2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Caucasian blueberry (Latin Vaccinium arctostaphylos) - berry culture from the Lingonberry family.
Description
Caucasian blueberry is a small tree or a fairly tall shrub with roundish twigs. Its height often reaches two to three meters, and the length of large sessile leaves ranges from six to eight centimeters. They can be either elongated oblong or oblong, arranged alternately and have finely toothed edges. From above, such leaves are often very elongated, and towards both ends they taper slightly. The undersides of the leaves are usually lighter than the top. And the buds of this plant are always sharp.
The flowers of Caucasian blueberries, located on rather long pedicels, form rather loose, few-flowered brushes. As a rule, the flowers are located in the axils of small ovoid leaves. The flower cups are equipped with rounded and very wide denticles, and the length of their bell-cylindrical corollas, painted in pleasant whitish-reddish tones, can reach six millimeters. Each corolla is endowed with wide triangular short denticles, and the stamens of the flowers are covered with hairy filaments. The anthers of flowers do not have appendages, and their columns sometimes slightly protrude from the corollas. As for the flowering period, it usually falls in June to July.
Large berries of the Caucasian blueberry have a characteristic spherical shape and are colored black. And they ripen approximately by July-August. Collecting them is very easy and pleasant, since they are located right under the leaves in small clusters, each of which includes from two to six berries. Despite the fact that the skin of such blueberries is quite strong, it is not at all rough.
Where grows
Most often, Caucasian blueberries can be found in rhododendron thickets, as well as in fir-beech or fir-spruce forests. Slightly less often, it grows in oak forests, and sometimes it is really possible to see it in pine or birch plantings. Quite often, this plant forms huge thickets.
Caucasian blueberries are quite widespread in the Balkan-Asian region, as well as in the South and Western Transcaucasia.
Application
Caucasian blueberries are most often eaten fresh - their taste is very similar to that of ordinary blueberries. And these berries are often dried. Both fresh and dried berries are used to prepare delicious juices and jelly with decoctions, as well as wonderful syrups and rich jam. By the way, jelly from such berries is considered to be an excellent gastric remedy.
Caucasian blueberry contributes to the speedy normalization of metabolism in every possible way and is an excellent anti-inflammatory agent. In addition, it is widely used for various injuries and diseases of the digestive system.
Growing and caring
For the cultivation of Caucasian blueberries, the same soils are suitable as for the cultivation of ordinary blueberries, with an acidic soil being the most preferable for it. If the soil on the site cannot boast of high acidity, it should be watered periodically with slightly acidified water (it is quite enough to dissolve one gram of concentrated sulfuric acid in one hundred liters of water). And immediately after planting berry bushes, the soil must be mulched (with a layer of five centimeters) with peat, needles or sawdust.
Also, Caucasian blueberries need to create a damp microclimate - it can be created by planting bushes in the shade or spraying them with warm and soft water in dry weather.
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