Apparently, it is in human nature not to "wait for favors from nature", but to create varieties and types of plants with attractive properties, independently, artificially. The appearance of hybrids is proof of this.
What is a hybrid
The term "hybrid" in botany refers to an organism obtained by crossing different forms. As a result, the genetic material of different cells is combined into one single cell.
Of course, cases of natural hybridization are known: for example, grapefruit is the result of a natural crossing of a pomelo and an orange, but in the vast majority of cases this is a carefully controlled process. A hybrid of cherry and bird cherry, tangerine and orange, peach and nectarine, plum and apricot - all these are the results of many years of painstaking work of biologists.
The purpose of obtaining hybrids in botany
The desire of breeders to experiment on breeding hybrids of various fruit plants is explained by the desire to improve their initial characteristics: yield, resistance to pests andresistance to diseases, frost resistance, as well as to get new taste, improve appearance or improve transportability.
Cherry hybrids
Cherry is a popular plant, so breeders could not bypass it. Several successful cherry hybrids are known. First, cherries can be cross-bred with sweet cherries. The hybrid is called Duke and has increased winter hardiness and resistance to certain diseases, as well as sweeter fruits than cherries. The cherry-plum hybrid is very beautiful during flowering, tolerates frost well and does not require careful care. There is also a hybrid of cherries and plums, the fruits of which have a unique double taste. Finally, the work of breeders on crossing cherries with Japanese bird cherry Maaka can be called successful. We will dwell on this hybrid in more detail.
Padocerus or cerapadus?
The hybrid of cherry and bird cherry is not widely known. As a rule, novice gardeners have not heard anything about him at all. However, by crossing these plants, you can get as many as two interspecific hybrids: padocerus and cerapadus. These names may seem somewhat tricky and worthy of dinosaurs rather than fruit trees, but in fact everything is simple and logical: they are formed from the Latin names of cherry (Cerasus) and bird cherry (Padus). Figuratively speaking, cerapadus is a hybrid of cherry and bird cherry, whose mother is cherry, and whose father is bird cherry. This option turned out to be more successful and became more widespread in horticulture. If the flowersbird cherry is pollinated by cherry pollen, then you get padocerus.
It must be said that only the Japanese bird cherry Maaka is suitable for crossing with cherries, combining the features of both bird cherry and cherry, but having bitter fruits. In some sources, it is now referred to as cherry, although it would be fairer to say that it occupies some intermediate position between these species.
Hybrid features: appearance and properties
The hybrid of cherry and bird cherry, the photo of which is presented in the article, is more like bird cherry, and its fruits are arranged on the tree with tassels: several pieces on one stem, and not singly or in pairs, as is the case with cherries. The berries are dark, almost black, juicy, tasting from sour-bitter to sour-sweet. Outwardly, the fruits of cerepadus are more like cherries.
Initially, as a result of breeding in the 20s of the last century, Michurin obtained 3 types of cerapadus: No. 1 (from steppe cherries and bird cherry Maaka), large cerapadus (Ideal variety cherries were used) and sweet cerapadus. The fruits of cerapadus 1 were not only bitter, but also poisonous, as they contained hydrocyanic acid.
A hybrid of cherry and bird cherry even now, after many years of work by breeders, the fruits are not particularly sweet. Interestingly, the more frost-resistant cerapadus have, the more bitter their berries.
Re-crossing cerapadus with sour cherries has resulted in popular varieties. For example, varieties of cerapadus Long-awaited and Novella have fruits with quite"Cherry" taste and size, the Pedinstitutskaya variety is distinguished by large tassels of berries, and Rusinka has a particularly high winter hardiness and fruits quite suitable for fresh consumption. Most often, the harvest of cerapadus has a technical purpose and is used for juices and syrups.
The value of cerapadus
The hybrid of cherry and bird cherry is valued because it really has high resistance to frost and has a very well developed root system. Another important property - the resistance of cerapadus to diseases - was remembered in the 60s of the last century, when coccomycosis fell on cherry orchards - a disease in which the leaves begin to turn yellow and fall off already in early summer, and the trees themselves weaken and do not survive in winter. In this case, cerapadus are successfully used as a rootstock for varietal cherry seedlings, simultaneously significantly increasing their frost resistance.
Note: a rootstock is a plant to which a cutting with a bud of a variety of interest to the gardener is grafted. The rootstock plays a very important role: it provides complete nutrition to the upper part of the plant, i.e. scion.
Care and reproduction
As for care, cerapadus are very unpretentious, they can grow anywhere and on any soil, they do not require special attention, including treatment with fungicides. Care comes down to pruning, forming a bush or crown of a tree, and weeding the trunk circle. Regular feeding is also not required.
Cerapadus reproduce, as it should be for hybrids, exclusivelycuttings, in order to avoid splitting the acquired characteristics.
Hybrid bird cherry and cherry: useful properties
Cherry fruits have a very rich composition: vitamins A, C, E and group B, organic acids, micro and macro elements. In folk medicine, cherries are used as an expectorant, antipyretic, antiviral and bactericidal agent, as well as for the prevention of heart disease. Cherry juice reduces blood clotting and increases hemoglobin.
Bird cherry fruits due to the high content of tannins are very effective as a fixing agent, while normalizing bowel function and improving the condition of the stomach walls. Bird cherry is also used as an anti-inflammatory agent. Maaka bird cherry is generally extremely rich in biologically active substances.
It is impossible to say for sure whether cerapadus inherited absolutely all the beneficial properties of both of its "parents", but it is reliably known that a decoction of its berries has a pronounced antipyretic effect, and the fruits themselves have a rich chemical composition.
Hybrid bird cherry and cherry: recipes in cooking
Cerapadus fruits are a storehouse of vitamins, so even those who are not good at cooking can always just freeze the berries to use them for compote or fruit drink in winter. In general, if the question arises of what to cook from a hybrid of bird cherry and cherry, it is enough to adopt any traditional recipe in which it appears"parents". Thus, you can cook jam, make tinctures and liqueurs, or you can use these sour berries as a filling for pies and pancakes.
