Juniperus communis to the chased girls. Its astringent blue-black seed cones, commonly known as "juniper berries", are too bitter to eat raw and are usually sold dried and used to flavour meats, sauces, and stuffings. They are generally crushed before use to release their flavour. Since juniper berries have a strong taste, they should be used sparingly. They are generally used to enhance meat with a strong flavour, such as game, including game birds, or tongue. The cones are used to flavour certain beers and gin (the word "gin" derives from an Old French word meaning "juniper"). In Finland, juniper is used
East Deccan dry evergreen forests remaining forests are now characterized by areas of leathery-leaved evergreen forest, with a relatively low (10-meter) closed canopy. Predominant species are "Manilkara hexandra", "Mimusops elengi", Ceylon ebony ("Diospyros ebenum"), strychnine tree ("Strychnos nux-vomica"), "Eugenia" spp., "Drypetes sepiaria", and "Flacourtia indica". A few small enclaves of deciduous Sal forest exist, but are under intensive human pressure. Only five percent of the ecoregion remains in forest, which is found in isolated pockets. Most of the ecoregion's forests have been degraded into tropical dry evergreen scrublands, characterized by thorny species such as "Ziziphus glaberrima", "Dichrostachys cinerea", "Catunaregam spinosa", and "Carissa spinarum". Mammals found