2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Kochedzhnik (lat. Athyrium) - shade-tolerant fern from the Asplenievye family. The name of this plant is derived from the Old Slavic word "kochedyga", translated as "big root".
Description
Kochedzhnik is a fairly large forest fern with a height of half a meter to a meter, endowed with thin double or triple feathery leaves. These leaves are almost always openwork, and their shape can vary from broadly triangular to lanceolate.
The rhizomes of the kochedyzhnik are ascending, thick and short, and the stems are slightly corrugated, vertical and also short. As for the color of the stems, it can vary from green to straw shades, while the lower stems are almost always covered with either light brown or dark brown scales.
The sori of the kochedzhnik are located along the conductive leaf veins, not in pairs, but one by one. They can be both curving and oblong, and often bent in the form of small hooks or horseshoes. Sometimes there are also rounded sori, but this is much less common and, as a rule, only in small-leaved or small-feathery species. And this plant is also capable of forming a fairly strong self-seeding.
In total, this genus includes about two hundred species of various ferns.
Where grows
It will not be difficult to meet a kochedyzhnik in the Northern Hemisphere, throughout its temperate zone. In addition, it grows very well in the subtropical climatic zone.
Usage
About ten species of kochedyzhnik have proven themselves perfectly in ornamental gardening; Chinese kochedyzhnik and female kochedyzhnik are especially popular in this regard. This plant is great for landscaping even the most distant shady corners.
Kochedzhnik is an ideal plant for the formation of perennial decorative groups placed in the shade of trees. However, this fern will look no less impressive in solitary plantings. It is also perfect for creating mixborders and a number of other compositions from herbaceous perennials planted in shaded corners of the garden. A kochedyzhnik planted in small groups in the middle of low-growing ground covers will look especially good. This fern goes well with various ornamental grasses, as well as lilies, hosts, lovely Rogers and Kupena. And under its canopy, you can safely place spring-flowering low-growing plants - crested beetles, as well as snowdrops with snowdrops, etc.
The kochedyzhnik is also used in folk medicine - its roots are famous for their pronounced diuretic and anthelmintic effect. For a long time, women drank tea from these roots to relieve pain in the body caused by childbirth, and the roots, dried and crushed to a powdery state, were quite actively used to heal various ulcers.
Growing and caring
Kochedzhnik will grow well on garden, sufficiently moist and fertile soils. However, it adapts very well to extremely unfavorable environmental conditions, and also boasts a fairly high winter hardiness and the complete absence of the need for any shelter. And this plant is completely unpretentious in care - the kochedyzhnik is very drought-resistant and tolerates a moisture deficit much better than all other ferns (although in too dry conditions it can easily lose its decorative effect). Water it only when a prolonged drought is established.
The kochedyzhnik does not need fertilization at all, in addition, he is able to grow for a very long time (up to fifteen years) in the same area without dividing and replanting. It is also surprisingly winter-hardy.
Reproduction of kochedyzhnik is carried out either by spores or by dividing the bushes, and it is best to carry out this division in the spring.
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Written Kochedyzhnik
Written kochedyzhnik is one of the plants of the family called the centipede, in Latin the name of this plant will sound like this: Athyrium acrostichoides (Sweet) Diels. As for the written name of the family of kochedyzhnik itself, in Latin it will be as follows:
