Ordinary hawthorn - a plant belonging to the angiosperms department, dicotyledonous class, Rosaceae family. It has other names: the boyar, the prickly hawthorn, the smoothed hawthorn, the lady tree, the glod, the blood-red hawthorn , the virgin tree , Crataegus laevigata (in Latin). In nature, grows in the steppes, forests, parks of Europe and in North America. It is widely distributed to birds, which, eating fruits, carry bones.
Common hawthorn has a smooth bark. Spines about 5 cm long, located on branches. Young shoots are painted in brown-red colors. Leaves are dark green above, below are lighter. On the lower branches they are whole, the rest are incised into three parts, pointed, toothed.
Hawthorn flowers are white or pink, five-petalled, collected in inflorescences, 1.5 cm in diameter. The fruits are red or red-brown, about 1 cm in diameter, spherical or berry-like, with 2-3 seeds inside. It blooms in June, the fruits ripen by September.
This plant can be grown as a bush or as a tree. It all depends on your desire and the ability to periodically cut it. If you allow it to grow without pruning, then the tree can reach 12 m in height.
Hawthorn ordinary tolerates pruning, as it has an increased shoot-forming ability. Sick and dry branches can be removed at any time. If the plant is used as a hedge, then in spring all the shoots must be shortened by a third. From group landings, you can form squares, balls, pyramids.
The common hawthorn grows on almost any soil. It is frost-resistant, drought-resistant, shade-tolerant.
Honey plant willingly visited by bees.
Fruits are consumed both fresh and processed. Compotes, jam, jelly, tea and coffee substitutes are prepared from them. From dried fruit, flour is used to make fortified bread. The bark of this plant is used to dye fabrics in red, yellow and brown.
Flowers are harvested in early June in dry weather, fruits in September, bark and leaves during the growing season. All collected raw materials, having a pleasant smell, are well dried and stored in paper bags.
Literally everything is useful in hawthorn: fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds, bark. In each part of the plant, valuable substances are found that are used both by official medicine and folk. For example, hawthorn flowers are used for edema, rheumatism, hyperthyroidism, migraines, hypertension, to improve sleep, to strengthen the body. A heart stimulating drug is made from ripe fruits. Bark taken from young branches is used for diarrhea and as an anti-febrile remedy.
Wonderful hawthorn plant! The properties and the effect of drugs from it on humans are very different. Hawthorn also helps with headaches, is used to treat herpes. Despite the non-toxicity and the possibility of long-term use of drugs, tinctures, decoctions, the dosage should not be exceeded. Excessive consumption of fresh fruits can cause nausea, dizziness, cardiac arrhythmia.
Treatment with hawthorn is undesirable for hypotension, during lactation and for individual intolerance.