For many people, spring is associated with the most wonderful time of the year when bird cherry begins to bloom. On the streets, in parks and gardens, along the banks of lakes and rivers, as well as on forest edges, suddenly appear elegant trees and bushes, enveloped in a cloud of white fragrant flowers. This is not just a beautiful plant, it also has a number of useful properties that are widely used by pharmacists in the manufacture of medicines. Read more about bird cherry ordinary, planting and caring for it.
Area of use and applications
This is a fairly common tree in the European part of our country, starting from the steppe regions and up to the forest-tundra, Western Siberia of the North Caucasus. Also bird cherry grows in large quantities in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Northern Turkey, Transcaucasia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, China and on the slopes of the Himalayas.
In Russia and other post-Soviet republics, bird cherry is actively used for landscaping towns and cities. With the onset of spring, one of the first leaves appear on it, and thanks to its fragrant flowers, it is a good honey plant. This plant in large quantities produces volatile, which are able to kill various pathogenic bacteria.
Its fruits are edible. They are used as a filling for pies, for the preparation of various drinks and jelly. Bird cherry has a number of useful properties that are used in both folk and official medicine. The leaves of the plant contain vitamin C and essential oils. Brewing them together with flowers, we get therapeutic tea, which helps well with various pulmonary diseases. In addition, elastic and at the same time soft wood is used in carpentry, and brown and green paints are made from bark.
Description
Bird cherry ordinary is either a tall shrub or tree, often multi-stemmed, with a black-gray matte cracking bark. Initially green, shoots quickly change color to brown with a splash of whitish-yellow lentils. The height of bird cherry can reach 10-17 meters.
The leaves are elliptical and grow to a length of 15 cm. The base can be either round or wide-wedge, passing into the petiole. Their apex is sharp and short, and the plates are sharp and slightly wrinkled. The color below is bluish, and on top is bluish-green, dark.
The flowers of bird cherry have a characteristic strong smell, more often white, less often - soft pink, collected in drooping magnificent brushes, the length of which can be from 8 to 12 cm. They bloom in May, covering the whole tree with a white cloud. Its flowering serves as a kind of guideline by which the start of agricultural and forestry works is determined.
Common bird cherry belongs to the family Pink, genus - Plum. Its fruits are spherical, shiny, painted black. They are edible and sweet in taste, while astringent. The ripening period is the end of summer. With the onset of autumn, its green clusters turn black and become clearly visible against the background of yellow foliage.
Landing
The ratio of bird cherry to light is positive. She loves sunny places, as well as spacious areas, but at the same time is extremely shade-tolerant. Specialists advise planting other trees next to it. This will facilitate cross-pollination and a good harvest. Planting trees must be done in autumn or spring. Seedlings should be located at least 5 meters apart.
Since the bird cherry is an unpretentious plant, moderately moist, slightly acidic or neutral soil is perfect for it. To plant a young tree, you need to dig a hole, the width and depth of which should be about half a meter. It should be abundantly moistened with water, a not very thick layer of loose earth should be poured there, then sawdust and again a little soil. Each layer is poured with water with 80-100 g of mineral fertilizers diluted in it.
After this, the seedling is lowered into a pit to a depth of 30 cm. In this case, the root neck should be located at ground level or rise no more than 1-2 cm above the surface. Next, the roots are covered with earth, made peat mulch and watered. After planting, the tree is cut so that its height does not exceed 50-70 cm. Such bird cherry is not afraid of frost, therefore, does not need shelter.
Plant care
Bird cherry ordinary - unpretentious tree. He needs only a few waterings throughout the year. An exception can only be too hot and dry summers. It is advisable to loosen the soil near the trunk several times during the season and remove the grown weeds. Over time, the soil begins to deplete, so you will need to carry out root top dressing.
Experienced gardeners advise to produce sanitary pruning of the plant annually, since over time the crown of the tree can become very thick. During thinning, broken and diseased branches are removed, and the places of cuts are treated with garden var. In order to rejuvenate the plant, as well as significantly increase productivity, it is necessary to cut off strong thickets. Optionally, you can thus form a plant either in the form of a multi-stemmed shrub, or as a tree with a stem.
In order to form a magnificent crown, bird cherry seedlings are cut to half a meter height, while leaving four more developed side shoots. In the future, it will be necessary to form the second and third tiers of the tree. The soil around young plants should be periodically weeded and loosened, as well as the emerging root offspring.
Pests and diseases
Mostly bird cherry is used as a decorative tree. Unfortunately, it is often attacked by pests, which can later go to fruit crops. It is this fact that in some way restrains its distribution.
Most often, she suffers from mining moths, hawthorn and aphids. There are years when the invasion of pests is massive, then the crop may not be at all. However, observing insect control measures, this plant is still recommended for use in landscaping parks and gardens, as it is beautiful and extremely winter-hardy.
The most common diseases of bird cherry are powdery mildew, cytosporosis, red spotting, coniotiriosis and pockets of flowers and fruits. The most dangerous of them is the last. It is quite simple to determine the infection of bird cherry with it - the fruits begin to gradually turn brown and become pointed to the tops. Then lengthen and can even bend. In such fruits, seeds never exist. As for infected flowers, they die almost immediately. The development of this disease is greatly facilitated by wet weather in the spring and summer.
Breeding
Bird cherry ordinary bred by root offspring, cuttings, grafting, seed, layering, as well as the vegetative method. However, not all types of reproduction are equally good. It is worth noting that the cuttings take root especially poorly. Therefore, for this culture, seed reproduction is optimal. Before starting sowing the crop, its seeds must be placed either in moist sand or in moss at a temperature of about + 5 ° C.
Inoculate the plant either in early spring or winter with a simple or improved copulation. It is also allowed and budding, which is carried out in the middle of summer. Bird cherry seedlings are great as a stock for both one and the other method. The survival rate of the kidneys (budding) and cuttings (copulation) is very high - in 98 cases out of 100.
Usually they plant this culture in those cases when they want to create a selection variety on which some special fruits, flowers, etc. will be grown. I must say that with the seed method of propagation all these special properties will be lost, since from an elite seed only an ordinary plant can grow. The selection view can be obtained as follows. To do this, you need an ordinary plant, in this case bird cherry, which will be used as a stock. The graft will be the part of the plant related to the breeding specimen.
Many gardeners are asking the question "what can be planted on the bird cherry ordinary." The main thing that you need to pay attention to is the compatibility of plants, which is determined by the proximity of kinship. For example, bird cherry can be an excellent stock for some cultivars of cherries. Her scion will quickly take root, in addition, such manipulation is very beneficial for the northern regions. The fact is that bird cherry will give cherry not only its resistance to most diseases, but also frost resistance.
Beneficial features
Bird cherry ordinary, the photo of which is presented in this article, is a medicinal plant. It has a sedative, diaphoretic, diuretic, astringent, tonic, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic and anti-zingotic properties. This plant is used almost completely, including leaves, fruits, bark and flowers, all thanks to its chemical composition. So, the following active substances were found in bird cherry:
- a large number of vitamins;
- organic acids;
- flavonoids;
- glycosides;
- volatile;
- anthocyanins;
- fixed oils;
- routine;
- saccharides;
- various trace elements;
- tannins.
In addition to the above elements, bird cherry has quite rare components. These include free hydrocyanic acid and benzene aldehyde. For the manufacture of medicines, the fruits of the plant are most often used because of the tannins contained in them, as well as citric and malic organic acids. They are highly regarded for astringent and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, they can normalize the functioning of the intestines and stomach.
Billet
The flowers, bark and fruits of bird cherry are widely used in folk medicine. Raw materials are collected exclusively in dry weather, best in the morning when the dew comes off, or at the end of the day. In this case, you should know that you can not chop axial shoots of bird cherry, as well as breaking branches during its flowering. The collected fruits are stacked in a basket. As such, they should not be stored for a long time - a maximum of 3-4 hours.
The fruits of bird cherry are most conveniently dried in special dryers, the temperature of which should not exceed 40-50 ⁰C. You can do this even in Russian ovens. If none of this exists, then the fruits are poured onto a grid or onto a litter of paper or fabric with a layer of no more than 1-2 cm and dried in the sun, stirring occasionally. Before sending the raw materials for storage, remove the stalks, brushes and burnt berries. The shelf life of such a collection is no more than 3-5 years. The dried raw material has a sweet and sour taste, has a weak aroma and has a reddish or grayish coating in the fruit folds formed due to crystallized sugar.
As for the flowers of bird cherry ordinary, they are collected during the flowering period of the tree. The shelf life of this raw material should not exceed one year. Plant bark is harvested with the onset of spring. It can be dried in well-ventilated areas or outdoors. In addition, the use of dryers is allowed, the temperature of which is set at +40 ⁰C. The shelf life of quality dried bark is about 5 years.
Application in traditional medicine
The fruits of bird cherry are used as an astringent for disruption of the gastrointestinal tract, dysentery and non-infectious diarrhea. Decoctions from the branches and bark of the plant will be useful as a diuretic for mineral metabolism disorders and some heart diseases. If you prepare an infusion from them, it will be effective as an anesthetic for rheumatism, radiculitis and to relieve toothache.
Traditional healers use cherry flowers to prepare a decoction, which will become indispensable for improper metabolism, pulmonary tuberculosis and various kinds of fevers. The infusion, made on the basis of flowers and leaves, can be used as lotions and a means for washing with eye diseases such as blepharitis, keratitis and conjunctivitis. In general, this plant is a very valuable tool that has beneficial effects on human vision.
An infusion made from leaves is used to treat pulmonary diseases, bronchitis and diarrhea. It is also used as an external remedy that can help with stomatitis and other diseases of the oral cavity. Lotions treat boils. The infusion is also used for douching with Trichomonas colpitis and leucorrhoea.
Contraindications
Before using medicines, which include common bird cherry, a photo of which you can see in this article, you need to consult a specialist. It is also necessary to remember that these drugs are among those whose dosage and rules of admission must be observed.
This is due to the fact that the branches, bark, flowers and leaves of this plant contain the amygdalin glycoside substance. It can break down into glucose and hydrocyanic acid as soon as it enters the human body. Especially with an overdose of the latter, severe intoxication occurs. However, in a small amount of hydrocyanic acid can not cause any harm to the body. In addition, all preparations from bird cherry ordinary are completely contraindicated both during pregnancy and at the stage of lactation.