2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Virginia bird cherry (lat. Prunus virginiana) - a fruit crop from the Rosaceae family, a close relative of most of the well-known fruit trees (cherry, peach, plum, etc.).
Description
Bird cherry Virginia is a tree growing up to ten to fifteen meters in height with a spreading and rather wide crown. And the height of cultivated trees usually ranges from five to seven meters. Young shoots of the Virginia bird cherry are usually painted in rich dark brown shades, and the surface of their violet-grayish bark is densely covered with small pores. The oval-lanceolate or oval leaves of this plant are shiny, dense and serrated at the edges. All of them are attached to the branches with petioles, the length of which ranges from five to fifteen millimeters, and the length of the leaves themselves varies from three to ten centimeters. Their upper sides are always bright green, and the lower ones are a little lighter, with short pubescence. Closer to autumn, all the leaves are painted in spectacular reddish tones.
The white flowers of the plant are collected in beautiful racemose inflorescences, each of which has from fifteen to thirty pieces. The Virginia bird cherry blossoms in late spring (usually in May, after the leaves appear), and in the north it blooms only with the onset of June.
At the very beginning of their development, the trees grow extremely slowly, but by the age of five to fifteen years, the intensity of their growth increases significantly.
The fruits of the Virginia bird cherry are drupes, the diameter of which almost never exceeds one centimeter. And their color can vary from dark red to deep black. The berries have a rather sweet taste, with a mild astringent aftertaste.
Where grows
The homeland of this culture is considered to be North America - it first appeared in the state of Virginia, which explains its name. At the moment, the Virginia bird cherry is widely cultivated throughout Europe, including Russia - in the north it can be seen even in the Arkhangelsk region or on the Solovetsky Islands. And in the south, this heat-resistant plant is distributed from Central Asia to the Crimea.
Application
You can eat only fully ripe berries of the Virginian bird cherry, since unripe fruits are poisonous - they contain cyanide compounds, which give unripe fruits a pleasant almond aroma. And also for unripe fruits, a pronounced bitter taste is characteristic. In order not to get poisoned, it does not hurt to sprinkle the berries with sugar, endowed with the ability to destroy cyanide compounds. Especially a lot of poisons are found in fruits in the spring-summer period, until their final ripening.
Ripe fruits can be eaten fresh, or you can cook excellent jam from them, make jelly or put in a pie as a filling.
The leaves and bark of this culture are often brewed like tea - this drink boasts an excellent calming and at the same time tonic effect. It can also be used as an expectorant. In addition, the bark infusion is famous for its antiseptic properties and can be used successfully for conjunctivitis.
Contraindications
It is categorically not recommended to abuse the fruits of the Virginia bird cherry - cyanides in their composition can lead not only to pulmonary insufficiency, but also to cardiac arrest.
Growing and caring
The Virginia bird cherry is extremely undemanding to soils, but it will feel best in well-drained moist areas (river banks will be especially suitable for growing it). That is, here it is practically no different from the usual bird cherry. In addition, this plant is quite winter-hardy and shade-tolerant, however, in open sunny areas it also grows no worse. The seeds of such a bird cherry are very viable and germinate in almost one hundred percent of cases. And its reproduction can occur both by root suckers and by seeds.
Nevertheless, the cultivation of this plant is limited by the fact that it acts as an incubator for all kinds of insects, fungal diseases and other harmful substances. Moreover, its resistance to pests and diseases is much higher than that of ordinary bird cherry.
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