles of the feigned handwriting of Junius, facts have come to light which seem to prove conclusively the identity of Francis with him. A lady recognized the handwriting as the same as that of an anonymous note which she received in 1770 at Bath, enclosing a copy of verses written in a different hand. When the life of Francis was published (1867), two lines of these verses were found quoted in a letter from Richard Tilgh-man of Philadelphia, dated Sept. 29, 1773, in a manner implying that Francis would recognize them. Renewed examination proved that the lady's copy of verses was in Tilghman's handwriting. Tilghman, who was a law student in the Temple in 1769 and 1770, was a near relative and intimate friend of Francis, and was with him at Bath when the verses were delivered.

This led to a careful examination of the note in which the verses were enclosed by experts, who unhesitatingly pronounced it to be written in the feigned hand of Junius. Now Tilghman could not have been Junius, for the letters were begun before he left America, and continued after his return home. It follows then that Francis was the writer of the note and consequently Junius. - Complete editions of his letters were published by George Woodfall, son of the original printer of them (3 vols., London, 1812 and 1814), to which an elaborate preliminary essay was prefixed by Dr. John Mason Good. A new edition (1850-'55), by John Wade, forming two volumes in Bonn's "Standard Library," contains the whole of Woodfall's edition. The most complete bibliography of Junius is given in Lowndes's " Bibliographer's Manual," vol. iii. (London, 1860). Merivale's "Memoir of Sir Philip Francis" (2 vols. 8vo, London, 1867) contains much new evidence concerning the authorship. See also Chabot and Twistle-ton's "Handwriting of Junius Professionally Investigated" (4to, London, 1871). Sir Alexander Cockburn, lord chief justice of England, in a work announced for publication in 1874, is said to prove almost conclusively the identity of Sir Philip Francis with Junius.

Pistillate and Staminate Flowers.