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Amur Velvet Or Velvet Tree
Amur Velvet Or Velvet Tree

Video: Amur Velvet Or Velvet Tree

Video: Amur Velvet Or Velvet Tree
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A relic plant will decorate your garden

Amur velvet
Amur velvet

Amur velvet or velvet tree, Amur cork tree, phellodendron (Phellodendron amurense Rupr.) Is a very original, slender and beautiful ornamental plant with odd-pinnate leaves forming a dense crown. Belongs to relict rocks.

Its homeland is the Far East, where it grows along river valleys, on the gentle slopes of the foothills. There it reaches 26 m in height and 50 cm in diameter. In unfavorable conditions, it can exist in a bushy form. The trunk is covered with soft, pleasant to the touch, silky furrowed light gray cork bark, which is used to make the cork; the bast is bright yellow.

This name was given to this tree due to the similarity to the touch of its bark with the fabric of the same name, the Russian name of which, in turn, goes back through the Middle High German barchat to the Arabic-Persian barrakan - woolen upholstery fabric. The wood of velvet is valuable, beautiful, elastic, resists rotting well, and is used for the manufacture of furniture.

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The root system is powerful and deep. Leaves resemble ash, up to 35 cm long, of 7–13 leaves with a specific, slightly carrot-like, but unpleasant odor when rubbed; in the lower part of the branches - alternate, in the upper part - opposite. They are light green in spring, dark green in summer, and light copper in autumn.

Amur velvet vegetation begins in mid-May and ends early - leaf fall occurs after the first frost. Amur velvet blooms in June. The flowers are inconspicuous, monosexual or bisexual, up to 1 cm in diameter, a corolla of 5–6 green, later turning brown petals, which are collected in terminal corymbose paniculate inflorescences; pollinated by bees, melliferous. In open areas, velvet begins to bloom at the age of 5-7 years.

Fruits are black spherical drupes, slightly shiny with green pulp, a sharp, strong resinous-carrot smell and not so bitter as disgusting, for a long time, almost half a day, the taste that remains in the mouth; however they are not poisonous (tried it myself). Contains 5-7 black seeds with a mesh pattern, ripens at the end of September, remains on trees until spring. They are readily eaten by birds, especially blackbirds. Abundant fruiting occurs every three years.

Amur velvet reproduces mainly by seeds, as well as vegetatively: by root suckers, pneumatic shoots, root cuttings. The seeds have good germination, which they retain for up to three years, the weight is 1000 pcs. - about 14 grams. Either autumn sowing or three-month spring stratification is desirable. The seeding rate is 3 g per 1 running meter, the seeding depth is 1-2 cm, crops must be mulched. Seedling care consists in loosening the soil and weeding.

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Amur velvet
Amur velvet

Amur velvet has medicinal properties and is widely used in folk medicine by the inhabitants of the Far East. The bast of its bark contains up to 2% alkaloids, mainly berberine, coumarins and saponins.

They are used by the pharmaceutical industry to produce the choleretic agent berberine. Leaves are used for the same purpose. Dry fruits contain up to 8% of essential oil, which is also used for the manufacture of medicines.

Amur velvet is shade-tolerant at a young age, although an adult is photophilous. It is a drought-resistant plant, but at the same time it is resistant to excess moisture. Amur velvet is winter- and frost-hardy, but it is afraid of recurrent spring frosts, which beat the blossoming leaves. However, they then recover rather quickly.

It is a wind-resistant plant that is demanding on the richness and looseness of the soil (loves fresh, deep and fertile). Amur velvet is gas and smoke resistant. It tolerates transplanting, haircutting, pruning well. It grows quickly and can live up to 300 years. The crown is tent-shaped, dense, spreading. In sparse plantings, it tends to bush.

If you want to grow Amur velvet with a tree, leave one best shoot, the rest are cut out. It is decorative all year round. Effective in landscaping, good as a tapeworm (singly), in group plantings, alleys. It grows well in culture in the gardens and parks of the Central strip and the North-West of the country.

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