Bentham and Hooker divide the genus into three sections, viz., Sabina, Oxycedrus, and Caryocedrus. Juniperus Sabina is the savin, an irregularly spreading much-branched shrub with scale-like glandular leaves, and emitting a disagreeable odour when bruised. The flesh and dried tops of savin are official in the British and United States pharmacopoeias. The plant is poisonous, acting as a powerful local and general stimulant, diaphoretic, emmenagogue and anthelmintic; it is employed both internally and externally. Juniperus bermudiana, a tree about 40 or 50 feet in height, yields a fragrant red wood, which was used for the manufacture of “cedar” pencils. The tree is now very scarce in Bermuda, and the “red cedar,” Juniperus virginiana, of North America is employed instead for pencils and cigar boxes. The red cedar is abundant in some parts of the United States, and in Virginia is a tree 50 feet in height. It is very widely distributed from the great lakes to Florida and round the Gulf of Mexico, and extends as far west as the Rocky Mountains. The wood is applied to many uses in the United States. The fine red fragrant heart-wood takes a high polish, and is much used in cabinet work and inlaying, but the small size of the planks prevents its more extended use. The tops of the young branches are official in the United States pharmacopoeia. The galls produced at the ends of the branches have also been used in medicine, and the wood yields cedar-camphor and oil of cedar wood.

The Juniperus thurifera is the incense juniper of Spain and Portugal, and J. ρhcenicea (J. lycia) from the Mediterranean district is stated by Loudon to be burned as incense.

Juniperus communis, the common juniper, and several other species, belong to the section Oxycedrus. The common juniper is a very widely distributed plant, occurring in the whole of northern Europe, central and northern Asia to Kamchatka, and North America. It grows at considerable elevations in southern Europe, in the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, and Sierra Nevada (4000 to 9000 feet). It also grows in Asia Minor, Persia, and at great elevations on the Himalayas. In former times the juniper seems to have been a very well known plant, the name occurring almost unaltered in many languages. The dialectical names, chiefly in European languages, have been collected by Prince L. L. Bonaparte, and published in The Academy (July 17, 1880, No. 428, p. 45). The common juniper is official in the British pharmacopoeia and in that of the United States, yielding the oil of juniper, a powerful diuretic, distilled from the unripe fruits. The wood is very aromatic, and is used for ornamental purposes. In Lapland the bark is made into ropes. The fruits are used for flavouring gin (a name derived from juniper, through the French genièvre) ; and in some parts of France a kind of beer called Genêvrette was made from them by the peasants. Juniperus Oxycedrus, from the Mediterranean district and Madeira, yields cedar oil which is official in most of the European pharmacopoeias, but not in that of Britain.

The third section, Caryocedrus, consists of a single species, Juniperus drupαcea of Asia Minor. The fruits are large and edible; they are known in the East by the name Habhel.