Juniper tree ("Juniperus phoenicea") is applied in dotted patterns on bisque drinking cups. Gitran makes the water more fragrant and is said to be good for the teeth. Some Indigenous peoples, such as the Dineh, have traditionally used juniper for diabetes. Native Americans have also used juniper berries as a female contraceptive. The 17th Century herbalist physician Nicholas Culpeper recommended the ripened berries for conditions such as asthma and sciatica, as well as to speed childbirth. The plant was long used as an arbortifacient and was known as 'bastard killer' in the UK. Juniper is one of the plants used in
Bastard (law of England and Wales) often referred to in the well-known "Brother Cadfael" series of Medieval detective mysteries. Bastard (law of England and Wales) A bastard (also historically called whoreson, although both of these terms have largely dropped from common usage) in the law of England and Wales is an illegitimate child, that is, one whose parents were not married at the time of his or her birth. Unlike in many other systems of law, there was previously no possibility of "post factum" legitimisation of a bastard. This situation was changed in 1926. The word bastard is from the Old French "bastard," which in turn