In the national calendar, there is one significant day - Peter-Pavel Ryabinnik. It accounts for the end of September - the ripening period of rowan berries. According to popular custom, on this day the branches of this plant were connected with fruits in small bundles and hung under the roofs of houses. This beautiful custom is connected with the fact that mountain ash was perceived as a tree that can protect people from all sorts of troubles.
There are approximately 80 varieties of mountain ash in the world, of which 34 grow in Russia. Mountain ash is growing in Asia and Europe, it is also found in Siberia, its range extends to the Far North. The plant is widely cultivated in parks, gardens, near houses as a beautiful ornamental plant.
After reading a little information in the article, you can learn about one of the most widespread plant species - Siberian mountain ash (photo and description in the article).
Places of growth
The plant is widely spread over most of Eurasia. You can meet him in North-Eastern Europe, in Siberia, in the Far Eastern regions of Russia, in China (northeast) and in Mongolia (north).
Habitats - forest and forest-tundra zone, mountain-forest belt. The plant grows on river banks, in forests, as well as on rocky placers and forest clearings.
Mountain ash can grow up to 200 years.
Description
Mountain ash Siberian - a bush or small tree 3-10 meters high. The bark is smooth, grayish in color. Unpaired leaves with oblong lanceolate leaves have a length of 10-20 centimeters, a width of 8-12 cm. The edges of the leaves are serrate and dentate. Leaf blades on top are bare and green, and below - grayish-green, and may also have pubescence along the middle vein.
The flowers are regular, fragrant, painted white and having five petals. Diameter - 7-10 millimeters. They form dense and wide thyroid inflorescences. Flowering occurs in May-June. Mountain ash abundantly bears fruit. For example, in the Amur Region and Primorye, the yield of berries can reach several hundred tons.
The fruits of Siberian mountain ash are a red or orange berry in the shape of a ball. Diameter - less than 1 centimeter. Inside the berry contains up to 7 seeds. After the ripening of the berries, which takes place in September, they remain on the branches for a rather long time and retain their juicy, bitter-sour taste until the frosts.
The chemical composition of Siberian rowan
The berries of the plant contain up to 24% sugars, 3.6% organic acids (sorbic, succinic and tartaric), ascorbic acid (per 100 grams of raw material weight up to 200 mg), amino acids (235 mg per 100 g), carotene (18 mg per 100 g) phylloquinone (1 mg per 100 g). They also contain bioflavonoids, folic acid, parasorbic acid mono-glycosides, trace elements (zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, iron) and essential oils.
The seeds of Siberian mountain ash contain 22% fatty oils and amygdalin glycoside, and the leaves of ascorbic acid contain about one and a half times more than in fruits. They also contain substances such as flavanols astragaline, campfole-3-sophoroside, hyperoside, quercetin-3-sphoroside, phytoncides and isocvercitrin.
In the bark of the plant there are many phintocides and tannins.
Meaning and Application
Various extracts of Siberian mountain ash have a beneficial effect on the skin, toning and strengthening it. They help strengthen the immune system and saturate the skin with numerous trace elements and vitamins. Both fresh and dried fruits are used in medicine as a multivitamin agent.
As noted above, the mountain ash of the described species has long been bred as a fruit and ornamental tree, and its fruits are harvested from both cultivated and wild-growing trees.
Use in food
The berries of Siberian mountain ash, as well as some other species, are consumed both processed and fresh. Juice is a high-energy product rich in ascorbic acid. The fruits are used in the manufacture of fruit tea.
A variety of dishes are prepared from mountain ash: dumplings, pies, jelly, kvass, jam and seasonings. Vinegar, marshmallow, marmalade, jam, jam, jelly, etc. are made from them. In addition, the fruits of mountain ash are candied and pickled. Some make soaked mountain ash.
Mountain ash - a source of early May honey, which has a specific aroma and unusual reddish tint. It is considered healing.
Legends and Signs
All species of this plant (including the Siberian variety) are important in people's lives. It’s not just that there are legends and signs about mountain ash.
In Pomorie there is a legend about the origin of the Russian name of the plant. It talks about a married couple with two children. The unloved eldest daughter had an unkind name - the Eight. She was angry, envious and wayward. Parents gave the youngest son an affectionate name - Romanushka. And he was very friendly and kind, and his parents did not look for souls in him. The eighth lover disliked Romanushka and decided to destroy him. Once she led a child into a rotten swamp and mercilessly drowned. But finally she was not able to ruin her brother. A curly, very friendly tree grew in that place. And since then it has been growing throughout the Russian land, and people gave it an affectionate name - mountain ash. She pleases everyone with her fidelity, beauty and kindness.
Since ancient times, people decorated with rowan branches not only their living quarters (on the day of Peter-Paul the mountain ash), but also gates, sheds, fences. They were used in wedding ceremonies of those times.
Signs:
- mountain ash blooms - it's time to sow flax;
- late flowering - there will be a long autumn;
- a good harvest of mountain ash - to a good harvest of rye;
- the tree blooms well - there will be a lot of oats and flax;
- there is a lot of mountain ash in the forest - it will be rainy autumn;
- little mountain ash in the forest - dry autumn.
Thus, mountain ash is not only a beautiful, but also a very useful plant.