Leaves of birch trees. Why is the trunk of a birch white

The simple and touching beauty of the birch gives it a high aesthetic value. A slender white-stemmed light tree, giving a through shadow, decorating any rural look at any time of the year, enjoys special love. Since ancient times, birch has been an image of Russia.

Birch branches adorn churches and homes on Holy Trinity Day. Leaves give alum a yellow coat dye. Birches are good dust-bearing plants. In the old days, the birch torch was considered the best for lighting peasant huts - it burns brightly and almost without soot.

  A grove of birch trees hanging. © Percita

Birch (Betula) - a genus of deciduous trees and shrubs of the Birch family (Betulaceae). Birch is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere; in Russia is one of the most common tree species. The total number of species is more than one hundred.

Many parts of birch are used in the economy: wood, bark, birch bark (the surface layer of the bark), birch sap. Buds and leaves are used in medicine. Some species are used to create shelterbelts, as well as in decorative gardening.

Birch occupies an important place in the culture of the Slavs, Scandinavians, Finno-Ugric and other peoples.

Many species of birch are widespread and most important forest-forming species, largely determining the appearance and species composition of deciduous and coniferous-deciduous (mixed) forests in temperate and cold parts of Eurasia and North America.

When we talk about birch, more often than not we mean the most common one - Hanging Birch (Betula pendula). Other species names: warty birch, weeping birch, hanging birch. Earlier, the name white birch (Betula alba) was also applied to it, but at present, in order to avoid confusion with the fluffy birch, to which the name "white birch" was also applied, the name white birch is not desirable.

There are shrubs among birches. The most famous of them Dwarf birch (Betula nana) is common in the tundra of Europe and North America and the mountain tundra of Siberia. She does not reach 1 m in height. In the ice and postglacial periods, this birch was distributed much further south, now it is found there in the swamps as a relic.

Large seedlings of birch with an open root system, even planted at the right time, do not always take root - some of the trees die or the tops dry out of them. Therefore, it is better to buy seedlings with earthen lumps or in containers. Winter landing with a frozen lump is possible.

Planting pits for birch trees are seasoned with a mixture of garden soil, humus, sand and peat in a ratio of 2: 1: 1: 1. During the spring planting of young birches, complex fertilizer (150-200 g) is added to the planting pit. When autumn planting, which is less preferred, use phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

FEATURES OF GROWING

Top dressing: In the early spring and early summer, top dressing with nitrogen-containing fertilizers is required (mullein - 1 kg, urea - 10 g, ammonium nitrate - 20 g per 1 bucket of water). Autumn top dressing - Kemira universal or nitroammofoska.

Watering: Mandatory when planting and the next 3-4 days. In dry periods it requires regular watering - 1 bucket / 1 sq.m. projections of the crown.

Loosening: allowed to a depth of not more than 3cm. For weed control.

TO the birch rye system in all depends on the climate, natural conditions, latitudes. What are the structural features of the symbol of Russia?

Of course, the birch grows not only in Russia, but wherever it grows, the root system of this tree is not much different. At the birch, it is very powerful, although it leaves shallow. Slightly less often you can find a superficial version. The roots of this tree (birch) constantly need moisture, which is why so few other representatives of the plant kingdom grow around it. This tree simply draws all the moisture and nutrients out of them. Due to the fact that the birch roots are not too deep - the weather is very harmful to her. With a sufficiently strong wind, a young tree will simply fall down. The structure of the roots affects the growth process of this tree.

This tree grows best in areas of temperate climate, in which humidity should not exceed average values.

At first, the tree develops very slowly, since the main root is in no hurry to die. After its death, the root system begins to develop due to those roots that are on the sides. They can penetrate the earth at an angle of up to 60 degrees, then the growth of birch begins to accelerate.

It is better to plant this beautiful tree once and for all in one place, since it does not tolerate transplants. It is not recommended to plant a tree near highways and in places with compacted soil.

Root structure

There are three types of roots that birch has:

1. main root
2. side
3. subordinate roots.

In the process of tree development, the main root dies, at which time the birch develops most slowly. Then the lateral roots begin to grow, which, in turn, have many branch roots. The accessory rhizomes are located almost on the surface of the earth, as a rule, they have no branches at all. At the first time of its development, a birch grows very slowly, but then its growth accelerates several times. Due to its rapid growth, the tree squeezes all moisture and juices from nearby plants. If you want something to settle down next to it, choose the vegetation that does not require plenty of moisture for its life, grows in dry soil.

Juice formation

Do you know how birch sap is formed?

The roots play an important role in this. As soon as moisture gets into them, the starch reserves formed in the root and trunk begin to turn into sugar. Water dissolves sugar, and then it rises to the kidneys through the wood vessels. “Birch crying” is the movement of the juice that occurs before its sticky leaves bloom. It is at this time that you need to collect the juice, usually for this, several cuts are made on the tree itself. This usually happens in March-April.

If you want the birch to grow not so fast, you just need to periodically trim its lateral roots and crown.

Video

Birch   danglingor warty, - Betula pendula Roth   (IN.verrucosa Ehrh.)

Drooping birch tree up to 20 m high with a wide ovoid conical crown and often hanging shoots. The bark is white, smooth, deep-cracked on old trees in the lower part of the trunk. Young shoots are reddish-brown, covered with numerous resinous rough warts - wax glands, in adult trees shoots with single glands, bare. The apical and lateral buds are laid on the shoots of the current year in the summer and bloom in the spring. The wood is yellowish white, relatively dense and rather heavy.

The leaves have an ovoid-rhombic shape. Sharp, tapered to the base. Smooth and double-toothed. Young leaves are sticky and have petioles 2-3 cm long. Inflorescences are female cylindrical earrings 2.5-3 cm long with greenish-brown ciliated scales along the edge. The diameter of the stigma is 0.3-0.4 mm. Flowering in may. The fruit is a nut of oblong-elliptical shape, the wings of which are 2-3 times wider than the nut, protruding upward to the level of stigmas and forming a wedge-shaped recess. Fruits, depending on the weather, from July to late autumn.

The photophilous tree, which forms the basis of secondary small-leaved forests, formed on the site of reduced primary forests of spruce, oak, etc. Often included as an admixture in taiga and broad-leaved forests. Drooping birch   easily occupies burning areas, wastelands, abandoned arable land and roadsides, due to the spread of seeds through the wind. Propagate by sowing seeds collected during the drilling of earrings. Sowing is carried out immediately after harvest or in late autumn. Birch trees renew well overgrowth, giving interesting multi-stemmed forms of decorative interest. Planting is done in early spring at the age of not more than 5-7 years, more adults are planted in winter, with a frozen lump; during autumn planting, a large decline occurs.

The strength of wood makes the breed very valuable. Plywood, furniture and various carpentry are made from it. It is also used to produce charcoal, acetic acid, turpentine and methyl alcohol. After cleaning, birch oil is isolated from birch tar, and persistent green and yellow fabric dyes are poured from the leaves. In medicine, kidneys containing tar, vitamins, essential oils and other substances are widely used. They are also used in perfumery. From the outer bark (birch bark) they make baskets for mushrooms and berries, dishes, and even clothes, and they are also used as roofing material. However, in buildings, wood itself is rarely used because of its susceptibility to decay. But it is valued as an excellent fuel, due to its high calorific value.

They are among the best park trees and are highly desirable in gardens and alleyways, always on a strip of lawn.   Drooping birch   it is decorated with an openwork crown, bright coloring of a bark, light green foliage in the spring and golden yellow in the fall. Suitable for all types of plantings, especially in combination with mountain ash, willows, oaks, lindens, maples, beech, bird cherry, as well as against conifers.

You can buy hanging birch seedlings in Krasnoyarsk with us!

Birch   - This is a well-known tree, which reaches about 45 meters in height, trunk girth - up to 150 centimeters. Birch belongs to the family of birch and deciduous trees, it has more than a hundred species. Such a tree is most common in the Northern Hemisphere. From many chronicles we know that even in ancient times, when the Slavs seriously believed in water, forest and heavenly spirits, they had the only goddess, her name was Bereginya. She was the mother of all the riches on earth and spirits, and they worshiped her only in the form of a sacred white tree - this was a birch. Since that time, birch and began to be called the tree of health and life. Almost all components of birch are used in traditional medicine recipes (buds, birch sap, bark, young leaves, birch mushroom, activated charcoal and birch tar). And in other areas birch bark and wood are used.

Birch roots

As soon as water enters the roots of birch, the starch reserves that are formed in the trunk and roots turn into sugar, then it dissolves in water and rises to the kidneys through wood vessels. Before the sticky leaves began to bloom, the birch appears sap flow, which is called "weeping birch".

The healing properties of birch

In folk medicine, birch buds are used as a blood purifying and diaphoretic, they are also used for baths, poultices and compresses for rheumatism, joint pain, gout, acne and skin rash, pressure sores, burns and eczema. With an upset stomach and spasms, an infusion of birch buds helps.

Planting birch

Planting is carried out in early spring at the age of the plant no older than seven years, and more adults are planted in the winter with a frozen lump. Before the leaves appeared, that is, in early spring and late spring, the birch was fed: one kilogram of mullein, ten grams of urea and about 15 grams of ammonium nitrate are taken per bucket. The birch needs watering during planting and another four days after it.

The use of birch in traditional medicine

Birch Recipes

You can also make a decoction of birch leaves. For this, 30 grams of leaflets need to be lowered into 400 milliliters of water and put for 15 minutes on low heat, after which you need to add a quarter teaspoon of soda. Apply the medicine should be three to four times a day in half a glass. This broth is used as a choleretic and diuretic. And a decoction of the leaves is used as lotions for cuts and abscesses. For the treatment of chronic and acute eczema, a hot bath is created from a decoction of birch buds.

An infusion of young birch leaves is prepared as follows: in 400 milliliters of boiled water cooled to 45 degrees, about 50 grams of raw material is insisted for about 5 hours. This solution is drained, squeezed leaves, again poured with water and insist 6 hours. After this, the composition must be filtered and combined with the first solution. Such an infusion should be applied 3-4 times a day in half a glass. Young leaves, or rather, an infusion of them, are used as a stimulant drug, it is prescribed for disorders of the nervous system, jaundice, renal colic, as a vitamin and anti-inflammatory agent.

Contraindications to the use of birch

All kinds of decoctions from the buds and leaves of birch are forbidden to be used by pregnant women. The resinous substances found in birch buds can irritate the renal parenchyma in a certain way, therefore, such preparations must be used with extreme caution and periodically monitor urine tests.