Taking a walk through the forest, we often meet beautiful berries, which the people call wolf. If you eat them, then you must be poisoned. Is it so? In fact, wolfberries are the collective name for a number of plants. These include belladonna, daphne, raven eye, honeysuckle, buckthorn, snowberry, common dereza. Photos of these plants, the fruits of which in most cases are really inedible, are very often found on the pages of publications on wildlife. Many of us from childhood know that you can’t eat such berries. An ordinary place in this list is occupied by ordinary dereza, the fruits of which are a very valuable source of nutrients.
Wolfberry, bulldurgun, Tibetan barberry, goji, lithium. All these names belong to the same plant - dereza, which supplies us with the most valuable raw materials used for the preparation of all kinds of medicinal compounds.
Plant description
The ordinary Dereza, whose Latin name is Lýcium bárbarum, belongs to the large Solanaceae family and is a ligneous plant belonging to the genus Dereza, with more than sixty species. The homeland of dereza is China, but it is possible to grow it in Russia.
In height, this shrub reaches a height of 3.5 meters. The branches of the plant are covered with small thin spines. Leaves are simple, single-edged, elliptical, flowers are bell-shaped, lilac or pink, the fruit is small, with a bright coral red color, and a berry. Common dereza during the fruiting period, which lasts from May to October (depending on the region), can produce up to thirteen crops.
About the benefits of common dereza
The fruits of the plant are rich in ascorbic, gamma-aminobutyric and nicotinic acids, vitamins A, B1, B2, polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids and many other useful substances.
Leaves and berries (both in ripe and dried form) of ordinary dereza are used to treat various diseases of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, normalize kidney function. They also lower cholesterol and normalize blood sugar. In addition, the fruits of this plant increase potency, for which they were dubbed the berries of love. For its healing properties of a wide spectrum of action, ordinary dereza is called a remedy for a thousand diseases.
Growing Dereza in the garden
Is it easy to grow a shrub? Dereza vulgaris feels excellent in almost all conditions. And before you start breeding dereza, you should take into account that it is easier to grow than to get rid of it later. This unpretentious plant, which perfectly survives on semi-saline and insufficiently moist soils, grows quite quickly and successfully, displacing neighbors to win a large area. Therefore, it is better to plant it in wastelands, along ditches and roads, gardens or apiaries.
Dereza vulgaris propagates equally well both by cuttings and seeds. In the first case, one- or two-year-old shoots are used, each having 3-4 buds and a length of 10-15 cm, which are first grown in greenhouse soil, consisting of a mixture of peat and sand. The stem is immersed in soil to a depth of 5 cm, while the lowest kidney should be sprinkled with earth. For seed germination, surface sowing is used. To achieve a better result, the seeds should be placed in warm water for two days, then treated with a solution of potassium permanganate and planted in the ground. In the process of seed germination, it is necessary to maintain constant humidity.
In early spring, about one third of old shoots need to be cut under the root in adult plants. Watering ordinary dereza is necessary only during the rooting period or in the hot, dry summers, because she does not like too much humidity.