Justfolk

Justfolk club

Posted: 03 May 2017


Taken: 03 May 2017

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We call it juniper, but many Canadians call it tamarack, and anyone can get away calling it larch

We call it juniper, but many Canadians call it tamarack, and anyone can get away calling it larch
Hereabouts, May month is when we slowly start seeing blooms. This
morning we woke up to a glitter storm -- freezing rain forming on all
surfaces. By four o'clock in the afternoon, it was fourteen degrees,
not a bad spring day. So we went for a walk after work.

There's still lots of snow around, especially under north-facing
boughs, or where snow-ploughs pushed it up into black piles. Or
underfoot where paths packed it down. But the junipers are starting
to show their leaves and their blooms. (I call them juniper, the
local name, but I know others call it larch and some call it
tamarack.) Juniper blooms may be my favourite spring flower, even if
they are among the tiniest -- that central bloom is about five mm
wide, a quarter-inch or so.

Comments
 Sylvain Wiart
Sylvain Wiart
Genévrier en français :-)
6 years ago.
 Justfolk
Justfolk club
That ("genévrier") is the origin of our word "gin" (the alcoholic spirit): in English it was called "genever" but got shortened. Its berries were the flavouring for gin. I have used the berries for gravy flavouring. . . mmmm.

But *that* juniper is not *this* juniper. Locally, the larch tree is called "juniper" but most of the English-speaking world reserves the word "juniper" for what you call genévrier -- the family of plants that actually belong to the genus Juniperus. Larch is another genus (Larix).

As confusing as it is to people who don't live here in Newfoundland, I still like to use the local name. :)
6 years ago.

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