[joo-nuh-per] 
| 1. | any evergreen, coniferous shrub or tree of the genus Juniperus, esp. J. communis, having cones that resemble dark-blue or blackish berries used in flavoring gin and in medicine as a diuretic. |
| 2. | a tree mentioned in the Old Testament, said to be the retem. |
| ju·ni·per (jōō'nə-pər) n. Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Juniperus, having needlelike or scalelike, often pointed leaves and aromatic, bluish-gray, berrylike, seed-bearing cones. [Middle English, from Latin iūniperus; see perə-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
Juniper
(Heb. rothem), called by the Arabs retem, and known as Spanish broom; ranked under the genus genista. It is a desert shrub, and abounds in many parts of Palestine. In the account of his journey from Akabah to Jerusalem, Dr. Robinson says: "This is the largest and most conspicuous shrub of these deserts, growing thickly in the water-courses and valleys. Our Arabs always selected the place of encampment, if possible, in a spot where it grew, in order to be sheltered by it at night from the wind; and during the day, when they often went on in advance of the camels, we found them not unfrequently sitting or sleeping under a bush of retem to shelter them from the sun. It was in this very desert, a day's journey from Beersheba, that the prophet Elijah lay down and slept beneath the same shrub" (1 Kings 19:4, 5). It afforded material for fuel, and also in cases of extremity for human food (Ps. 120:4; Job 30:4). One of the encampments in the wilderness of Paran is called Rithmah, i.e., "place of broom" (Num. 33:18). "The Bedawin of Sinai still burn this very plant into a charcoal which throws out the most intense heat."
