Acantopanax Sessile-flowered

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

Acanthopanax sessiliflonis (lat. Acanthopanax sessiliflonis) - healing and decorative culture; a representative of the genus Akantopanax of the Araliev family. One of the most widespread species in the Russian Federation, it is cultivated for obtaining valuable medicinal raw materials and for landscaping garden plots and large city parks. In the wild, the species in question is found in Korea, the northeastern regions of China, as well as in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories. It grows both singly and crowded along the edges of forests in the riverine zone, on heights in the taiga and along wooded river banks.

Characteristics of culture

Acantopanax sessile-flowered is a strongly branched deciduous shrub up to 3 m high with a powerful spherical crown. Young shoots are ash-gray, equipped with rare single solid thorns, widened at the base. The leaves are rather large, palmate-complex, green, and consist of 3-5 oblong-ovate leaflets. In autumn, the foliage does not change color, practically until the very frost it keeps on the branches, thereby decorating the autumn garden.

The flowers are inconspicuous, small, brown-violet, sometimes dark purple, collected in capitate inflorescences, which are combined in several pieces into semi-umbrellas. The central inflorescence of half-umbels is slightly larger than the others. The fruits are slightly flattened, oblong, black or almost black, ripen in September, are not used for food, although they are often used as medicinal raw materials. Acanthopanax blooms for 20-25 days, flowering occurs in mid-August. Like the closest relative acanthopanax spread out, the species under consideration has an average growth rate for the first 3-5 years, later the growth rate decreases significantly.

The species is unpretentious, propagates both by seeds and vegetatively. The seeds remain viable throughout the year. No preliminary processing is required. Seedlings appear in 1-2 years, sometimes not very close. Propagation by cuttings gives better results than seed propagation. Reproduction by root suckers is not prohibited. Cuttings are carried out in the summer, after cutting, the cuttings are treated with growth stimulants. With this approach, as well as subject to the rules of care and favorable growing conditions, up to 70% of the cuttings are rooted.

The subtleties of growing

Acantopanax sessile-flowered shade-tolerant, but to obtain a rich color of foliage, a large number of fruits and accelerate growth, plants should be planted in sunny or slightly shaded areas. Lowlands with stagnant water and cold air are not suitable for crops. Soils are preferable fertile, fresh, moist, loose, permeable. It is not recommended to plant Acantopanax in highly acidic, poor, swampy and saline areas. There are no other features in the growing conditions.

Plant care is not difficult, and even inexperienced gardeners can do it. It consists in simple procedures: rare watering, feeding once a year, sanitary pruning, weeding. Shelter for the winter and formative pruning is not required. If we touch on the topic of frost resistance, acantopanax sessile-flowered can withstand frosts down to -40C. Although during prolonged frosts, weak and immature shoots are damaged in plants, which are cut off with the onset of spring.

Application in medicine

Currently, Acanthopanax is actively used in folk and official medicine. For example, plant roots contain a large amount of triterpenoids, higher fatty acids, essential oil, sterols, carbohydrates, alkaloids. The leaves are rich in essential oils, triterpenoids, glycosides and saponins. The fruit also boasts the presence of essential oil, albeit in less quantity.

Preparations based on the aboveground and underground parts of Acanthopanax have immunostimulating properties, they are used in the complex treatment of oncology, including cancer of the skin, stomach, lungs, bladder, leukemia, solid sarcomas, etc. Also, drugs are prescribed for side effects during chemotherapy.

Tinctures and decoctions of Acanthopanax roots are effective for liver diseases (cirrhosis, toxic damage, fibrosis, metastases and dystrophy). Acanthopanax-based drugs are used in the treatment of diseases of the pancreas and diabetes mellitus, as well as for strengthening bone tissue.