Phoenicean juniper , Arar
Wikipedia
Juniperus phoenicea, the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Italy, Turkey and Egypt, south on the mountains of Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, and also on Madeira and the Canary Islands. It mostly grows at low altitudes close to the coast, but reaches 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) altitude in the south of its range in the Atlas Mountains. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of El Hierro.
DESCRIPTION
Juniperus phoenicea is a large shrub or small tree reaching 2–12 metres (6.6–39.4 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) diameter and a rounded or irregular crown. The leaves are of two forms, juvenile needle-like leaves 8–10 mm long on seedlings, and adult scale-leaves 0.5–2 mm long on older plants; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or whorls of three. It is largely monoecious, but some individual plants are dioecious. The cones are berry-like, 6–14 mm in diameter, orange-brown, occasionally with a pinkish waxy bloom, and contain 3-8 seeds; they are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in early spring.
Varieties
There are two varieties, treated as subspecies by some authors:
- Juniperus phoenicea var. phoenicea. Throughout the range of the species. Cones globose, about as wide as long.
- Juniperus phoenicea var. turbinata (syn. J. turbinata). Confined to coastal sand dune habitats. Cones oval, narrower than long.
Uses
The tree's essential oil is especially rich in the tricyclic sesquiterpene thujopsene; the heartwood contains an estimated 2.2% of this hydrocarbon. The biochemist Jarl Runeburg noted in 1960 that "Juniperus phoenicea appears to be the most convenient source of thujopsene so far encountered."[3]
The plant Juniperus phoenica (L.) (Cupressaceae) is widely growing on the rocky soils of the Mediterranean regions. In Jordan, the plant is distributed in different locations and is used as a folk medicine to treat rheumatism, edema, and urinary tract diseases. This study aimed to investigate the antifertility effect of J. phoenica in male albino rats. Animals were administered single daily intraperitoneal injections of 400 or 800 mg/kg of J. phoenica cones ethanol extract or the vehicle (dimethyl sulfoxide) for 21 consecutive days. A marked dose-dependent decrease in the counts and motility of the sperms collected from the cauda epididymis of treated rats was observed compared with the control. Furthermore, pregnancy rate in females markedly reduced by 60% and 80% after mating with males treated with 400 or 800 mg/kg, respectively. At the same time, significant decreases were detected in seminal vesicles and testicular weight of rats that received 800 mg/kg as compared with control rats. Testosterone levels were decreased significantly in both treated groups as compared with control. Histologically, seminiferous tubules of treated rats showed marked arrests of spermatogenesis and a marked decrease in the number of mature sperms. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that the ethanolic extract of the cones of J. phoenica possesses potential antifertility effects.