2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Altai hawthorn (lat. Crataegus altaica) - a representative of the genus Hawthorn of the Pink family. In nature, it grows in groups or singly on rocky areas, in river floodplains and chalk hills in Central and Central Asia.
Characteristics of culture
Altai hawthorn is a tree up to 4-6 m high (less often up to 8 m) with bare red-brown shoots covered with whitish lenticels. They can be equipped with short spines up to 2 cm long, which is rare. The leaves are petiolar, green with a bluish bloom, oval or broadly triangular in outline, glabrous or pubescent along the veins with inconspicuous short hairs, equipped with large cordate or sickle stipules.
The flowers are white, collected in complex corymbose or umbellate inflorescences of 10-30 pieces, sit on bare pedicels. Fruits are orange-brown or yellow, spherical, up to 1 s in diameter, contain 5 seeds. Altai hawthorn blooms in May - June, fruits ripen in August. The culture enters fruiting in the sixth year after planting. The species under consideration is characterized by winter hardiness and an average growth rate. Cuttings root poorly, even when treated with growth stimulants.
The subtleties of seed reproduction
The Altai hawthorn is propagated by seeds, root suckers, layering and cuttings, extremely rarely by grafting. Despite the fact that the seed method is laborious, it is most often used to propagate the considered hawthorn variety. The seeds are harvested in late summer or early autumn, the fruits are placed in buckets and pounded with a pestle, then poured with water and rubbed through a sieve. Unfortunately, not all seeds allow to get seedlings, sometimes up to 80% of the seeds are sterile.
The main feature is the fact that the seeds of the Altai hawthorn do not germinate at the same time. Many gardeners sow freshly harvested seeds in open ground in the fall, without prior stratification. In this case, seedlings can be obtained only 1-2-3 years after sowing. This is due to the thick outer shell of the seed. That is why it is advised to sow seeds of unripe fruits into the ground, or after stratification in peat (at a rate of 1: 3). Within 4 months, the seeds are kept at a temperature of 20-25C (subject to constant moisture), then 3-5 months at a temperature of 4-7C. The last stage of stratification is washing under running water, treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid (10-15 minutes) and grinding with coarse sand.
It is advisable to sow on ridges with loose, moist and nutritious soil, it is good if chalk is introduced into the soil before sowing (0.5 kg per 10 square meters). With the emergence of seedlings, thinning is carried out, if necessary. The distance between plants in a row should be about 15-20 cm, and between rows - 40 cm. Seedlings are grown in specially designated ridges for up to 4 years, after which they are transplanted to a permanent place. The plantings are regularly moistened and fed with a 1% solution of ammonium nitrate at intervals of 2-3 weeks. Weeding and loosening are also important for seedlings.
Collection of raw materials and healing properties
The Altai hawthorn is cultivated as an ornamental and medicinal plant widely used in folk medicine. Hawthorn flowers are especially useful, they are harvested at the blooming stage, that is, in late May - early June, but the timing depends more on the growing region and climatic conditions. Unblown flowers are not subject to collection, they turn very brown when dried and often deteriorate. The inflorescences are plucked together with the pedicel and placed on a pallet in a well-ventilated warm room. On open verandas and other places where flowers can get caught in the rain, drying is not recommended. Dried inflorescences are laid out in paper bags or plywood boxes.
Healing properties are possessed not only by hawthorn inflorescences, but also by fruits. They are also dried and then placed in a breathable dry container. A jar must be placed in the boxes, on the bottom of which cotton wool soaked in chloroform is placed. This will prevent larvae from damaging the raw material. From the fruits and flowers of the Altai hawthorn, various infusions are made, as well as drugs for the treatment and strengthening of the cardiovascular system. In addition, they can improve cerebral circulation and recover from prolonged depression. The leaves of the Altai hawthorn are used to make tea, which is useful for dizziness, insomnia, suffocation and colds. Fresh fruits and highly concentrated infusions of them are used as a laxative.
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