Is there fluff from pyramidal poplars? Black poplar (sedge). Healing recipes with poplar

Poplars are very fast growing, gaining height and leaf mass from the Willow family. Trees grow very quickly during the first 15-20 years of life, but quickly age and die. When the poplar blooms, some people enjoy the white poplar blizzard in the hot summer, while others suffer from allergies. All types of poplars purify city air. There are several dozen species of poplars on earth, many of them are hybrids, grown through the efforts of dendrologists.

Balsamic

The balsam poplar lives in Canada and North America. The usual height is 17-20 m; old fifty-year-old trees often reach a height of 30 m.

The diameter of the spreading poplar crown is 10-12 m; the thick trunk is difficult for two people to grasp, since its diameter can be up to two meters. At the base of the trunk, the bark of the plant is dark, uneven, with bursting, clumsy furrows; higher up the trunk, elastic, smooth skin of a white-gray hue begins.

The branches are covered with leaves 5-14 cm long and 4-7 cm wide. The shape of the leaves is round at the petiole and wedge-shaped, tapering to a sharp tip; the edges of the leaves are covered with finely toothed relief.

The leaf is smooth, with a leathery cool surface and a long dense petiole (2-2.5 cm), top part the leaf is shiny, dark green, the color of the lower plate is gray-green, very light, the skeletal basis of the leaf structure is clearly visible from below.

The buds thrown out in the spring are large, elongated, up to 2 cm high. The buds and newly unfurled young leaves are sticky from a sticky resin coating covering them with a pleasant aroma.

A tree is considered mature only after 5 or 6 years. This poplar species is used to create living, windbreaks for fields and.

Laurel leaf

Habitat: Western and Eastern Siberia, up to the Angara River. It grows in Altai, in the foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau. Distributed in river valleys on pebbles, on mountain slopes, and on crushed stone.

The height of the plant is from 10 to 20 m, the thickness of the trunk is up to 1 m in diameter. This type of poplar is not tall, the skeletal branches are spreading and few in number, and few new, young shoots grow on them per year. Therefore, the crown of the plant is not dense, slightly sparse.

Did you know? In total, there are 95 varieties of poplar trees growing on planet Earth.

The leathery cover of the trunk is gray with cracks. The tree is not very demanding in terms of lighting and lives on the poor. The roots of the laurel leaf are very deep; it can easily withstand the long, frost-rich Siberian winters.

The color of the bark of young shoots is light yellow, they are slightly pubescent. Escapes unusual looking, and with clearly visible ribs, as they mature, the shoots become round in diameter.
This ribbing of the shoots is due to longitudinal cork-like growths, which is hallmark this particular type of poplar. The buds are oval, sharp, brown-green, elongated, covered with a sticky and pleasantly smelling substance.

The foliage is large, leaf length 6-14 cm, width from 2 to 5 cm. The shape of the leaf is oval-elongated, narrowed towards the end, the leaf has a finely indented border, smooth to the touch, cool, leathery, with a two-color color (green-whitish). The blossoming foliage is sticky and light green.

Due to the frequent freezing of the branches, an abundant growth of young shoots occurs; this makes the crown of the tree seem extremely lush and very decorative.

Flowering in this variety occurs in May-June; the fringed earrings are whitish in color, loosely fluffy, and covered with yellow pollen.

The male form of catkins is cylindrical, from 3 to 8 cm long, they contain 20-25 stamens with filaments and anthers, the female form of flowering (catkins) has flowers sparsely located on them, a pistil with a two-lobed stigma. The blades on the pestle are located downwards.
After ripening (May-June), fruits in the form of quadrangular swollen balls are formed in place of the earring inflorescences. The finally ripened seeds scatter from the bursting testes. Poplars from the laurel family are used in plantings along highways.

Important! The poplar family is divided into male and female trees. But only females spread fluff around when flowering.

Pyramidal

Pyramidal poplar is a light-loving plant. Very tall, the species description indicates a maximum height of 35-40 m and a maximum lifespan of up to 300 years. Grows in Italy, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Central Asia, in Russia.

Loves neutral and slightly acidic, moderately saturated with moisture, but well lit by the sun. Grows quickly in the first 10 years. The head of the plant is narrow, clearly elongated upward, the branches are powerful, strong, growing at an angle of 90° relative to the trunk.
The cut diameter of the trunk can be up to one meter, has weakly defined annual rings, dark gray bark, cut with small cracks. It blooms with small flowers collected in long inflorescences in the form of earrings of male and female-looking, women's earrings are 5-7 cm longer than men's.

Flowering occurs immediately after buds break. The color of women's and men's earrings is also different, men's are burgundy, women's are light milky.

The young plant has smooth and elastic, light gray or light olive bark. The shape of the pyramidal poplar leaf is clearly triangular, with a wide, even base, sharply tapering towards the top of the leaf.

Like other species of representatives of Willows, the pyramidal one has shiny, dark green leaves with a white color along the lower plate, finely toothed along the edge. The leaves are attached to the branches with a short, strong petiole, slightly flattened lengthwise.

With the onset of autumn, the foliage turns yellow; in mid-October, the leaf cover crumbles to the foot of the trees.
The roots of this plant are located deep down and wide, some of the roots are usually located on the surface of the ground near the base of the tree. Grows well in urban environments, there is no negative reaction to emissions of automobile gases into the air.

Black (sedge)

Black poplar or Osokor - has become widespread in Russia and Ukraine, grows in parks and squares, in deciduous forests. It is used in city landscaping due to its exceptional ability to release oxygen.

One plant can produce as much oxygen as 10 and three large, old ones. In one summer season black poplar purifies city air from 20 kg of dust accumulations; its buds also have healing properties and are used in folk medicine.
During its life, the giant reaches a height of 35 meters, its lifespan is from 60 to 300 years. Old trees are spreading, stocky, with a powerful trunk, covered with skin growths, which over time hardened and became shapeless wood. The bark is rough, almost black.

The buds are tightly pressed to the branches, round, large, with light scales, covered with gluten. The leaves are hard and large, triangular or diamond-shaped, attached to the branches by flattened cuttings.

Flowering - long catkins, burgundy and yellow, male and female varieties. Male and female flowers differ in the color and length of the inflorescences; female inflorescences are usually twice as long and more magnificent.
Flowering occurs in late May or early June. After seed ripening, dispersal (reproduction) begins. The poplar family has earned recognition and love in different parts of the world globe its diversity, rapid growth and unpretentiousness.

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Now in the nursery of the Center for Improvement and Gardening of the City of Ulyanovsk, seedlings are grown, which will then appear on our streets.

The poplar fluff that envelops our city in a white cloud every summer worries many people. And not only because down is flammable and can cause a fire, it also causes health problems for people prone to allergies.

On my own Poplar fluff does not cause allergies, but it carries and spreads pollen in the air different plants, blooming at the same time. In the regions of Russia, the timing of the beginning of poplar flowering may be different.

At one time in our city, active planting of poplars was associated with the fact that we live in an area with big amount groundwater, and tree roots help strengthen the soil and remove excess moisture.

In addition, poplar releases oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide tens of times more intense than trees of other species. However, it grows very quickly: already 10 years after planting, the seedlings turn into mature trees and begin to bushy.

Is it possible to compare the effect of the oxygen that poplars emit and the difficulty in breathing and itching of the skin that their fluff causes? Those who are susceptible to allergies will definitely say that the discomfort from fluff is much stronger. However, only females push, and the problem could be solved by planting only males and carrying out sanitary pruning in the spring. The fact is that poplars are so insidious that they can change sex and start fluffing if they are not trimmed in time...

Unfortunately, previously, for some reason, no attention was paid to the problems of city residents with fluff and they had to suffer. And finally the voice of reason is heard!

We grow in our nursery a large assortment green spaces. We start growing from seeds, then transplant them to the school, where they form into seedlings and even full-fledged trees,” explained Denis Dementyev, master of the city Center for Landscaping and Gardening. - Then all the seedlings, just like the poplar trees, are moved to the streets of our city as part of the municipal order and for compensatory planting, to replace the removed sick, damaged, dry, rotten trees. Basically, the demolition and cutting of trees occurs in the autumn, and in the spring we plant young healthy seedlings in their place.

It takes 4 to 5 years to grow a poplar seedling in a nursery. During this time, the poplar grows to a height of 2-2.5 meters, after which it is transplanted to the city. I am glad that the seedlings now being prepared for planting on our streets are of a breed that does not fluff.

At the same time, active planting of another allergy-provoking and, one might even say, weed tree - birch - continues. Perhaps this is a task for the future - to convince that a white-trunked tree will be much more at ease somewhere in a forest plantation along the highway than on a city street.

In the next ten years, the Moscow authorities plan to complete the “poplar fluff epic” in the capital, which has been going on for decades. We decided to find out whether we really need poplars and whether we can live without them.

An effective measure

Most North American poplars were brought to us from Europe to XVIII-XIX centuries. Others are from India and China. Widest distribution in the area central Russia received poplar-sedge. In total, 110 species of poplars grow on Earth, as well as a large number of their varieties and hybrids. We have 30 species, 12 of them are cultivated.

Active implementation of the program for landscaping new neighborhoods under construction began immediately after the war. The task was simple: choose an unpretentious and fast-growing tree, and plant it in areas allocated for landscaping near houses, along the edges of roads, in park areas. Poplar turned out to be such a “universal” tree - one of the champions in terms of growth rate. Each year, each tree becomes closer to the sky by an average of 2-4 meters.

Soviet scientists emphasized: poplars in cities are a temporary “green injection”; in 15 years it is necessary to begin replacing “fast greeners” with other trees that cause less trouble. However, even after 50 years, they did not begin to implement the replacement program, but they successfully introduced more and more doses of “green injections” into the “body” of megacities, provincial cities and towns throughout Russia.

Error or natural selection?

The “victorious march” of poplars turned into almost a tragedy: people began to grumble louder and louder about the fluff that covered the streets with a “snowy” carpet, “sneaked” into houses, and made them sneeze.

Questions started pouring in. Couldn't they have chosen a different tree? How could such an unfortunate mistake be made?

In fact, Soviet scientists were not mistaken in their choice. The fact is that poplar has “male” and “female” trees. The former bloom and pollinate the latter, and it is on the “female” poplars that seeds with fluff that irritates everyone appear. For landscaping, “male” poplars were chosen, which “do not push.” However, over time, botanists, to their displeasure, began to notice the appearance of “female” earrings on “male” trees. By “changing sex,” poplars tried to resist the massive seasonal “haircut.”

However, there is another version of the appearance of “female” poplars on city streets. During the Soviet years, gardening programs were often implemented at community clean-up days, in which ordinary citizens took part. It was simply unrealistic to invite a professional dendrologist to every community cleanup, who would identify and approve “male” poplars suitable for planting.

Harm or benefit?

Poplar fluff is not an allergen. It only spreads pollen from plants, the flowering of which turns into trouble for people prone to allergies. However, poplar fluff, being a mechanical irritant, causes sneezing and coughing, and causes discomfort in many Russians.

In 2008, Eco-portal published research by American scientists who stated that poplars can eliminate the consequences negative influence on the environment, including absorbing and breaking down the carcinogenic industrial solvent trichlorethylene, as well as other pollutants environment: gasoline, chloroform, vinyl chloride and carbon tetrachloride.

Russian professor, head of the department of clinical immunology and allergology of NMAPE named after. P.L. Shupika Larisa Kuznetsova is convinced that poplar fluff, like an “air brush,” absorbs carcinogens and heavy metal salts that enter the air from cars and industrial emissions.

Experts note that one poplar produces as much oxygen as 10 birches, 7 spruce trees, 4 pine trees or 3 linden trees. Over the course of a season, a tree “takes” 20-30 kg of soot and dust from the air. Poplar is extremely frost-resistant and is ready to adapt to the worst ecology, so finding a worthy replacement for it, according to environmentalists, will not be easy.

The head of the forestry program of Greenpeace Russia, Alexey Yaroshenko, is confident that if all the poplars are removed in Moscow, the air quality will decrease so much that it will cover all the benefits of the lack of fluff. The ecologist is confident that large polluted cities do not provide an alternative: other trees, given the current air condition, will grow very poorly, if at all.

Fighting methods

Today, one of the most effective measures to combat poplar fluff is seasonal pruning. True, not in all Russian cities public utilities cope with the task at the proper level. While utility workers can still get to the central streets, they often don’t get to the courtyards and outskirts. So the janitors and volunteers are trying to collect and sweep away the poplar fluff to no avail.

Often children who like to set fire to “summer snow” come to their aid, which, understandably, does not cause delight among the authorities - citizens begin to be persistently reminded of the fire hazard of poplar fluff.

Pruning, by the way, has its downsides. Firstly, after being “cut”, the tree looks ugly for some time, which does not contribute to improving the urban appearance. Secondly, ideal pruning should be completed by applying a special healing composition to the wounds of the tree, which does not allow the tree to collapse. It is clear that landscapers have neither the energy nor the time to carry out such painstaking work. Trees rotted from the inside fall, destroying cars and injuring people. However, old trees also create emergency situations - average duration The life of a poplar is 100 years.

In Moscow and a number of Russian cities, for example, Samara and Tomsk, planting poplars is prohibited. At the same time, comprehensive programs, which involve crowning, the use of special reagents that do not allow the seeds to open, and the gradual replacement of poplars with other types of trees - linden, birch, chestnuts. Cutting down all the flowering poplars at once means “denuding” the city streets.

Various types of poplar are widespread in Canada and the United States. In some American cities, planting “female” poplars is prohibited for the same reason - to avoid a “blizzard”. On special plantations they grow sterile hybrid varieties, on which seeds do not develop, they are used primarily for the production of cellulose.

Americans use flexible poplar wood to make snowboards, boats, boxes, pallets and even electric guitars. University of Michigan biologist Curtis Wilkerson proposes using genetically modified poplars as an effective and cheap biofuel.

In Edmonton, Canada, starting in 1980, a program was implemented to replace poplars with other trees. It only affected urban areas, but wild trees continue to cause many problems for city residents. For residents who dream of planting a poplar near their home, as well as landscape designers who want to use this tree to decorate their gardens, Canadian authorities strongly recommend choosing only “male trees” or sterile varieties in special nurseries, and in addition, promptly replacing old trees.

Under the tall gloomy old Poplars they signed important documents and took oaths.

During the era of revolutions, Poplar was a symbol of the people's struggle for freedom and rights.

At the same time, in Chinese traditions, wood meant the unity of opposites - yin and yang. Thanks to their flowers, Poplar leaves represented black and white, beginning and end.

In folk tales, Poplar personified a gentle and subtle nature. The Poplar leaves, like the Aspen leaves, trembled in the wind.

Since ancient times, it was believed that Poplars were able to absorb negative energy and protect the house from evil spirits. Like guards, tall trees stood on the streets in cities and villages. Many old-timers believe that trees cannot endlessly absorb evil thoughts and, in the end, give a lot to the world.

poplar names

There are several theories about the origin of the word “poplar”.

According to one version, the tree could be called “Popol”, which is derived from Latin name tree "populus". At a certain point, the word changed for unknown reasons.

The word "populus" actually means "people" in Latin.

Where does Poplar grow?

There are about 90 species of this tree. One of the rarest trees listed in the Red Book is Black Poplar.

Poplar belongs to the willow family. In nature, it can be found along river banks and on hillsides, however, it is most often found along roads and in parks in cities and towns.

Wild species are extremely sensitive to soil moisture. That is why Poplars are not found near swamps and swamps. Cultivated plants, on the contrary, take root well in almost any soil and even in heavily polluted areas.

Various types of Poplars grow in Siberia, the Northwestern part of Russia, on Far East, in America, Mexico, China and even East Africa.

Poplar grows very quickly and within 40 years reaches incredible sizes. The maximum age of such a Poplar reaches 150 years. There are known cases when the age of the Black Poplar was about 400 years.

What does Poplar look like?

Poplar represents a slender tall tree with a strong thick trunk and a silvery crown. The height of the Black Poplar sometimes reaches 40 meters, while the maximum recorded trunk girth is more than 4 meters.

The Poplar crown is very dense and wide. Over time, many branches dry out. As if negative energy drying out an old tree from the inside.

The bark of the common Poplar has a grayish tint and cracks over time.

The tree is dioecious. Female flowers turn into the same poplar fluff in summer - White snow against the backdrop of a sultry summer.

When Poplar blooms

Poplar blossoms begin in April or May depending on the region. Due to the high content of pollen in the flowers, the tree is considered an excellent honey plant.

In June and July, ripened fruits with seeds are separated from the branches and spread throughout forests, cities and parks.

The healing properties of Poplar

The bark, seeds and buds of the plant are used as medicine.

Poplar bark contains tannins, glycosides and alkaloids. Thanks to this, a decoction of the bark has a sedative effect and calms the nervous system.

At the same time, tannins have an astringent effect and are effective for stomach disorders.

Kidney decoctions effectively fight inflammation and increase the body's resistance.

An infusion of Poplar leaves is used as a wound healing agent.

There are drugs based on Poplar that can cope with depression and normalize sleep.

Poplar buds, ground into powder and mixed with other ingredients, are used for hair loss. This ointment can stimulate hair follicles.

Contraindications

Tannins in preparations from Poplar bark can aggravate the condition of a problematic gastrointestinal tract.

It must be remembered that the use of any properties of Poplar for medicinal purposes, like any other plant, is possible only after consultation with specialists.

Application of Poplar

Poplar wood is used in industry as a raw material for making paper, matches, plywood and even charcoal.

Despite the fact that Poplar wood is not a favorite material for carvers and joiners, it is very valuable. The tree is able to quickly reach its ripeness, therefore it is an important and rapid source of renewable natural resources.

Poplar is capable of producing huge amounts of oxygen and surpasses even Pine and El.

Many types of plants are unpretentious in the soil and are able to withstand increased air pollution, converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. That is why this plant has been planted in parks and along roads for many decades in a row.

Unfortunately, Poplar is also known for being a strong irritant for allergy sufferers. This fact was clearly not taken into account in Soviet times during mass plantings of Poplars in residential areas.

The oldest Poplar grows in Ukraine. Its age is approximately 200 years, while the girth of the trunk is slightly more than 9 meters.

During the hungry war years, the bast layer under the tree bark was dried and added to flour for baking bread.

As you know, the living layer of wood is a valuable source of microelements, therefore it was often an assistant in the fight against hunger in the most Hard times in the history of the country.

Poplar bark is very light, so it was often used as floats in fishing nets.

Poplars love to change their gender. Female catkins can form on a male plant. Scientists explain this phenomenon by unfavorable ecology.

Now we can talk about this with 100% confidence: a new variety of poplar has appeared that does not, ever, under any circumstances, produce fluff. Valentina Obodovskaya, a biologist from Kazakhstan, was able to achieve this. In her work, she used the selective selection method.

Valentina Obodovskaya’s greatest achievement is that her selected poplars preserve all beneficial features. The fact is that if it were not for the fluff, the poplar would be the most the best tree for greening cities: it grows quickly, cleans the air from exhaust gases better than other trees, and retains metal-containing dust. During the summer, each poplar traps about 35 kilograms of dust. Each poplar is a small oxygen factory. For comparison, seven spruce, four pine and three linden trees produce as much oxygen as one poplar.

Seven spruces, four pines and three lindens emit as much oxygen as one poplar.

But due to the fact that poplars emit fluff, they are not particularly favored in cities: they cut down existing ones and are in no hurry to plant new ones. Or they take less radical measures. For example, as we have already said, poplar contraception is successfully used in China.

Now the first alley of Valentin poplars has already been planted in Astana. Trees are also planted in other cities of Kazakhstan; about five thousand poplars have now been planted. The biologist has no doubts about success. While working on her poplar, she developed a scheme that allows her to plant trees not only in spring or autumn, but also in summer.