2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
One of the best honey plants in Russia is a plant with such a soulful name - "Ivan-tea". Perhaps only clover and white acacia can be compared with him. Twelve kilograms of fragrant honey a day can be produced by one bee colony, which has at its disposal dense thickets of a brightly flowering plant. In addition, all parts of willow tea are edible, rich in useful and healing substances
Distribution in nature
The temperate climatic zone of the northern hemisphere of our planet gives shelter to Ivan-tea everywhere. It can be found in the mountains, on sandy and rocky gentle slopes, in lightened forests, on wastelands and fires.
Ivan-tea, like a caring healer, is the first to appear on the plots of land devastated by the fire, restoring the natural balance. It covers with dense thickets of burning and felling.
Description
The perennial giant, which grows up to two meters in height, has a taproot that goes into the depths and provides a full supply of food and moisture to the aerial parts of the plant. In addition to the taproot, the plant takes out thickened horizontal roots, from the adventitious buds of which dense thickets of root suckers are formed.
Strong, upright stem, round or slightly faceted. Narrow lanceolate leaves sit firmly on the stem, without acquiring petioles.
The stems are crowned with pyramidal clusters of inflorescences up to 25 centimeters long. The brushes are collected from large flowers, which can be white, pink, red, purple, turning the ashes into elegant bright carpets.
The fruit is a pod-shaped capsule filled with numerous seeds.
Growing
The unpretentious and frost-resistant willow tea grows best in sunny places, protected from cold, piercing winds.
Prefers rich soils, on which it grows very quickly. Therefore, when grown in flower beds, supervision is needed so that it does not crowd out other ornamental plants.
Propagated by seeds, cuttings of shoots, dividing the bush. Sowing seeds is carried out in the fall immediately into the open ground. When propagating by cuttings, they use the usual method, rooting them in boxes with plant soil. In autumn or spring, it is easy to propagate by dividing the bush.
Use in the garden
Original pyramids of inflorescences adorn the flower garden from late June to autumn. Like many carpal inflorescences, flowers begin to bloom from below, slowly climbing to the top, maintaining the decorative effect of the plant for a long time.
Ripe fruits crack, revealing to the world a multitude of seeds, equipped with a tuft of silky hairs. The bunches play the role of parachutes, helping the seeds to scatter around all the surroundings. To avoid the excessive spread of willow tea over the site, it is necessary to cut off the faded inflorescences, while maintaining the decorativeness of the curtain.
A tall plant is used to create curbs to close outbuildings, fences, retaining walls, compost heaps from sight. Ivan tea will be appropriate in the background of a mixborder or a Moorish lawn. A small uniform curtain will decorate the green lawn.
Cooking use
The honey produced by bees thanks to the flowers of willow tea is crystal clear and has the most delicate taste and aroma.
All parts of the plant can be used in dietary nutrition. Puree is prepared from young leaves, shoots, rhizomes; they are added to salads and soups; like asparagus, they are fried in vegetable oil.
Healing action
Medicinal preparations from ivan tea have the following healing effects: antimicrobial, enveloping, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, mild hypnotic and sedative.
Collection and procurement
For medicinal purposes, only the soft parts of the plant are used - flowers and leaves. They are harvested at the beginning of flowering and dried in the usual way.
Contraindications: Not dangerous if you do not exceed the dosage.
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