2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Cimicifuga (lat. Cimicifuga) - shade-tolerant light-loving perennial from the Buttercup family. The second name is black cohosh.
Description
Tsimitsifuga is a perennial plant endowed with erect stems up to two meters high. The rather large petiole leaves of this plant are serrated at the edges and are arranged in the next order, and these leaves grow directly from the fleshy rhizomes. As for the stems of this plant, they have a rather interesting rectangular cross-section.
Small white flowers of cimicifugi boast a very pleasant honey aroma, and they all gather in rather long terminal racemose inflorescences, the length of which often reaches eighty centimeters. Blossoming of cimicifuga lasts from July to September, while the opening of flowers in inflorescences occurs gradually, from the bottom up.
The fruits of the cimicifuga look like dry leaflets, the length of which ranges from five to ten millimeters, and in each of these leaflets, eight to ten seeds arranged in two rows can easily fit. These bizarre fruits continue to remain on the shoots even in winter, emitting characteristic sounds at the slightest breath of the breeze, very reminiscent of the noise from pea rattles.
In total, there are about two dozen species in the genus of cimicifugi. And it has been cultivated since the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Where grows
Most often, cimicifuga can be found in the Northern Hemisphere, or more precisely, in its temperate regions, mainly in East Asia. It can also be seen in the wild in North America, or rather, in its eastern part - there, this beauty grows mainly in fairly moist deciduous forests.
Usage
Tsimitsifuga looks great both in single plantings and in group. In addition, it is quite often planted on lawns and in mixborders - in the latter case, this plant is used mainly to create the upper tier. And this beauty can often be seen in the composition of a wide variety of bouquets, since she is endowed with the ability to create a delightful openwork background. Cimicifuga combines especially well with aconites, however, it will look no worse in the background of flower beds in front of undersized coniferous trees, various ferns (especially in front of osmund and shitnikov that are brightly colored with the onset of autumn), as well as hosts, badans and astilbe.
Extracts of rhizomes and roots of cimicifuga are widely used in the manufacture of various biologically active additives, as well as in folk medicine: they are an excellent anti-inflammatory, sedative and analgesic agent. But most often, such extracts are used for all sorts of gynecological ailments: postpartum or menstrual pain, menopause, PMS, as well as for the treatment of some female ailments. By the way, the indigenous people of America were well aware of the unique pharmacological properties of cimicifuga even before European colonization!
Growing and caring
It is recommended to plant Tsimicifuga in areas that are reliably protected from the wind, and this is perhaps the only serious requirement for its cultivation. In all other aspects, this plant is extremely undemanding - it does not even need weeding, since the soil around its graceful powerful bushes constantly remains clean. In addition, cimicifuga can grow in the same place up to fifteen to twenty years. She feels especially well on cultivated garden soils, which are characterized by moderate moisture.
Cimicifuga is propagated by dividing five or six-year-old bushes in the spring. In principle, it is recommended to divide this plant approximately once every five to six years.
