There are a lot of trees, shrubs, grasses or their elements, the mention of which immediately leads to association with a particular country. If ordinary birch is mentioned, it is white or silver, the vast expanses of Russia immediately appear before oneβs eyes. This tree reaches a height of 15-20 meters in height and excites the imagination with simple unpretentious beauty. Age, as a rule, does not exceed 100-120 years. Birch, in addition to beauty, bears in itself and benefit.
First of all, it is bark, or the bark of this tree. From time immemorial peasants made bast shoes, utensils for household goods from it. Trunks and branches were used to make furniture, build houses, they heated stoves, knitted brooms for a bath. In addition, birch sap was harvested in spring . Common birch also has healing properties. A decoction of birch buds is very useful for hair. Birch oil is extracted from them or from birch bark. To obtain it, two methods are used.
The first method is through the distillation of a pair of decoction of birch buds. The second - by distillation of birch tar. Birch oil is good for skin diseases: eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis. Due to its composition, which includes substances such as creosol, betulin, phenol, cresol, processed products from this tree have tonic, antipyretic, antiseptic, diaphoretic, choleretic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Birch tar is still widespread. In past centuries, it was used as a lubricant for various mechanisms, as well as for the production of leather. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it began to be used in perfumes. Today, ordinary birch serves as a raw material for tar, which is used in medicine, cosmetology, perfumery and soap making.
The simple beauty of this tree is sung in the poems of Russian poets and captured by painters on canvases. If you like a birch forest or a grove, then you should think about its use in the landscape design of your site. Birch seedlings can be easily purchased in nurseries. They are not too demanding on soil fertility, but at first they need abundant watering.
Ordinary birch will delight the eye all year round. Even at such a time of year as autumn, it is pleasant to watch how a tree day after day discards yellowed foliage. True, the birch on the site should be placed in such a way as not to interfere with the growth of other plants. It drains the soil very much, so moisture-loving plants cannot be planted near it . But fallen birch leaves secrete substances that can inhibit the growth and development of other trees, shrubs or flowers.
Another argument in favor of growing birch is that it is a wonderful honey plant. Buds near the birch appear at the beginning or in the middle of spring. Bees have already woken up at this time of year, but there are still very few plants from which nectar and pollen can already be collected. It is the buds that attract these melliferous insects both before flowering and during it. Bees collect propolis and pollen from them, and birch sap from stems or hemp.