Juniper is a small prickly shrub of the spruce family found on chalk downs, limestone hills and moorlands in the UK, on mainland Europe it can be found growing in the Alps up to an altitude of 1900 meters (6300ft approx) It is an evergreen which can grown up to 12ft high but smaller sizes are much more common. Its leaves are found in sets of three and have small yellow flowers at their base between May and June. The Fruit at first appears as green cones but will slowly ripen to the distinctive Blue-black. Although Juniper berries are associated with the production of Gin, UK distillers have not used domestic berries for a long time. The Berries ripen in September/ October of their second year and have a variety of uses for the dark oil they contain. These include being roasted and ground as coffee and being used to flavour game and white meat dishes. The oil has been used to treat Rheumatism and inhaled to treat Bronchitis. To help clear a blocked nose take a small handful of berries and crush them and inhale the vapours, I have found this can help with sinus headaches as well.