Juniper Wood Oil

#### Juniper Wood Oil. Although this material is rarely found as a true essential oil, it deserves some attention. A number of oils are offered in Europe under the above name, but most likely none of them are true steam distillates from the wood and twigs of **Juniperus Communis**, the same tree which supply us with fruits (see **Juniperberry**** ****Oil).**** **From an olfactory point of view, the best "juniper wood oils" that the author has seen were very similar to good or fair commercial juniperberry oil. Most often, however, the so-called wood oils were merely berry oils which had been diluted with up to six or nine times the amount of turpentine oil, alpha pinene or mixtures containing cypress oil, etc. According to private communication to the author, juniper wood oil is frequently produced by co-distillation of juniper berries, twigs and perhaps wood, with turpentine oil. The commercially offered oils were all pale yellow or practically water-white, mobile liquids of sweet-balsamic, fresh-turpentine-like odor and of bitter, burning flavor. Juniper wood oil has little or no use in perfumes and flavors, but it is still used in veterinary medicine. The oil is usually offered by producers in Portugal, Hungary or France. In Yugoslavia, the wood from **Juniperus Oxycedrus **is distilled. The oil is colorless and of turpentine-like juniper odor. The fruits from this tree are occasionally distilled and the resulting oil offered as juniperberry oil. It is inferior to true juniperberry oil in respect to odor and flavor. **Juniper**** ****Tar**** **is produced by destructive distillation of wood from Juniperus Oxycedrus. The product is described under its commercial name, **Cade Oil.**