Wooden construction. The healing properties of spruce needles - you will be amazed by my discoveries

Picea abies
Taxon: family Pine ( Pinaceae).
Other names: Norway spruce
English: Norway Spruce, Christmas Tree

Description

Spruce- graceful, slender evergreen tree up to 30-50 m high from the pine family. The crown of the tree has the shape of a regular narrow cone and descends almost to the ground. The top of the spruce is always sharp, it never becomes dull. A spruce grows tall and slender only when the topmost bud of the tree blooms normally every year and gives rise to a new shoot. If the apical bud of a young spruce tree has been damaged or the shoot on which it is located has been cut off, - appearance tree changes dramatically. The growth of the main trunk stops, the lateral branches closest to the top gradually rise upward. As a result, instead of a tall and slender tree, you get a short and ugly one. The spruce trunk is covered with flaky brownish-gray bark. The branches are arranged in whorls. The needles are needle-shaped, oblate-tetrahedral, dark green, shiny, 2-3 cm long, kept on the branches for 6-12 years. The needles of spruce are much shorter than those of pine. The lifespan of spruce needles is longer than that of pine needles. In spring, spruce, like pine, has male and female cones on its branches. This happens around the time when the bird cherry blossoms. Spruce- a monoecious plant, male spikelets are located in the lower part of the shoots in the axils of the needles. Female cones are elongated-cylindrical, young ones are bright red, late ones are green, in a mature state they are brown, up to 15 cm long. Pollen ripens in the male cone spikelets, resembling a fine yellow powder. The spruce dusts very profusely. Pollen is carried far around by the wind and settles on various objects. It is noticeable even on the leaves of forest grasses. Spruce cones, which ripen in the first year, are formed by spirally arranged covering scales, in the axils of which there are two ovules, from which seeds develop after fertilization. The seeds are dark brown with wings, similar to pine seeds. Having fallen out of the cone, they spin in the same way in the air like a propeller. Their rotation is very fast, and their fall is slower. Seeds carried by the wind can fly quite far away from the mother tree. Seed dispersal occurs at the end of winter, on dry sunny days.
Unlike pine, spruce is shade-tolerant. Its lower branches do not die off and are preserved, which is why it is dark and damp in spruce forests. Spruce has a much smaller root system than pine and is located in top layer soil, so the tree is unstable and often strong winds knock it to the ground.
Spruce grows well under the canopy of pine, birch, and oak. She, like other shade-tolerant trees, has a thick, dense crown that allows little light to pass through.
One of the characteristics of spruce is its sensitivity to late spring frosts. The return of cold weather in the spring destroys its young, newly emerged, not yet strong shoots. Young fir trees damaged by frost can sometimes be seen at the beginning of summer somewhere in the open (in a clearing, in a large clearing in the middle of a forest, etc.). Some of their needles are green and old, but the young shoots are withered and brown, as if scorched by fire.
In spruce, like in pine, the annual rings of wood are clearly visible on the cross section of the trunk. Some growth rings are wider, others are narrower. The width of the annual ring largely depends on the environmental conditions in which the tree grows (temperature, humidity, light, nutrients etc.). How better conditions, the wider the ring. In years with particularly favorable weather conditions for the tree, the rings are especially wide. Since spruce creates very strong shading, only fairly shade-tolerant plants can exist under its canopy. There are usually few shrubs in a spruce forest; the soil is covered with a continuous green carpet of mosses, against which a few taiga grasses and dense thickets of blueberries grow (this type of forest is called a spruce-blueberry forest). Where the soil is better supplied with nutrients and sufficiently drained, as a rule, a continuous cover of wood sorrel develops - a small herbaceous plant with trifoliate leaves, like clover (this type of forest is called spruce-wood sorrel). On soils, especially poor and very damp, a continuous rather thick carpet of cuckoo flax moss is spread under the spruce trees (the name of such a forest is a long-spruce forest).
In a spruce forest, due to strong shading, the shoots of almost all tree species quickly die. However, the regrowth of the spruce tree itself persists for a very long time under these conditions. However, he looks very depressed. Trees less height human, similar in shape to an umbrella, their crown seems to be flattened, very loose. Living branches are very thin, with sparse short needles, the stem is like a ski pole. If sharp knife If you cut off such a stem at the bottom, then in the cross section you can see unusually narrow growth rings, almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. They can only be seen with a strong magnifying glass. The reason for this is the fact that in deep shade the tree produces almost no organic matter, and therefore cannot produce much wood.
Spruce sprouts are almost the same as those of pine. They are quite rare in the forest. This is explained by the fact that the thin, weak root of a germinating seed is often unable to “break through” a thick layer of dry fallen needles. But many seedlings occur where this obstacle is not present - on rotten tree trunks lying on the ground, on rotten stumps, on recently exposed areas of soil, etc.

Spreading

The area of natural distribution of common spruce in our country is almost the entire northern half of the European part. In the most northern regions In this territory, as well as in the Urals and Siberia, a closely related species, Siberian spruce (Picca obovata), grows. Spruce occupies 10% of the forest area, forming spruce forests, is part of the mixed species, one of the most common tree species. In the European part of the country, spruce does not spread far to the south, as it is quite moisture-loving. East of the Urals replaced by a related species - Siberian spruce, in the Caucasus - oriental spruce.

Growing

Spruce propagates by seeds. This tree cannot grow in climates that are too dry. Spruce also does not tolerate dry soil. In this respect, it is much more demanding than pine, which grows well on very dry sands. Spruce is more demanding than pine in terms of soil fertility. It does not grow in extremely nutrient-poor high-moor (sphagnum) bogs.

Collection and preparation

Needles, immature cones, and young tops of spruce branches are used as medicinal raw materials. The cones are collected in the summer before the seeds ripen and dried on racks under a canopy.

Chemical composition

Essential oils, resins, tannins, phytoncides, and minerals were found in the cones. Spruce needles contain ascorbic acid(200-400 mg/%) and the same substances as the buds.

Use of spruce in medicine

A decoction and infusion of cones is used for diseases of the upper respiratory tract and bronchial asthma, pine needles as an anti-scurvy agent, especially in winter time. The needles also have a diuretic and antimicrobial effect. It is recommended for diseases of the kidneys and bladder. IN folk medicine A decoction of buds and young cones is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, scurvy, dropsy, and inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system.

Medicines

Infusion of spruce needles: 20-25 g of crushed needles are brewed with boiling water (1:5), boiled for 10 minutes, then infused for 10 minutes, this dose is taken during the day. This infusion is drunk for scurvy and respiratory diseases.
A decoction of spruce cones. The cones are crushed, poured with water (1:5), boiled for half an hour, the resulting decoction is gargled and dripped into the nose. Bath infusion. The paws are boiled with salt, and the resulting decoction is added to baths for joint pain of various origins.
The spruce forest is clean, but it has a depressing effect on a person who communicates little with it, although the spruce is a donor tree, not a vampire, but when there are many donors nearby, they have a bad effect on each other.

Use on the farm

Spruce has wide application V national economy. Its wood is large quantities goes, for example, to make paper. Spruce wood is used to produce cellulose, artificial silk and much more; it is widely used in construction. Spruce wood is an indispensable material for the manufacture of some musical instruments (for example, the tops of violins are made from it, etc.).
Spruce is also an important supplier of tannins, which are necessary for tanning leather. These substances in our country are obtained mainly from spruce bark. Our other plants as sources of tannins are of much less importance (the bark of oak, willow, larch, rhizome of the herbaceous plant bergenia, etc. is used).

A little history

Spruce is not only a New Year's tree. It is constantly used to accompany a person to last path. Spruce branches are placed under the coffin, and wreaths are made from spruce branches. This tree is both festive and mournful. Phytoncides of needles disinfect the room, expel " evil spirits" It is believed that when a body is removed from the house with the help of fir branches, all the bad things that sent a person on his last journey are removed; the spruce eases the suffering of his soul, which has not yet had time to finally part with the body - this will take 40 days. Fir branches, lying on the grave, help ease the soul of the deceased.
Sometimes healers and witches, reading conspiracies, as if to strengthen, enhance the effect, burn a small sprig of spruce in an iron bowl and see how the ashes are arranged, in what form - promising or not.

Photos and illustrations

(lat. Pícea) - a genus of plants of the Pine family (Pináceae), according to its prevalence among coniferous trees takes second place after pine. Spruce lives for 250-300 years; there are trees up to 500-600 years old. In the USA (Colorado), a long-living spruce grows - the Engelmann spruce, whose age is 852 years.

Monoecious trees with a pyramidal crown, whorled branching and interwhorled shoots. The trunk is full-wood, up to 40-50 m high, in some species - up to 80-90 m, with a diameter at the butt up to 1-2 m, the bark is red-brown or gray, flaking with thin scales; young branches are brown or reddish, glabrous or slightly drooping, with strongly protruding leaf marks, buds are ovate-conical, pointed, brownish, non-resinous. The needles are hard, prickly, tetrahedral, flat in the lower part of the crown (shadow needles), and do not fall off for 6 - 9 years.

Spruce forests (spruce forests) are evergreen dark coniferous forests with a predominance of spruce in the tree layer. They are among the naturally progressive edificators that can invade other phytocenoses and even displace them. Spruce forests grow in temperate zone Northern Hemisphere, occupying a significant part of the territory of Europe, Asia and North America.

In Russia they are distributed from the western to the eastern borders. They shape the appearance of the landscape of the taiga zone. Total area spruce forests in Russia is about 70 million hectares with a timber reserve of over 10 billion m3. Spruce forests are in fourth place in terms of area after larch, pine and birch forests. In spruce forests, both pure stands and those mixed with deciduous and coniferous species are formed.

Spruce wood

Spruce is a coreless mature wood species. The spruce wood is white, with a faint yellowish tint, and low in resin. Engelmann spruce has darker wood - yellowish-brown. Resinous passages are few and small. Spruce wood has a uniform structure with annual layers clearly visible in all sections, disturbed by numerous knots.

Spruce is a species with low uniform density and a sharp difference in the structure of early and late wood of annual layers. The number of annual layers per 1 cm of cross section and the percentage of late wood depend on both the species and the place of its growth. So, for example, for common (European) spruce in the north of the European part of Russia, the number of annual layers is 12.1, and the percentage of late wood is 21, for Siberian spruce ( Western Siberia) - 6.5 and 25, respectively, for eastern Siberia- 9 and 25.

The microroughness remaining after treating the surface of spruce wood is 8-60 microns, which is significantly lower than that of hardwood. Freshly cut spruce wood has a moisture content of about 110%. Maximum humidity during water absorption is 212%.

Hydraulic conductivity indicators - important characteristic to select the wood drying mode, the intensity of isothermal transfer depends on them bound water. The values of the hydraulic conductivity coefficient (Dx1010 m2/s) for spruce are presented in the table.

These values differ little from those of pine, but are 1.5 - 1.8 times higher than those of larch and hard-leaved species. Spruce, like pine, is a low-drying species. The homogeneous structure of the wood and long fibers make spruce less prone to warping and cracking during the drying process (compared to pine).

Spruce is a low-density species. The average density of spruce wood at standard humidity (12%) is 445 kg/m3, absolutely dry - 420 kg/m3, base density - 365 kg/m3.

The permeability of liquids and gases along the fibers of spruce is slightly higher (15-20%) than that of pine, but the difference between gas permeability in the radial and tangential directions is the largest in spruce (in the radial direction it is 10 times greater than in the radial direction; in pine - 2-5 times).

In terms of strength properties, spruce wood is somewhat inferior to pine. In terms of long-term resistance to deformation, it is practically not inferior to pine, as well as in another indicator - the ability to hold fasteners. Spruce wood bends somewhat better than pine wood.

In terms of resistance to decay (biological damage), among domestic species, spruce is classified as a medium-resistant species (it is noticeably inferior to pine heartwood); according to the European standard EN 350 - 2:1994, spruce is classified as a low-resistant species (pine is classified as moderately resistant).

The generally good machinability of spruce wood by cutting is significantly hampered by numerous knots, the hardness of which is often so great that it causes chipping of the blades of carbide tools.

Application of spruce wood

Spruce is a tree exceptional in its properties. One of these properties is musicality. Since ancient times, musical instruments, including stringed ones, have been made from spruce. Novgorod gusli medieval Rus' most often made from spruce.

The tops of violins, cellos, and guitars have long been made from resonant spruce, which provides the instruments with beautiful sound. She seems to hold the sound within herself. There are special requirements for musical wood: not have knots, curls, tilts or other defects. The annual layers should be the same width, and in a radial section straight and parallel.

Musical instruments made from spruce have an amazing sound because the fibers in the wood are distributed very evenly (such wood is called resonant wood). Violins by Italian makers, including Amati and Stradivarius, are made from spruce.

In search of good material, craftsmen and restorers of musical instruments find wood when dismantling old houses, which, over decades of a stable microclimate, acquires truly wonderful musical properties. The fact is that with gradual drying in the capillaries of the resin ducts of the wood, microscopic resonance chambers are formed, and it seems to acquire a voice.

The 19th century French explorer Savard calculated the speed of sound in spruce wood. It turned out that it is 15-16 times greater than the speed of sound in air. There have been many attempts to replace spruce wood with wood from other species, but none of them have been successful. Experts believe that it is unlikely that it will soon be possible to find a material whose acoustic properties will be similar to resonant spruce.

Spruce wood is difficult to process due to the great hardness of the knots, but in some areas huts were built entirely from spruce. They believed that in such a hut one could breathe easily, there was even a saying: “A hut is a spruce tree, but the heart is healthy.”

Spruce wood is soft, light, not very durable, used as building material(boards, beams), for small crafts, for processing into wood pulp.

Spruce is used for the production of wood chemical products - paper and cardboard, cellulose, turpentine, rosin, tar, wood vinegar, methyl alcohol. From pine needles and wood, volatile fractions of different composition are isolated, consisting mainly of terpenoids - the so-called. essential oils, their main component is pinene.

It is used in ornamental gardening and park construction. Notable for its neatness and elegance of the crown, slender trunk, and shade tolerance. The spruce hedge is very thick and almost impenetrable. There are many garden forms and cultivars. Spruce is often used to create windbreaks, especially along roads. The seeds serve as food for forest birds (woodpeckers, crossbills) and rodents (mouse, squirrel). Spruce bark is used as a leather tanning agent. The needles are often used to prepare pine-vitamin flour for livestock feed.

Spruce (lat. Picea) is an evergreen coniferous tree, a symbol of the New Year. Belongs to the pine order, pine family, spruce genus. The height of a spruce can reach 50 meters, and the lifespan of a tree can be 600 years, although usually a tree lives up to 250-300 years.

Spruce – description, appearance, photo.

U young tree During the first 15 years of growth, the root system has a tap structure, but then it develops as a superficial one, since as it matures, the main root dies off. In the first years of its life, the spruce grows upward and practically does not produce lateral branches. The straight trunk of the spruce has a round shape and gray bark, exfoliating into thin plates. Spruce wood low-resinous and homogeneous, white with a light golden tint.

The pyramidal or cone-shaped crown of the spruce is composed of whorled branches growing almost perpendicular to the trunk. Short spruce needles located on the branches in a spiral pattern and has a tetrahedral or flat shape. The color of the needles is usually green, blue, yellowish or gray. The needles remain viable for 6 years, and the fallen ones are renewed annually. Some insects are partial to spruce needles (for example, nun butterflies) and eat the needles so much that brush shoots are formed on damaged spruce branches - very short and hard needles that look like brushes.

Spruce cones have a slightly pointed, slightly elongated cylindrical shape. They can reach a length of 15 cm and have a diameter of at least 4 cm. The spruce cone is an axis, and around it grows many covering scales, in the axils of which the seed scales are located. On the upper part of the seed scales, 2 ovules are formed, endowed with a false wing. Spruce seeds ripen in October, after which the seeds are dispersed by the wind and remain viable for 8-10 years.

Types of fir trees, names and photos.

Today, more than 45 species of spruce have been studied, growing in natural conditions and having a trunk height from 30 cm to 50 m, different crown structures and various colors of needles. Among all the representatives of this genus, the most famous are the following varieties:

European (ordinary) spruce (lat. Picea abies). evergreen coniferous tree, average height which is 30 m, but there are specimens 50 meters high. The crown of the spruce is cone-shaped, the branches are whorled, drooping or prostrate, the bark of the trunk is dark gray in color, and with age it begins to peel off in thin plates. Spruce needles are tetrahedral, arranged in a spiral on spruce paws. Norway spruce forms huge forest tracts in north-eastern Europe, found in mountainous areas Alps and Carpathians, the Pyrenees and the Balkan Peninsula, North America and middle lane Russia and even in the Siberian taiga.

Siberian spruce (lat. Picea obovata). A tall tree, up to 30 meters in height, with a pyramidal crown. The girth diameter of the Siberian spruce trunk can exceed 70-80 cm. The needles of the Siberian spruce are somewhat shorter than those of the common spruce and are more prickly. Siberian spruce grows in the forests of northern Europe, Kazakhstan and China, the Scandinavian Peninsula and Mongolia, the Urals and the Magadan region.

Eastern spruce (lat. Picea orientalis). The height of the tree varies from 32 to 55 meters, the crown is conical in shape, with densely spaced branches. The bark of the spruce trunk is low-resinous, gray-brown in color, and scaly. The needles are shiny, slightly flattened, tetrahedral, with a slightly rounded tip. Oriental spruce is widespread in the forests of the Caucasus and northern territories Asia, forms pure massifs there, or is found in mixed forests.

Korean spruce (lat. Picea koraiensis). A rather tall coniferous tree, reaching 30-40 m in height, with a greyish-brown bark-colored trunk, girth up to 75-80 cm. The crown of this spruce species is pyramidal, drooping branches, pubescent with resinous tetrahedral, slightly blunt needles with a bluish bloom. Under natural conditions, Korean spruce grows in the regions of the Far East, China, the Primorsky Territory and Amur region, and North Korea.

Ayan spruce (small-seeded, Hokkaido) (lat. Picea jezoensis). Externally, this type of spruce is very similar to Norway spruce. The pyramidal crown of the Ayan spruce has bright green, almost non-resinous needles with a sharp tip, the trunk height is usually 30-40 meters, occasionally up to 50 m, the girth of the trunk reaches a meter, and sometimes more. Spruce grows in the Far East region, in Japan and China, on Sakhalin and the territory Kamchatka region, in Korea and the Amur region, on the Kuril Islands, along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sikhote-Alin mountains.

Tian – Shan spruce (lat. Picea schrenkiana subsp. tianschanica). Spruce trees of this species often reach a height of 60 m, and the trunk diameter is 1.7-2 meters. The crown of the Tien Shan spruce is cylindrical, less often pyramidal in shape. The needles are diamond-shaped, straight, or slightly curved. Distinctive feature– the presence of anchor roots that are able to bend and cling tightly to stones or rocky ledges. Spruce grows in areas Central Asia, widespread in the Tien Shan mountains, especially common in Kazakhstan and the mountainous regions of Kyrgyzstan.

Spruce Glen (lat. Picea glehnii). Coniferous tree with a very dense, cone-shaped crown. The trunk height is from 17 to 30 meters, the diameter varies from 60 to 75 cm. The bark is covered with scale plates and has a beautiful chocolate hue. The long tetrahedral needles are slightly curved, sharp in young trees and slightly blunt in mature specimens. The needles are dark green, with a bluish bloom, and have a tart spruce aroma. Glen spruce grows in Japan, in the southern regions of Sakhalin, in the south of the Kuril Islands.

Canadian spruce (gray spruce, white spruce) (lat. Picea glauca). A slender evergreen tree, most often not exceeding 15-20 meters in height, the trunk diameter of the Canadian spruce is no more than 1 meter in diameter. The bark on the trunk is quite thin, covered with scales. The crown is narrowly conical in young specimens, and in adult spruce trees it takes on the shape of a cylinder. The spruce needles are long (up to 2.5 cm), blue-green in color, and diamond-shaped in cross-section. Canadian spruce grows in the states of North America, often found in Alaska, Michigan, and South Dakota.

Red spruce (lat. Picea rubens). An evergreen tree, with a height of 20 to 40 meters, but under poor growing conditions it can have a height of only 4-6 meters. The diameter of the red spruce trunk rarely exceeds 1 meter, but is usually 50-60 centimeters. The crown is cone-shaped, significantly expanding towards the base of the trunk. The needles are quite long - 12-15mm, practically do not prick, as they have a rounded tip. This type Spruce is common in England and Canada, grows in the Appalachian mountains and Scotland, and is found almost along the entire Atlantic coast.

Serbian spruce (lat. Picea omorika). An evergreen representative of coniferous trees, with a height of 20 to 35 meters; Serbian spruce trees reaching a height of 40 meters are very rarely found. The crown of the spruce is pyramidal, but narrow, and closer to columnar in shape. The branches are short, sparse, slightly raised upward. The spruce needles are green, shiny, with a slightly bluish tint, slightly flattened on top and bottom. This type of spruce is very rare: it grows in its natural environment only in Western Serbia and Eastern Bosnia.

Blue spruce, she's the same prickly spruce(lat. Picea pungens)- a very popular type of spruce, often used as ornamental plant. Blue spruce can grow up to 46 meters in height, although the average tree height is 25-30 m, and the trunk diameter is up to 1.5 m. The crown of young spruce trees has a narrow conical shape, and with age it turns into cylindrical. The needles, 1.5-3 cm long, come in different shades - from grayish-green to bright blue. Spruce cones, 6-11 cm long, can be reddish or purple, turning light brown when ripe. Blue spruce grows in western North America (from Idaho to New Mexico), where it is widespread in wet soils along the banks mountain rivers and streams.

Dwarf spruce, varieties and types, names and photos.

Among the huge variety of species and varieties of spruce trees, dwarf spruce trees are especially popular - amazing elements of landscape design and a wonderful decoration for every garden. Dwarf spruce is durable, unpretentious, and easy to care for. These miniature trees amaze with the splendor of their shapes and colors and fit perfectly into rock gardens, rockeries, flower beds, and Japanese gardens. Here are some types of dwarf spruce trees:

Dwarf spruce Nidiformis- one of the forms of common spruce, a dense nest-like shrub with light green needles, grows up to 40 cm in height and no more than 1 m in width.

The result of the mutation of the common spruce variety Acrocona is an unusual plant of uneven shape, 30-100 cm in height and 50 cm in diameter. The small pink cones that form on different lengths shoots.

Dwarf blue spruce Glauka Globoza (Glauca Globosa)- one of the popular types of blue spruce with a dense, wide-conical crown and light blue crescent-shaped needles. By the age of 10, the tree grows up to 3 m in height and gradually becomes almost round.

A very decorative conifer with a symmetrical pyramidal crown and two-color needles: the needles are dark green above and light blue below. The tree grows up to 3-3.5 m in height, and the diameter of the crown at the base is 2.5 m.

Dwarf spruce Bialobok (Bialobok)- a unique variety of spruce of Polish selection with blue, silver and golden shades of needles. The Christmas tree becomes especially decorative in the spring, when young shoots of a whitish-cream color appear against the background of mature dark green needles. The height of a dwarf spruce is no more than 2 meters.

Norway spruce, pine needles and pine are those trees that are capable of possessing a huge amount of vitality. Medicine is made from shoots cosmetics and cook delicious jam. Traditional medicine uses young shoots, cones, bark and resin of the tree. Medicinal properties Green trees have saved more than one patient suffering from asthma.

Young spruce shoots - medicinal properties and contraindications

The medicinal properties of spruce are incredibly rich. They include vitamin C, K, D and PP, essential oils and turpentines. The tree also contains useful phytoncides, mineral salts, iron, copper, manganese and cobalt. Spruce medicinal properties have the following effects:

Antiscorbutic
antimicrobial
painkillers
anti-inflammatory
diuretics
choleretic

These escapes have contraindications. These include kidney disease, hepatitis and pregnancy. Use with high acetone for gastritis is prohibited.

Cleansing the bronchi and lungs with spruce shoots

Both folk and traditional medicine recommend frequent walks through the Christmas tree forest. It is no worse than pine, except that it looks gloomy. Volatile substances kill many pathogens of bronchopulmonary diseases. And the medicinal properties purify the air around the plants.

Young Christmas tree shoots will be needed for cleaning. Collect a full large package. IN liter jar add a thin layer of sprouts and then sugar. Do this procedure all the way to the top of the vessel and compact the greens well. Place the preparation in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. During this period, green syrup will accumulate. Strain it and drink 1 at a time dessert spoon 3 r. per day. The use of this product is allowed for children. Cleaning is carried out only once a year.

How to use spruce young shoots in folk medicine?

Since the benefits of spruce are enormous, it is used in any form. Traditional healers recommend using green paws in their natural form for nervous disorders. At night, place a dozen paws near your head. This will relieve nervous excitement. If you have an aroma lamp, use it for this purpose. essential oil. Even in ancient times, aqueous tincture was used, but now it is less popular than vodka tincture. Young spruce shoots are used to make tea, syrup, and decoction; they are added to skin and hair care products, as well as to baths. Traditional medicine has found use for the plant in jam.

Spruce shoot jam - recipe for spruce shoot jam

The medicinal properties of the tree have proven themselves in cooking. Shoot jam is an excellent treatment for dry and wet coughs. Taking it during bronchitis relieves pain and also removes mucus. A spruce bud is also suitable for jam, only its composition is different.

Recipe for treats on shoots:
- 1 kg of young paws
- 3 stacks. water
- 4 stacks. Sahara

Pour the main raw material with the specified amount of boiling water and send it to the fire. Cook the jam over low heat for 20 minutes, then cool and let sit for a day. Then boil again and add sugar. Place in jars and roll up, keep cool. The young ingredient should be collected in May, when the shoots reach only 2 cm. This jam is very similar to fried sugar and thick caramel. At first its taste is bitter, and then it tastes sour. The delicacy is sold in pharmacies and stores, and is not cheap.

Jam from spruce shoots: benefits and harm to the body

The medicinal properties of the plant bring only benefits. Traditional medicine has not recorded any harmful cases after consuming jam. This way it cures colds and strengthens the immune system. Sweet dessert effective against stress and nervous breakdowns. Doctors prescribe it for recovery after heart attack and stroke. In addition, our delicacy is lower in calories than chocolate. Pregnant, breastfeeding and allergy sufferers should avoid jam.

What does spruce tincture from young shoots help with?

Vodka tincture is used for colds, rhinitis, sore throat, asthma and pneumonia. Tincture recipe: 3 tbsp. l. pour 500 ml of vodka over young spruce shoots. Leave for 2 weeks in the cellar, remembering to shake. Take 2 tbsp three times before meals. l. Can be diluted in ½ glass of water. Another tincture of spruce shoots with vodka is used for kidney disorders and rheumatism.

Spruce shoot syrup - recipe for spruce shoot syrup

The medicinal properties of spruce in syrup have found their application in microinfarctions and myocarditis. The syrup recipe consists of honey in addition to the shoots. Rinse 1 kg of young spruce buds and add 3 liters of water. Boil for 15 minutes, strain, leave for 10 minutes. stand and strain again.

Add 1 kg of honey and 10 grams to 1 kg of decoction. propolis extract (in vodka). Everything is mixed and heated to a temperature of 45 degrees. Drink 1 tsp. 3 p.m. before meal per day. The product is stored in glass, closed and cool. Traditional medicine allows the use of this decoction for children from 2 years of age, one coffee spoon per day.

Decoction and tea how to prepare - recipe

A decoction of spruce shoots is used for skin rashes. Its recipe is based on kidneys and milk. 30 gr. raw materials, pour 1 liter of milk, boil and cook for another 10 minutes. Then strain the liquid and drink the broth in 3 doses a day.
Tea is being prepared in the usual way. 1 tsp. pour a cup of boiling water over the greens and let it brew for 10 minutes.

You can use pure tea, but you can add a few drops of lemon. Add sugar or honey to taste. Based on reviews, we can say that such a drink strengthens the body in general. And those who tested began to suffer less from upper respiratory tract diseases. Traditional medicine recommends giving this tea to children in the spring and autumn.

How to make honey from spruce shoots

Throat treatment can be done with the help of delicious honey. To prepare it you will need the youngest buds, which are pink in color. Rinse them cold water, otherwise, under the influence of boiling water, the medicinal properties will immediately disappear. Place them in an enamel bowl and fill them completely with water. Bring to a boil over low heat and add regular sunflower honey to taste. Bring to a boil again and remove. Let the honey cool and strain through a nylon strainer. Pour into jars and place on the windowsill. The honey should sit in the sun for a week. Then store in the dark and cool.

After a month, our honey may become candied, however, this will not lose its medicinal properties.

Spruce is a coniferous evergreen tree of the pine family. This is a riddle about her: “Winter and summer in the same color.” The message will take a closer look at this interesting tree, tell you where it grows and how it is used in the national economy.

Description

A Christmas tree is a slender tree that can grow up to 35 meters high. During the first 10 years it grows very slowly - a few cm per year, then the growth rate increases, but after 100-120 years it slows down again. It has a pyramidal (triangular) crown with a sharp tip. The branches are densely located throughout the trunk. It is often difficult to see behind the spruce feet.

In a young tree, the bark is smooth, gray-brown in color; in an old tree, the bark becomes gray and peels off in thin plates. The needles are dark green and shiny, sharp and prickly. The needles are much shorter than those of pine, up to 3 cm long.

They stay firmly on the branches for 7-10 years. But in urban conditions, with heavy smoke in the air, the lifespan of needles is greatly reduced: they fall off after only 3 years.

The spruce root system is located close to the surface, so strong winds can knock down the tree.

Spruce is a long-liver, she lives 250-300 years.

Where does it grow

She grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere. She can be found in Central and Northern Europe. It is widespread in Russia: in Siberia, the Urals, Far East, in the Caucasus, in the steppe zone. Also grows in China and Japan.

In total there are 50 types oil. The most common: Siberian, European, Caucasian, Canadian, white, red, black.

The Christmas tree is the basis of the taiga. It grows in mixed forests, coexisting well with pine, oak, linden, aspen, and hazel. It also forms pure spruce forests, which have a number of features:

It's damp and dark here;
the soil is completely covered with moss;
under the spruce paws grow dense thickets of blueberries, lingonberries, wood sorrel, and cuckoo flax.

Growing conditions and reproduction

For a spruce to grow well, it needs the following conditions:

Shadow. This is a tree doesn't really like the sun young Christmas trees often get sunburn in open places.
Sufficient hydration. Christmas tree does not tolerate drought well.
Temperate climate. Cold-resistant tree not afraid of frost, but it grows poorly in the southern regions, where the summers are too hot and long,
The soil should not be too dense, but moderately fertile.

Spruce is a monoecious plant. This means that male spikelets and female cones grow on the same tree. Propagated by seeds the germination rate of which is very good. The cones open in late November - early December, the seeds fall out, are picked up by the wind and carried far around the surrounding area.

In early spring, the seed awakens and begins to grow. The main condition for the sprouts to take root and begin to develop well is a warm spring, because they die during spring frosts.

Use in the national economy

Spruce plantations can often be seen in sanatoriums. Because they pine needles release phytoncides that clean and disinfect the air. Also, spruce often becomes the basis of landscapes in personal plots.

High-quality musical instruments are made from this wood. Soft wood is used to make paper, rayon, and smokeless gunpowder. Resin, tar, rosin, turpentine are obtained.

Fir cones are widely used in folk medicine. Healers believe that a Christmas tree is a donor tree; if you lean against it and stand there for a few minutes, it will give a person energy and strength.

forest guest waiting on New Year kids.