Cultivation Of Eleutherococcus Spiny In The Garden

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

I first saw Eleutherococcus at the dacha of the famous Gatchina gardener V. N. Silnov. As soon as we entered the gate giving access to his property, Vladimir Nikolaevich casually and at the same time proudly pointed with his hand at a rather tall shrub with five-fingered faded green leaves (it was already the end of July and they had lost a little brightness).

Next to the Eleutherococcus, a taller bush of Irgi-Korinki grew, on it, ripening, the fruits were already beginning to darken, and the Far Eastern guest was just forming ovaries. I immediately took out my camera to capture this rare plant in the European part of the country.

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To have eleutherococcus in your garden or in the country is the dream of many. But this is not so easy to do - in nature it grows in the Far East and on the island of Sakhalin, and in the European part of Russia it may only end up in botanical gardens or among very enthusiastic plant lovers who were able to get its seedlings. Although it can be propagated, like many other shrubs, by seeds, cuttings or shoots obtained from an adult specimen.

Reproduction of Eleutherococcus by seeds is quite troublesome: they will need complex stratification - more than six months. First, in wet sand at temperatures up to + 20 ° С, and then in the same environment, but at temperatures as low as 0 ° С. But even after that, the seeds may not sprout right away, but will sprout, for example, a year or even two after sowing.

Propagation by cuttings is about the same as, say, by cuttings of lilacs. Green cuttings are stored in the summer (late June - early July), before planting in the ground, they are kept for several hours in a solution of one of the drugs - root, heteroauxin, "Epin" or "Zircon" (all these are growth and root formation stimulants).

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After aging in a stimulator, they are planted in a special small greenhouse for cuttings in moist nutrient soil to a depth of 2-3 cm and shaded. It is recommended to plant cuttings 10 cm apart. In the first year, the formed seedlings are kept in a greenhouse and covered for the winter. And only a year later, in the spring, they can be transferred to a permanent place.

It is much easier, simpler and faster to propagate Eleutherococcus by layering or measles, but for this you need to find a happy owner of such an adult plant who will share them. And then everything is simple - to plant a seedling and take care, especially since it is not very difficult, since Eleutherococcus is quite unpretentious.

You just need to take into account that this plant loves sunny and well-humid places, but without stagnant water. When planting seedlings in a permanent place, you need to prepare the soil well - loosen it, weed out all perennial weeds, and add rotted manure. The pit for planting must be prepared taking into account the size of the seedling and its root system: up to half a meter deep, the width of the hole is 40-60 cm. It is very important when planting the seedling to deepen it by 2-3 cm compared to the level that was before, and shed the trunk circle a weak solution of potassium permanganate. By winter, the root zone must be mulched with humus.

Features of culture

Eleutherococcus is a thorny bush belonging to the not very numerous Araliev family, numbering less than thirty species of shrubs and trees. They are distributed mainly in East Asia, including China, Japan and our Far East.

Moreover, in our country one species of Eleutherococcus is growing - Eleutherococcus senticosus, the very name of the plant suggests that it is prickly: a shrub up to 2-3 meters high, which has received other names from us - freeberry prickly, wild pepper and damn bush. It seems that small thorns on its branches played a role in these names. But since it can be compared with ginseng in many medicinal properties, another name appeared among the people - "Siberian ginseng".

Indeed, Eleuthero is used for low blood pressure, physical and mental fatigue, weakness of the body as a powerful tonic. True, it cannot be used with increased nervous excitability, hypertension, sleep disorders, acute infectious diseases, and fever. It is noteworthy that the effect of taking Eleutherococcus comes quickly, about an hour after taking it, but it is not very stable - it tones up the body for only a few hours.

An adult Eleutherococcus bush has numerous light gray trunks with a greenish tint, dotted with small and very sharp spines directed downward. So it will be problematic for any small animal to climb such a trunk. The root system of Eleutherococcus is highly branched, and the rhizome is cylindrical in shape with a diameter of up to 3 cm. The leaves of this plant are five-lobed on long petioles, at the ends of the branches small six-lobed white flowers are collected in umbellate inflorescences. And in the fall, black round drupes ripen there, which are collected in balls.

Procurement of raw materials, medicinal properties

The rhizome and root of Eleutherococcus prickly are mainly used as medicinal raw materials in scientific medicine. It contains glycosides, pectin substances, essential oil, anthocyanins, gums and resins.

In folk medicine, in addition to rhizomes and roots, the aerial part of the plant is also used for medicinal purposes: leaves, fruits, bark, in which glycosides are also found (useful elements that contribute to the active tone of the heart vessels and muscles).

The rhizomes and roots of Eleutherococcus are harvested in the fall - from mid-September to the end of October, or in the spring - in April-May. At the same time, only adult plants are carefully dug, leaving young growth. If you have few plants, then you can do as experienced gardeners do: they carefully dig out the root system from one side and cut out some of the roots for medicinal purposes, leaving most of them in place so that the plant continues to grow. Of course, after such an operation, Eleutherococcus must be well fed and watered.

The prepared raw materials - rhizomes and roots after digging are immediately washed, cut into pieces and dried at a temperature of + 70 … + 80 ° С. The preparations of this plant can be found in the pharmacy in the form of dried crushed roots and rhizomes, ready-made liquid extract and in tablets.

Eleutherococcus leaves are best harvested while the plant is in bloom, and the fruits are best harvested in the fall when they are ripe. They are tasty, but inside the fruits are large bones.

Leaf and fruit preparations are used in folk medicine. It is noted that taking them in small doses tones a person, in large doses it has a calming effect.

Read part 2. The use of eleutherococcus in medicine →

E. Valentinov