Siberian juniper is known to science under the Latin name Juniperus sibirica. However, to this day the name is rather controversial. Some prefer to say that there is only an ordinary juniper. Siberian (whose photo is given in this article) is a variety that grows in Siberia, but apart from geographical features, it has no differences.
General information
The name of the species "Siberian juniper" is associated with the peculiarities of its growth. At the same time, the plant, like other junipers, descends from cypresses, to the family of which it belongs.
The description of the Siberian juniper looks like this - it is a shrub that spreads densely, low. In height, it rarely reaches a meter, more often - no more than half a meter. It grows mainly in the Siberian mountains and the Far East. In the European part of the Russian Federation, Siberian juniper is found in the Arctic regions.
Juniper: common and Siberian
While some scientists say that the Siberian is actually a common juniper, there are biologists who take a different position. They believe that in the Russian Arctic, Siberian juniper(photo and description of the plant allow us to talk about the presence of characteristic features of the subspecies) replaces the common juniper, since the second one is not found in the Arctic zone in the wild.
If in the conditions of the European part of Russia and in the southern regions the cultivation of Siberian juniper is a task requiring attention, since it is necessary to create optimal conditions for the plant, then in the mountainous northern area it grows with pleasure over large areas. As a rule, its thickets are observed on rocky areas of mountainous terrain. They also grow in placers and rare deciduous places, in elfin cedars.
Recognizable by appearance
All varieties of Siberian juniper are similar in appearance - coniferous plants, not exceeding a meter in height. The leaves are like needles and grow in triplets, as biologists say, whorled. The shoots are initially covered with a glossy light brown bark. The plant blooms in spring, but ripe fruits can only be expected on a two-year-old (and older) shrub. They will sing closer to autumn.
Biologically, Siberian juniper is defined as a dioecious plant. The easiest way to determine the male and female plant is by the cones. In the first case, they are small, of a yellowish hue, and on the female bushes below there are covering scales, and on top three more, supplemented with ovules.
When fertilization occurs, the scales on top grow, merge, turn into a fleshy layer. This is how the cone is formed. First time juniper fruitSiberian has a green tint, but with ripening, the color changes, and the cone berry turns into black, covered with blue wax. The bush can grow up to 600 years, and gives a large harvest at intervals of 3-5 years.
Features of classification
Especially great attention is paid to the different types of juniper in Eric Hulten's 1968 work on the Alaskan flora. It also considers plants growing in areas close to Alaska. Here you can find photos of Siberian juniper. However, this scientist was convinced that only one type of plant grows in Alaska, Kamchatka and near Magadan - the common juniper of the dwarf subspecies.
But in 1960 another work was published in the USSR by the botanist A. Tolmachev. From his point of view, the Far Eastern, Siberian, western Alaskan territories are the place where the Siberian juniper grows. Hulten indicated this name as synonymous with the term "common juniper".
Where and how does it grow
Juniper is found unevenly in these areas. In particular, it does not exist at all either in Chukotka or on Wrangel Island, but in Kamchatka and near Magadan the plant can be seen in places. Usually it forms thickets of creeping bushes, covering not only rocks, but also slopes strewn with rubble, deciduous forests. Juniper is also found in areas without forests - the subalpine belt.
The pioneers paid very little attention to this plant. For example, in 1856 they noted that on Okhotkajuniper is rare and grows only among deciduous trees, and none of the local population uses its berries. In 1948, they noticed that in Kamchatka, juniper is also not used in everyday life, despite the abundance of bushes in this area. In 1862, A. Agentov pointed out that juniper berries can be used to make excellent kvass, but in Kolyma, local residents do not use them in making drinks or in any other way. At the same time, they noted that there is a lot of juniper growing in these parts.
Juniper: natural we alth
Modern scientists know for sure: the berries of this fragrant, beautiful shrub are rich in various components useful to humans. That is why the issues of planting Siberian juniper are of interest not only to employees of botanical gardens, but also to ordinary people who want to have a source of useful fruits decorating the garden at hand.
Juniper berries are high in sugar. Studies have shown that its content is greater than predominantly in fruit. According to this parameter, the plant is comparable to grapes. True, it is not yet possible to extract sugar from cones, as well as from other fruits cultivated in gardens, but it is possible to prepare drinks and confectionery - molasses, marmalade. They make juniper beer and even the best (according to many) vodka in the world - English gin. True, the taste and smell of juniper fruits are somewhat peculiar, which limits their use for confectionery purposes.
Practice
Do you doubt that the care of the Siberianjuniper worth it? Then try once to prepare a drink according to the recipe below. Surely you will like it so much that it will become an incentive to grow a bush on your farm, or even more than one:
- Gather cones, knead them, keeping the integrity of the seeds. Please note: the seeds are bitter, damaging them will spoil the taste.
- For a kilogram of buds - three liters of warm water.
- The mixture is stirred for a quarter of an hour, then the juice is squeezed out, removing the pulp.
- Put fresh berries into the bowl one or two more times.
- The syrup thus obtained will consist of almost a quarter of sugar. And if you add higher technologies here and evaporate the excess liquid by raising the temperature, then the sugar content can reach 60%.
- The liquid is heated to no more than 70 degrees using a steam bath.
Sugar obtained in this way is about one and a half times sweeter than the usual sugar extracted from beets. The syrup is applicable for drinks, meat dishes, it can be used to sweeten tea, coffee, to use in the preparation of gingerbread, jelly.
And that's it?
From history there are examples of the use of wild juniper for sugar production. Mostly such experiments were carried out by the Germans, the British and the Dutch.
In 1980, a book was published by A. Koshcheev. It also presents quite a few interesting recipes using juniper fruits. For example, you can cook kvass:
- They take ordinary bread as a basis, but five hours before readiness, fruits are added to the containerbushes.
- No more than 20 buds per liter.
You can make juniper beer. The proportions are as follows: for two liters of liquid there are 200 g of berries, 25 g of yeast and two tablespoons of honey.
- First, the berries are boiled for about half an hour, then the liquid is allowed to cool, removing the fruits from it.
- Yeast, honey and broth are mixed, left to ferment.
- The resulting drink is bottled when the yeast rises.
- Then let it brew for about five more days in a cool place out of direct sunlight.
Juniper and medicine
It would be surprising if this wonderful plant did not find application as a folk remedy. The fact that it was used in medicine is evidenced by the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt. In the old days, resins, balms, and healing oils were made from it.
Juniper was also valued as a medicine in ancient Rome, where it was used by Dioscorides. In Italy in the 16th century, in his medical practice, this shrub was used by Mattioli, who claimed that this was perhaps the best uterine, diuretic medicine. For gout patients, he recommended juniper baths.
Features of growing at home
Planting Siberian juniper in the spring is not a very difficult task. The plant is quite unpretentious, takes root on almost any soil, including the presence of fine earth on a rocky substrate.
Can also be planted onpeaty areas. True, with all its endurance, the shrub grows slowly. But the result is worth it - the plant is beautiful, decorative, highly valued, since the needles have two shades. Actively used for alpine slides, undersized groups.
Berry picking is considered a problematic, labor-intensive task. Gardeners have developed the following method: they lay a cloth under the plant and shake the branches from which ripe berries fly off. For further use, they must be dried. It is recommended to use rooms with artificial ventilation for this purpose. Do not dry the cones in the light.
In autumn they collect branches, needles. You can harvest greenery in the spring, waiting for the end of the period of active growth.
Juniper breeding
Siberian juniper can be propagated by seeds. Ornamental varieties are also taken away by cuttings. Only ripe seeds germinate. You can determine the ripeness by the presence of a bluish wax coating. The seeds are immersed in the ground no deeper than three centimeters.
Juniper care in general terms is not difficult. Young plants should not be loosened and weeded, as it is easy to damage the roots. For the winter, their surface is covered with needles. This drives away field mice, for whom juniper roots are a real treat.
Adult plant is resistant to sunlight, mechanical damage. The bush regenerates surprisingly fast.
Planting right
Plantjuniper is recommended in the spring, but this condition is not mandatory. No need to wait for warm weather to set in, as the bush is resistant to cold. But when planting a young plant in the fall, it is likely that during the winter the bush that does not have time to take root will freeze.
The easiest way to plant juniper grown in a container. When transplanting such a plant, the root system does not suffer, so adaptation to a new place takes little time. Therefore, a bush can be planted from a container both in spring and autumn, without fear of freezing in winter.
It is recommended to do this in a sunny area. However, the juniper tolerates a light shadow. The level of lighting determines how beautiful the plant will be. The more sun, the plant becomes more fluffy, richer. The difference is most noticeable when growing varieties that have needles of two colors.
Care instructions
Siberian juniper grows better if the soil is alkaline. When planting a bush, you can put slaked lime, dolomite flour on the bottom of the pit.
You need to be careful about drainage, as stagnant water destroys the plant almost immediately. Drainage is especially carefully arranged if the area has a high level of groundwater.
Transplantation of bushes growing outdoors is carried out in winter. They are dug up, leaving a large frozen piece of earth at the root. This keeps the roots safe and sound.
For a young plant, a pit is prepared with dimensions of a meter by a meter, and a depth of half a meter. However, there is an immutable condition: the pit should be 3 times larger than the clod of earth placed in it. If the root system of the young juniper turned out to be large, then the hole needs to be made bigger.
By burying the bush, the root neck is left alone. In the pit, the seedling is installed carefully so that the neck is not sprinkled with earth. The soil is poured under the root until the neck is at ground level.
For the first time junipers are watered when they are just planted. Thoroughly soak the soil sprinkled under the root ball. Near the trunk, the ground is mulched so that moisture is retained for a long time. They use coniferous bark, peat crumbs, sawdust, shavings.
