Juniper siberian: photo, description of species, planting and care

Juniper siberian science is known by the Latin name Juniperus sibirica. However, to this day the title is rather controversial. Some people prefer to say that there is only ordinary juniper. Siberian (the photo of which is given in this article) is a kind that grows in Siberia, but it has no geographical differences.

general information

The name of the species "juniper Siberian" is associated with the peculiarities of its growth. In this case, the plant, like other junipers, leads its genus from cypresses, to the family of which it belongs.

Description of juniper Siberian looks like this - it is a shrub that densely, lowly spreads. 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 arctic regions.

Juniper: common and Siberian

While some scientists say that Siberian is actually an ordinary juniper, there are biologists who hold a different position. They believe that in the Russian Arctic juniper Siberian (a photo and description of the plant allow us to speak about the presence of characteristic features of the subspecies) is replaced by an ordinary juniper, since the second in the Arctic strip does not occur in the wild.

If in the conditions of the European part of Russia and in the southern regions the cultivation of the Siberian juniper is a task requiring attention, since it is necessary to create optimal conditions for the plant, then in the mountainous northern terrain it grows with pleasure in large areas. As a rule, its thickets are observed on stony areas of mountainous terrain. They grow in placers and in rare hardwoods, in cedarwood.

Identify by appearance

All varieties of the Siberian juniper are similar to each other externally - coniferous plants, not exceeding a meter in height. Leaflets are like needles and grow triplets, as biologists say, whorled. The shoots are initially covered with a glossy bark of light brown color. The plant blooms in the spring, but mature fruit can only be waited on a two-year (or older) shrub. They are singing closer to the autumn.

Biologically juniper Siberian is defined as a dioecious plant. Determine the male and female plant is the easiest to shishechkam. In the first case, they are small, yellowish hue, and on the female bushes from the bottom there are covering scales, and on top three, supplemented with ovules.

When fertilization takes place, scales from above expand, merge, turn into a fleshy layer. This is how the formation of the pine cone occurs. The first time the fruit of juniper Siberian has a green tint, but with maturation the color changes, and the pinealwood turns into black, covered with blue wax. The bush can grow up to 600 years, and the big yield gives with periodicity of 3-5 years.

Classification Features

Particular attention is paid to different types of juniper in the work written in 1968 by Eric Hulten on the Alaskan flora. It also considers plants growing in areas close to Alaska. Here you can find photos of juniper Siberian. However, this scientist was convinced that only one kind of plant grows in Alaska, Kamchatka and near Magadan: a juniper is an ordinary dwarf subspecies.

But in 1960 another work was published in the USSR for the authorship of the botanist A. Tolmachev. From his point of view, the Far Eastern, Siberian, Western Alaskan territories are the site of the growth of Siberian juniper. Hulten said this name as synonymous with the term "juniper ordinary".

Where and how it grows

In the listed territories juniper occurs unevenly. In particular, there is none at all in Chukotka or 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 strewn with gravel slopes, deciduous forests. Juniper is also found in the area without a forest - the podgoltsovom belt.

Pioneers of this plant paid very little attention. For example, in 1856 it was noted that on the Hunt the juniper is rare and grows only among deciduous trees, and no one uses it from the local population. In 1948, 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 it is possible to prepare fine kvass from juniper berries, but in Kolyma locals do not use them in preparing drinks or in other ways. At the same time noted that juniper in these parts is growing very much.

Juniper: natural wealth

Modern scientists know for sure: the berries of this fragrant, beautiful shrub are rich in various components useful to humans. That is why the questions of planting Siberian juniper are of interest not only to botanic gardens workers, but also to the inhabitants who want to have a source of useful fruits near the garden.

The juniper berries contain a lot of sugar. Studies have shown that its content is greater than mainly in fruit. According to this parameter, the plant is comparable with grapes. True, it is not yet possible to extract sugar from cones, as well as from other fruits cultivated in orchards, but it is possible to prepare drinks and confectionery products - molasses, marmalade. Make juniper beer and even the best (according to many) vodka in the world - English gin. True, the taste and smell of juniper fruit are somewhat peculiar, which limits their use in confectionery.

Apply in practice

Doubt that care for the Siberian juniper is worth it? Then try to prepare a drink once for the recipe below. For sure you will like it so much that it will be an incentive to grow a bush on your farm, or even one:

• Collect the pine cones, knead them, keeping the integrity of the seeds. Pay attention: the seeds are bitter, their damage will lead to spoilage of taste.
• On a kilogram of pineapple - three liters of warm water.
• The mixture is stirred for a quarter of an hour, then squeeze the juice, removing the pulp.
• Put fresh berries in a container one or two more times.
• The syrup thus obtained will consist of sugar by almost a quarter. And if you attach higher technologies here and evaporate excess liquid by raising the temperature, then the sugar content can reach 60%.
• The liquid is heated no more than up to 70 degrees, using a steam bath.

Sugar, obtained in this way, is sweeter than the one we get from beets, about 1.5 times. Syrup is suitable for drinks, meat dishes, they can sweeten tea, coffee, used in the preparation of gingerbread, jelly.

And that's all?

From history, examples of the use of wild juniper for the extraction of sugar are known. Mostly such experiments were put by the Germans, the British and the Dutch.

In 1980, a book was published for the authorship of A. Koscheev. It also presents a lot of interesting recipes, using the fruits of juniper. For example, you can cook kvass:

• As a basis, take the usual bread, but five hours before the readiness to the container add the fruit of the bush.
• For each liter, no more than 20 pine trees.

You can make juniper beer. The proportions are as follows: two liters of liquid are 200 g of berries, 25 g of yeast and two tablespoons of honey.

• First, the berries are cooked about half an hour, then give the liquid to cool, extracting from it the fruits.
• Mix the yeast, honey and broth, leave to wander.
• In bottles, the resulting drink is poured when the yeast rises.
• Then they let them brew for about five days in a cool place, where the sun's rays do not reach.

Juniper and medicine

It would be surprising if this remarkable plant could not be used as a folk remedy. Hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt testify to the fact that it was used in medicine. In former times, resins, balms, healing oils were made from it.

The juniper was also appreciated as a medicine in ancient Rome, where Dioscorides used it. In Italy in the 16th century, Mattioli used this shrubbery in his medical practice, claiming that it was almost the best uterine, diuretic medicine. Patients suffering from gout, he recommended taking a bath with juniper.

Features of growing at home

Planting Siberian juniper in the spring is not a very difficult task. The plant is rather unpretentious, it sticks to practically any soil, including, in the presence of fine earth on a rocky substrate.

It can also be planted in peatlands. True, with all its endurance, the bush slowly grows. But the result is worth it - the plant is beautiful, decorative, highly valued, as the needles have two shades. Actively used for alpine slides, low-growth groups.

Gathering berries is considered problematic, labor-consuming task. Gardeners have developed the following method: under the plant floor cloth and shake the branches from which ripe ripe berries fly. For further use, they must be dried. It is recommended to use rooms with artificial ventilation for this purpose. Do not dry the pine cones in the light.

Autumn gather branches, needles. You can harvest a crop of green and spring, waiting for the end of the period of active growth.

Breeding of juniper

Siberian juniper can be propagated by seeds. Decorative varieties are also taken away by cuttings. Only the ripe seeds germinate. Determine the ripeness can be due to the presence of a blue wax raid. In the ground, the seeds are immersed no deeper than three centimeters.

Care of the juniper in general terms is not difficult. Young plants can 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 the field mice, for which the juniper roots are a real treat.

The adult plant is resistant to sunlight, mechanical damage. The bush is recovering surprisingly fast.

We Plant Correctly

Plant juniper is recommended in spring, but this condition is not mandatory. Do not wait until the warm weather is established, since the bush is resistant to colds. But when planting a young plant in the fall, there is a possibility that during the winter the bush that does not have time to settle down 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 in a new place takes little time. Consequently, the bush can be planted from the container in spring and autumn, without fear of freezing in winter.

It is recommended to do this in the solar zone. However, a slight shadow juniper tolerates. The level of illumination determines how beautiful the plant will be. Than the sun is bigger, the plant becomes fluffier, richer. The difference is most pronounced when growing varieties that have needles of two colors.

Care instructions

Siberian juniper grows better if the soil is alkaline. Planting a bush, you can put slaked lime, dolomite flour, on the bottom of the pit.

It is necessary to pay attention to the drainage, since stagnant water destroys the plant almost immediately. Especially neat drainage is equipped, if the terrain is characterized by an elevated water table.

The transplant of shrubs growing in the open air is carried out in winter. They are excavated, leaving a large frozen piece of land near the root. This allows you to keep the roots intact.

For a young plant, they prepare the pit with dimensions of a meter per meter, in depth - half a meter. However, there is an indisputable condition: the pit must be 3 times more than the coma of the earth placed in it. If the root system of the young juniper turned out to be large, then the pit should be made larger.

Bury the bush, leave the root neck alone. In the pit, the seedling is set neatly so that the neck is not covered with earth. The soil is poured under the root until the neck is at the ground level.

For the first time, juniper is watered when only planted. Carefully soak the soil covered with root soil. Near the trunk the ground is mulched to keep the moisture for a long time. Use coniferous bark, peat crumb, sawdust, shavings.