2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
White dogwood (lat. Cornus alba) - a shrub plant with young pubescent shoots, which is a member of the Cornel family.
Description
White dogwood is a relatively small shrub, the average height of which usually does not exceed one and a half meters. And the width of its crowns can reach three to four meters. Ovate and opposite leaves of this plant have parallel venation, slightly pointed and equipped with shiny surfaces, and greenish-yellow sessile small flowers fold into bizarre heads. White dogwood blooms from April to May, and it bears fruit approximately in August or September. The fruits of this plant are yellow drupes, characterized by a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Inside each drupe, you can find a small bone of a slightly oblong shape. These juicy fruits can hang on the bushes until late autumn.
White dogwood is distinguished by its extreme unpretentiousness to growing conditions and impressive frost resistance. And with the onset of autumn, its leaves gradually acquire juicy red shades, which, after some time, transform into a rich purple color.
Where grows
White dogwood grows mainly in forests (mainly broad-leaved) and in the mountains of the Far East and the Caucasus.
Application
White dogwood fruits are very rich in various pigments, tannins, some acids (tartaric, gallic and malic), phytoncides, vitamins and sugar. Vitamins E and C were found in the leaves, and organic acids, as well as coloring and various tannins, are present in the bark.
The fruits of the white dogwood are endowed with the ability to reduce blood pressure and normalize the process of urination, in addition, they boast a pronounced tonic, slight analgesic and powerful bactericidal effect. These berries will also serve well with severe general weakness or diarrhea.
To prepare an infusion of white dogwood, 10 g of dried fruits are added to 200 ml of water (it must be boiled, but cold) and, having infused such a mixture for eight hours, the berries are freed from the seeds. The resulting infusion with pulp is divided into four equal parts (this will be the daily norm) and is taken for neurasthenia, diarrhea, a decrease in temperature, as well as for back pain, general weakness and even impotence. And infusions and decoctions from the bark of this plant are excellent for hepatitis, liver inflammation and pulmonary tuberculosis.
The bark of the white dogwood is usually harvested early in the spring, the leaves are harvested during the flowering period, they are harvested in September, and the roots are harvested in late autumn.
Growing and caring
White dogwood will grow best in moist, slightly acidic soils. At the same time, slightly darkened areas are considered the most preferable for its cultivation - in the summer, in the open sun, the leaves of the plant can get quite serious burns. The depth of the planting holes, in which the dogwood will be placed, should be at least seventy centimeters, and it is advisable to dig them out a week or a half before planting. And at the bottom of the planting pits, a layer of fertilizers, both organic and mineral, is laid. After the shrubs are planted, the soil is well tamped, after which two and a half or three buckets of water are poured under each bush.
White dogwood tolerates haircuts and trimming very well, which is recommended annually. And it can be propagated in almost any way: by seeds, and by cuttings, and by grafts or layering.
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Cornel (lat.Cornus) - a genus of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees of the Cornelian family. The genus has about 50 species, according to other sources - 24 species. In nature, dogwoods grow in Europe, North America, India, Japan and China.
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