Useful properties make dogwood a favorite tree or shrub in many gardeners, owners of personal plots. Elegant branching, unique fragrant flowers, delicious berries, foliage with red, burgundy or orange shades in the fall - this is dogwood. As a tasty and healthy fruit, it was used by ancient healers. There is more Vitamin C in it than in blackcurrant. The beneficial properties of dogwood will help strengthen the immune system in the cold season. By the way, culinary processing preserves all its taste and healing properties. Pay attention to contraindications.
There is a legend that during the creation of the world the devil begged the dogwood from God, seduced by its early golden flowering. Like, the harvest will be the earliest. I had to wait a long time. All the trees faded, all fruits were fruitful, and in the cornel they remained still green. Damn damned him.
The period of growth, ripening of the cornel fruit lasts up to six (!) Months. This is a very ancient plant dating back to the Neolithic period.
In the wild, it grows in Europe, Ukraine, Moldova, the Caucasus, Belarus, central Russia.
In our Novokubansky district of the Krasnodar Territory, dogwood grows in the wild on a narrow strip of the Kuban forest along the Kuban River. Cultivated species grows on personal plots in private gardens.
Useful properties of dogwood
Dogwood is a very healthy berry, a valuable fruit and technical breed. Fruits are used fresh, canned, in the confectionery industry, traditional medicine. Dogwood berries are rich in sugars, organic acids (3.4%), pectin (0.73%), carotene (1.65 mg%). The biologically active substances of Kakhetin (up to 281 mg%) and flavonols (up to 169 mg%) normalize the permeability and elasticity of the walls of blood vessels.
Many of the most important and useful for the body easily digestible trace elements (salts of calcium, sodium, potassium, manganese, iron, phosphorus) have long been used dogwood in the treatment of various diseases.
The healing properties of his decoction were used against smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, and the common cold. Fresh fruits have a therapeutic effect in gastrointestinal diseases, anemia. Decoctions of leaves and bark - with tuberculosis. This is an excellent anti-zingotic agent.
With its rich content, dogwood strengthens the body's immune system, renewing, strengthening its vulnerabilities. The beneficial properties of dogwood allow it to be used in children's diet food.
A decoction of berries has an antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effect.
Dogwood juice reduces blood sugar.
Pasta is made from its fruits for astronauts and long-distance sailors. Dogwood products are recommended for medicinal use by workers in hazardous industries to remove radioactive substances and salts of heavy metals from the body.
Not only fruits are useful in cornel, but even seeds, leaves, from which coffee and tea substitutes are prepared. Shredded fried bones have antiseptic properties. Homeopathy uses essence from fresh dogwood bark, and a preparation with phytoncidal properties is made from the fruits to treat bacterial dysentery.
Solid wood with a beautiful pink-and-white sapwood (sapwood is a layer of wood directly adjacent to the bast and bark), the red-brown core is well polished, and therefore highly regarded in the furniture industry.
Dogwood - a beautiful early spring honey plant. However, the plant itself is also very beautiful.
Dogwood - contraindications and harm
Large amounts of dogwood can harm the body, causing bloating and diarrhea. Excessive consumption of berries, in addition, can lead to a glut of vitamin C, which can aggravate diseases of the digestive system and kidneys.
Eating dogwood is contraindicated in people suffering from gastritis with high acidity, duodenitis, constipation, stomach ulcers, as well as allergies.
Due to the ability of dogwood to excite the nervous system, it is not recommended to eat it before bedtime, especially for children easily excitable. For the same reason, dogwood should not be eaten by pregnant women, as it increases the tone of the uterus.
Before eating, fruits must be washed thoroughly, otherwise there is a risk of an intestinal infection.
Dogwood, photo and description of the bush
Dogwood in the forests grows like a bush, is characterized by slow growth. Gardeners form cultivars as a low spreading tree. Life expectancy, according to information, is up to three hundred years. The trunk is 12-4 cm thick, the crown is sprawling, sometimes spherical or pyramidal (in cultivated species). The root system is fibrous, well developed, the depth of the roots is up to 150 cm. Two-three-year-old shoots are brownish, the internodes reach 8-10 cm.
Gloves - three to four year old shoots - with flower buds are located opposite. Dogwood growth shoot ends in a very large vegetative bud. On the sides of this shoot, buds are oppositely located, giving then short branches, often with a flower bud at the ends. They are light green, oval, pointed. Closer to the base of the flower bud are adjacent oppositely arranged greenish scales. They hide two mixed buds, forming two leaves during the growing season. Between these casts flower buds are laid.
The leaves are whole-cut, petioles, green (lighter from below), oval, with a pointed apex, 3.5–11 cm long (larger in cultivars), 1–6 cm wide. The leaf blade is dense, wavy.
Flowers are collected by an umbrella (18-32 flowers). The diameter of the flower is 4-5 mm. Pestle not only secretes nectar to attract insects, but also protects the flower from damage, microorganisms, promotes the development of the fetus.
The fruit is drupe, pericarp juicy, sweet and sour taste (as it ripens), varies in color, weight, shape, size.
In the second half of March, dogwood begins to bloom. Flowering can last until the end of April. The tree is very beautiful in early spring when it blooms. It stands out against the background of bare trees with golden flowers when nature around is still sleeping.
A powerful root system strengthens the slopes, does not allow weeds to grow. Dogwood stubbornly tolerates the gassed air of cities, which is important when landscaping densely populated areas.
In conclusion, I want to remind you: dogwood will be the best of useful plants on your site. Characterized by high productivity, useful properties, immunity to pests and diseases, it does not require any special agricultural technology - most importantly, a well-chosen place for planting is partially sunny and slightly shaded. This is a find for hypertensive patients, all people with a weakened immune system. This is a pantry of beauty, health and a friend for life!