Varieties And Seedlings Of Sea Buckthorn

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The golden berry is sea buckthorn. Part 1

Sea buckthorn - Altai gold,

Ripening in the sun.

Maybe you're really a saint, With your legend on your shoulders.

Andrey Perov

The Latin name for sea buckthorn Hippophae comes from two words: hippos - horse and phase - gloss, shine. The origin of the plant's name is associated with a very interesting legend. The troops of the ancient Greek commander Alexander the Great in their endless campaigns of conquest could not do without horses, which were their main "vehicle". But the horses were exhausted, sick, out of order.

But once it was noticed: if you give the animals a decoction from the branches, leaves and fruits of sea buckthorn, then the horses very quickly revive, restore strength, and all their rubbing, wounds heal quickly. The coat, on the other hand, began to shine again, which in horses is always evidence of their good shape. According to the legend, the origin of the Latin name for sea buckthorn is very plausible.

The Russian name for sea buckthorn is also a very apt name for this plant, you can't say more precisely, since its fruits on very short stalks really sit very closely on the branches, as if sticking to them. They have a pleasant sweet and sour taste and a peculiar aroma vaguely reminiscent of pineapple. Therefore, sea buckthorn is sometimes called northern, or Siberian pineapple.

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Sea buckthorn is a shrub or tree, mostly prickly, from 0.1 to 3-6 meters, rarely up to 15 meters high. The leaves are alternate, narrow and long, green in small dots on top, grayish-white or silvery or rusty-golden on the underside of densely covering stellate scales.

Flowers appear before leaves. They are unisexual, small, inconspicuous and sit either crowded, in short spike-shaped inflorescences at the base of young shoots, or one at a time, less often 2-5. Flowers are pollinated by the wind, less often by insects.

The fruit is a false drupe, consisting of a nut, dressed with an overgrown, juicy, fleshy, smooth and shiny receptacle. The fruits are orange or reddish, there are many of them, they are densely arranged and, as it were, "stick around" the branches. Plants reproduce by seeds and vegetatively.

As you know, during seed propagation of sea buckthorn, varietal traits are poorly inherited, since dad is always a "savage", and it is very difficult to determine the variety and sex of the root growth even in varietal plantings. So the prickly wild sea-buckthorn with small berries, called by various beautiful "names", has spread throughout Russian gardens. Unsurprisingly, as a result, many gardeners who were "unlucky with seedlings" became disillusioned with this culture. At the same time, in many gardens, including mine, sea buckthorn has taken root and has become a favorite culture.

Sea buckthorn of good varieties is very fruitful, fresh berries and preparations from them are tasty and healthy. The reason for such different results of growing sea buckthorn lies in the quality of the purchased seedlings and in the correct agricultural technology.

How to get the right sea buckthorn seedlings - varietal and the right floor?

It is very important that the purchased variety is bred in your area. For example, Altai sea buckthorn, which grows well in a sharply continental climate, is poorly suited for St. Petersburg with continuous thaws, alternating with frosts below -40 ° C.

The fact is that there are several natural sea buckthorn populations that have adapted to completely different living conditions. Hence, there are different climatic inclinations of the varieties bred on their basis. For example, varieties based on Altai sea buckthorn grow better in areas with a continental climate. And varieties originating from sea buckthorn from near Kaliningrad are better suited for a milder, maritime climate.

The reason sea buckthorn is so sensitive to climate is that this plant has a very short period of winter dormancy. Already in December-January, it is ready to grow. Since that time, at the moments of thaws, sea buckthorn has been trying to start growing. But if the Kaliningrad sea buckthorn does not like such thaw stresses, but it can endure, then the Altai, planted near St. Petersburg, is likely to die.

Hence the conclusion: look for sea buckthorn varieties bred in your climate zone.

For the conditions of Moscow and St. Petersburg, for example, varieties obtained in the Botanical Garden of Moscow University are probably suitable.

Two biological species are known: sea buckthorn buckthorn - grows almost everywhere in Europe and in the temperate zone of Asia, it is also found in part of the tropical zone - in India and Pakistan. Willow sea buckthorn - grows in the south of the Chinese province of Xinjiang, in the mountainous regions of the Indian subcontinent - Bhutan, India, Nepal.

Sea buckthorn begins to bear fruit at the age of 3-5, before that it is almost impossible to distinguish between male and female plants. Later, when generative buds are laid on annual shoots, the sex is easy to determine by them: the buds of male plants are much larger. Due to dioeciousness in an amateur garden, it is recommended to have 1-2 male plants for 2-4 female plants.

Wild species and forms of sea buckthorn are famous for their protective device - long, up to 7–8 cm, strong and very sharp thorns, thorns, which cover the skeletal branches and young shoots. Because of the thorns, picking sea buckthorn berries sometimes becomes difficult and even traumatic. However, cultivars with few or no thorns have already been developed.

The best soils for sea buckthorn are sandy-pebble with silty deposits, as well as light gray forest and meadow chernozem of light texture. On soils with a heavy texture, sea buckthorn grows poorly and bears poor fruit. Swampy, flooded areas are completely unsuitable for her.

Sea buckthorn is widely known in Europe as a shrub used to protect river banks from erosion. In Siberia, the Pamirs and especially in China, sea buckthorn thickets occupy hundreds of thousands of hectares.

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Outwardly, this not the most noticeable garden culture, whose amber fruits can heal us from many ailments - from a banal runny nose to a neglected stomach ulcer - is certainly worthy of a historical excursion. Indeed, having first appeared in the gardens of our country in the second half of the 60s, sea buckthorn, meanwhile, is the real long-liver of planet Earth. According to scientists, its age is 24 million years, and the center of origin of sea buckthorn is East Asia, most likely China. It is there that giant specimens of sea buckthorn are found up to 18 meters high, that is, with a 6-7 storey building. In ancient oriental medicine, which used more than 10 thousand plants, sea buckthorn has always occupied a special place. However, sea buckthorn as a fruit plant is not widespread; it was used mainly as an ornamental shrub.

The increased interest in sea buckthorn as a fruit and medicinal plant revived in the 40s and, especially in the post-war period, when the multivitamin composition of its fruits and their value not only for food use, but also as an important raw material for the vitamin industry were established. It is difficult to find other fruits that contain the same amount of natural vitamins as sea buckthorn. This plant is used in folk medicine, where there are many recipes for using sea buckthorn for a variety of diseases. Doctors also value and often prescribe sea buckthorn preparations - sometimes they are more useful than vitamin and mineral complexes.

All over the world, sea buckthorn is widely used both as a food product and as a medicine. And in ancient times this plant was used no less. Even in the Tibetan treatise "Shi bu idian", written in the XI century BC, the healing properties of sea buckthorn fruits were listed.

In the writings of Hippocrates, there are also indications of sea buckthorn preparations, which were proposed for the treatment of stomach diseases. In ancient Greece, sea buckthorn fruits were given to horses before the Olympic Games to increase physical strength, improve general condition and appearance - the horse's coat acquired an extraordinary shine.

The healing properties of sea buckthorn were also known to the Slavic peoples. Thus, the enlightener Cyril, who created the Slavic writing, during his travels healed people with burns and wounds with the help of "red oil". We can say with a certain degree of certainty that it was exactly o6 buckthorn oil, since it had a characteristic intense red color.

Sea buckthorn gained true recognition in Russia in the 17th century during the development of Siberia. Russian Cossacks, trapped in this harsh land without the necessary medicines, healed their wounds and strengthened their health with the help of sea buckthorn. They quickly determined that sea buckthorn fruits and juice are great for restoring strength. And if the fruits are dried, poured in a pot with sunflower oil and put in a Russian oven overnight, then bright red sea buckthorn oil is formed, which has truly miraculous properties and heals even the most severe wounds.