Blueberry

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Blueberry is one of the plants of the family called heather, in Latin the name of this plant will sound like this: Vaccinium uliginosum L. As for the name of the blueberry family itself, in Latin it will be like this: Ericaceae Juss.

Description of blueberries

Blueberry is a low shrub, which will be highly branched and endowed with light brown or dark gray bark, as well as its cylindrical branches. The length of the leaves of this plant will be about half a centimeter to three centimeters, while their width can be in a radius from half a centimeter to four centimeters. Such blueberry leaves will be alternate, short petiolate, obtuse and obovate, as well as whole-edged. From above, these leaves will be light green in color, and from below they will be bluish and covered with a bluish and waxy bloom. The flowers are one to three pieces on short drooping pedicels, such flowers will sit at the ends of last year's short branches. Blueberry flowers have a faint but very pleasant scent. In color, such flowers will be either pinkish or white. The blueberry fruit is a dark blue oval berry, which will also be endowed with green juicy pulp, the length of such fruits will be about nine to twelve millimeters.

Blueberry blooms in the period from June to mid-July, while the ripening of the fruits of this plant will begin in early August. Under natural conditions, this plant can be found in the Caucasus, the Far East, Siberia, Belarus, as well as in the Right-Bank Polesie and the Carpathians in Ukraine. In addition, the plant is also found in the north of the Non-Black Earth Region of the European part of Russia. For growth, blueberries prefer peat bogs, damp coniferous and deciduous forests.

Description of the medicinal properties of blueberries

The fruits of this plant should be collected during their full maturity, it is noteworthy that such fruits are used fresh and dried. The leaves of this plant should be harvested around June-July. Blueberry leaves should be dried in the shade under awnings, while they are laid out in a layer of about three to five centimeters.

The fruits of this plant contain glucose, fructose, sucrose, as well as tannins and dyes, pentosans, pectin substances, carotene, ascorbic acids, malic and other organic acids, and besides this, there are also such trace elements: copper, iron and magnesium. Blueberry leaves and branches will contain ascorbic acid, arbutin and tannins, and the seeds of this plant contain a fatty oil.

In folk medicine, a decoction made from the dry fruits of this plant is quite widespread. Such a remedy should be used as an astringent and anti-inflammatory agent for gastritis, diarrhea, arthritis, enteritis, and in addition, also as a multivitamin and general tonic for metabolic disorders and vitamin deficiencies. A decoction of dried blueberry fruits is also used in feverish conditions as a thirst-quenching and antipyretic agent. In addition, such a remedy is also effective as an antihelminthic, as well as in hypertension and a variety of cardiovascular diseases, with leukoplakia, pyelitis, cystitis and anemia.

As for the decoction of young shoots with the leaves of this plant, such a remedy is used for various heart diseases, as well as for diseases of the kidneys and bladder. In addition, such a decoction is also effective as a laxative. As a mild laxative, you can also use the infusion of blueberry leaves.