2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
This tree is called differently. In childhood, we called him "Boyarka" and ate his soft orange berries. There are more than a thousand species of this tree on Earth, in Russia - within fifty, but only ten species are of the greatest importance to humans. Hawthorn berries are edible, healthy and tasty. In the old days, ground dry berries were added to bread dough to give it a fruity flavor. From the hawthorn, an excellent thorny green hedge is obtained, which protects the dacha from uninvited guests from all volosts for 200-300 years
Hawthorn value
Berries
Most species of boyarka give slightly sour, pleasant and healthy fruits. But in the family there is always at least one pest. There is one among the hawthorns with the name "dubious hawthorn", the berries of which are dangerous to people, because they are poisonous.
Berries are rich in active substances, vitamin C (especially a lot of it in fruits growing in Siberia), carotene, organic acids, carbohydrates, pectin substances.
They are used to prepare tea, coffee substitute, juice, drink in conjunction with honey and kvass concentrate, compote. They cook mashed potatoes, jam, jam. They make marshmallows, sweets, rub with sugar, candied whole berries. In a company with apples, it turns out an excellent filling for pies. From mashed hawthorn and honey, they make gravy for pancakes, pancakes and thick porridges.
Seeds
The seeds contain amygdalin (its advertising as an anticancer agent is considered "quack" in scientific medicine), hyperoside (promotes the normal functioning of the heart muscle), fatty oil.
Flowers
Hawthorn flowers are an excellent honey plant, and are also used in medicine for functional disorders of the heart (atrial fibrillation, hypertension - lower blood pressure).
Juice from fresh flowers is mixed with alcohol (1: 2) and infused for 15 days. Then take three times a day, dripping forty drops into a tablespoon of water. Or an infusion of 3 glasses of boiling water and 3 tablespoons of flowers is drunk in three doses per day for glaucoma, choking, dizziness, heart disease.
Leaves
Hawthorn leaves contain a number of acids, quercetin (has anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, decongestant effects. Also found in onions, lemons), vitexin rhamnoside (close to glucose esters), essential oil.
Bark
Hawthorn bark is rich in the glycoside esculin (krategin).
Contraindications for use
Although hawthorn is not toxic (excluding dubious hawthorn), it is better to refrain from it with increased blood clotting, cardiac arrhythmias, low blood pressure, during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Several types of hawthorn
* Blood red or Siberiand - shrub up to 4 meters high, or a thin-stemmed tree up to 6 meters. More often it has spines up to 5 centimeters long.
In May-June it is covered with white thick brushes of flowers. Brownish or blood-red, sometimes orange-yellow berries of a spherical or slightly oval shape.
The soil loves fertile, medium moisture. Drought tolerant, frost-resistant. It grows slowly, the berries appear at 10-15 years of age.
Cuttings of shovels and percussion instruments, household items are made of wood. Suitable as a rootstock for dwarf apple and pear trees.
* Prickly - strong thorns up to 2.5 centimeters long make trees 3.5-8 meters high a valuable species for green hedges. Widespread throughout the country, easy to cut and shape.
In May-June, it is covered with sparse shields of white or pinkish inflorescences. Red, yellow or whitish berries of a spherical or oblong shape contain 2-3 seeds inside and ripen in August.
Wood, white with a red tint, lends itself well to polishing and is used in engraving, not inferior to the quality of boxwood.
Prefers clayey, heavy soils. It strengthens river slopes well, preventing landslides.
* Doubtful - its berries are tasty, but they cause poisoning if you eat a lot of them. How to get around it?
Firstly, it grows only along the middle reaches of the Volga and Don, so residents of other regions need not be afraid of meeting with it.
Secondly, his shoots are prickly and not everyone wants to mess with him. Its berries are purple-black with light dots of an almost spherical shape.
Recommended:
Cypripedium, Or Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium, or Venus slipper (lat.Cypripedium) - a genus of herbaceous perennial plants, ranked by botanists in the Orchid family (Latin Orchidaceae). Unlike most of its relatives in the Orchid family, the Lady's slipper prefers to live on the ground, rather than hanging its roots along the trunks and branches of trees, as epiphytic orchid species do.
An Elegant Shoe Is A Lady's Slipper. Reproduction, Planting
For a long time, people have been making up legends about a beautiful flower. According to one of them, the goddess Venus went for a walk in the forest among wild animals and birds. They were delighted with her appearance, the animals were surrounded by care, the birds chirped wonderful songs. Tired, the woman lay down to sleep in a clearing under the shade of a tall tree, took off her shoes. When I woke up, I forgot about them. On this place, beautiful flowers grew, which people eventually transferred to their gardens, learned to propagate Venus' shoes
An Elegant Shoe Is A Lady's Slipper. Growing
Exquisite aristocracy is inherent in the forest orchid. In one place, with the right location, slippers can grow for over 100 years. In Germany, there is the oldest specimen, with 200 shoots with flowers. Experienced gardeners practice container growing of delicate shoes
An Elegant Shoe Is A Lady's Slipper. Acquaintance
Among forest orchids, shoes, unusual in structure, stand out. In Europe, they are considered a difficult crop to grow. Due to the warm winter weather, they start growing prematurely. In the conditions of Russia, they tolerate cold conditions very well. What is the structure of an unusual flower?
