2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Walking through the Crimean parks, many probably paid attention to trees with outlandish fruits that resemble wrinkled oranges. Popularly, this plant is often called the Adam's apple, or the Chinese orange, leaving aside its real name - maklura. In addition to the original appearance, the fruits of this wonderful tree have been famous for their excellent healing properties since ancient times
This woody plant was named after the world famous geologist Williams McLure. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was brought from North America to the Crimea. The Indians once highly prized maklura because of the elastic wood from which they made bows. At that time, yellow paint was extracted from the roots of the plant. And the fruits were credited with truly miraculous properties. Despite the fact that the Chinese orange is most often grown in southern countries, it can also be found in central Russia. Of course, in the conditions of our climate, it is not a sprawling massive tree that turns out from it, but just a bush, not devoid of its exotic and useful fruits.
Beautiful in any season
Of the twelve types of maclura on the territory of our country, the most famous is the orange or orange maclura (Maclura aurantiaca Nutt), which is often found in the Crimea. It can be up to 10 meters high. Its spreading crown is adorned with a slender dark brown stem. Sharp spines up to 2.5 centimeters in length peep menacingly from the axils of oblong, dark green leaves.
Maclura will be a wonderful decoration in any season. In spring, earrings of pale green flowers hang from its branches, in summer it looks good on thick, dark green foliage, and in autumn it takes on a golden yellow appearance. But the plant looks most attractive during the ripening period of "Adam's apples". These are rather large yellow-green or orange seedlings weighing about 1 kg. They hang from curved, bare branches. After collecting, they do not lose their original shape for a very long time and will become an excellent decoration for any phytocomposition.
Inedible, but healthy
Unfortunately, despite its attractive appearance, this wonderful plant is rarely used for landscaping cities. In its homeland, maklura causes a lot of trouble because of its waste: in the springtime, male plants shed numerous earring flowers, and in the fall, fruits fall from female trees. Although they are inedible, this does not affect their healing power. It has been proven that "shriveled oranges" can relieve pain, soothe, heal wounds, help with hypertension, skin diseases, rheumatism, and even with serious stages of oncology. Maclura milky juice contains many trace elements and flavonoids.
Loves warmth, light and haircut
This plant is very thermophilic, so there is no need to expect ten-meter growth from it in the middle lane. But, nevertheless, even here it will bear fruit quite well in the form of a bush. Gardeners have achieved the greatest successes in the cultivation of makliura in those regions where grapes do not need shelter for the winter period. This beautiful plant has no special whims, and it is quite unpretentious.
Maclura tolerates any soil very well, is not afraid of drought, frost, wind and dust. Her only requirement is light, so it is best for her to choose a well-lit place. Once every three years or so, the baker needs to be trimmed to remove old, broken and dry branches. Timely processing stimulates abundant fruiting.
Easier to sow
"Chinese orange" is propagated by cuttings, seeds, cuttings and root suckers. The easiest way to get young plants is using the seed method. To do this, you need to take the maklura fruit, hold it in water at room temperature until soft, after which the seeds can be easily removed from it. Then the same bath must be provided for the seeds. Before planting, they must be kept for up to 2 days in warm water, due to which they will become more resistant to various climatic changes or diseases. After that, the seeds must be stratified at a temperature of + 4C.
The seeds are sown in spacious boxes, covering them with earth. A distance of at least 20 centimeters must be left between the processes, at least 30 between the rows. Seedlings appear slowly and sparsely. A year later, after the seedlings grow up to one meter in length, they are planted in their permanent habitat. The distance between shoots should be 60-70cm. It is advisable to protect young plants from frost by covering them for the winter or placing them in a greenhouse. As a rule, mackleur does not suffer from any kind of terrible diseases or pests.
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