womensecr.com
  • Citrus Crops( Citrus).

    click fraud protection

    Citrus cultures are a group of plants of the genus citrus of the family of rutaceae( Rutaceae).Cultivated these plants have long been to produce fruits, which are also called citrus. Citrus cultures are perfectly interbreeding, so there are many interesting hybrid forms. Approximately 30 species are cultivated in the world fruit growing of these trees: orange, grapefruit, mandarin, lemon, klemantine, kumquat, bergamot, citron, lime, etc. These crops occupy huge areas on different continents and in different countries: the USA, China( southern and centralregions), Japan, India, Pakistan, Australia, the Mediterranean countries.

    With citrus related legends and myths of different peoples. Including those in whose climate they could not grow.

    According to the ancient Greek myth, golden apples grew in the garden of the Hesperides. In this overseas garden was sent Hercules, to accomplish their eleventh feat - to take them out. After long adventures, he finally finds himself in a mysterious garden. The Hesperides - in Greek mythology the daughter of Night, the nymph, the keeper of golden apples. They lived on the western edge of the Earth circle off the banks of the River Ocean and protected the apples of eternal youth, which the wife of the supreme god Zeus - Hera - received as a wedding gift from Gaia on her wedding day with Zeus. Apollonius of Rhodes in his composition "Argonavtika" tells of the arrival of Jason in the Garden of the Hesperides. The Argonauts saw there the deadly frightened nymphs-here Hercules had just visited, killing the guardian of the apples of the dragon of Ladon. Seeing the new arrivals, the Hesperides disintegrated in horror to the dust, but nevertheless heeded the requests of the Argonauts and turned into beautiful trees, and then appeared in their usual form.

    instagram viewer

    According to another legend, the Egyptian king Busi-Read conceived to kidnap the beautiful Hesperides and instructed the pirates to carry out this plan. The robbers attacked the Hesperides in their garden;the girls saved Hercules, killing the kidnappers. In gratitude, the Hesperides gave the hero golden fruits.

    Many Russian fairy tales also mention "golden apples".Most likely, their prototype was oranges, tangerines, lemons and other citrus fruits.

    Even in the Scandinavian legends it is said about the "golden apples of immortality": whoever will try them will be spared in life from the worst - diseases and old age.

    Some German fairy tales also tell about the "tree of life" with miraculous healing fruits.

    In those areas where orange trees grow, they were considered from the earliest times as plants that promote fertility. Fluffy flowers and golden fruits used for privorotov, as well as in different types of divination, designed to promote the birth of children. Rumors about their magical properties took root and flourished in European beliefs. Orange flower, or orange blossom, is the most popular flower in the wedding dress of the bride and in the decoration of the wedding premises. Gradually, he ousted the more traditional myrtle and rosemary. In addition, that the flower of an orange symbolizes chastity and virginity, the presence of these flowers in a wreath of the bride is necessary, so that the marriage is not childless.

    Orange leaf in European astrological reference books symbolizes generosity.

    In ancient China, they practiced the method of magical "heating" at home with the goal of establishing power over it. It consisted in the following: skins of nine lemons or oranges soaked in a cauldron with water. The resulting citrus water was sprayed throughout the floor, and the carpets were irrigated from the spray gun. In this way, the house was cleaned of negative energy and protected from evil spirits.

    Citrus fruits in the gardens and parks of

    Many of the wild ancestors of the current citrus cultures we will never see - in nature they no longer occur. The centuries-old

    hybridization has led to their complete displacement by garden forms. A long and complex path passed through primitive hybrids, while the gardeners of South China and India did not grow these legendary fruits that came to the Mediterranean region in almost the modern form. True, the Europeans have applied and are still making great efforts to improve the valuable qualities of citrus fruits.

    The first literary references to one of the citrus - citron - were found in the ancient Greek historian Theophrastus. Around 300 BC.e.he wrote that the fragrant fruit of the citron is not at all used for food, but is used only to fight the moth: fragrant pieces are placed in the folds of clothing.

    Several decades after the citron, thanks to the Arab conquerors, I got to the Mediterranean region and found my second homeland a sour orange there. Until then, the culture of the southern orange was known in Asia Minor and Central Asia. The Arabs were the first to describe the healing properties of this citrus. The famous Arab physician Avicenna in his recipes recommended the juice of sour orange. Lemon( "li-mung") is mentioned in the ancient Chinese chronicles, although it is considered by native researchers to be India. Only at the beginning of the XV century in Europe there was one of the best representatives of citrus - sweet orange. And in his homeland, in China, he was known as early as the beginning of our era.

    The Romans used water from orange blossoms to treat a hangover and indigestion of the stomach.

    However, there is evidence that in ancient Rome the fruits of orange were already known and valued. Hanging on the trees, orange fruits were given fanciful shapes - cubes, vases, animals. All this was done with the help of clay and plaster molds, into which the growing fruits were placed.

    Much later, the French gardeners of the Renaissance remembered this tradition and modified it somewhat: candied oranges on the tree, so that high-ranking noblemen could eat ready-made candied fruits directly from the branch.

    Vasco da Gama, on his return to Europe from distant overseas wanderings, delightedly told of the amazing fruits that he was treated to in the eastern ports of Africa.

    The colorful appearance and wonderful taste of the new citrus - orange - have caused its rapid spread in Europe. For these delicate "Chinese apples," which do not bear frost, special rooms were built. These shelters were called "greenhouses" - from the French name of orange - "orange".

    In Russia, the citrus culture has been known for more than 250 years. In the second half of the 17th century, a batch of lemon and orange trees was delivered from Holland to Moscow for the first time. At the end of the XVIII century in the estates of Russian landowners, the fashion for the cultivation of citrus trees as ornamental plants quickly spread. The grandees of the

    came to admire the fashionable curiosity. So no one was surprised when in 1714 Menshikov built a palace near St. Petersburg with large greenhouses attached to it. In the greenhouses of these ripened overseas fruits - oranges, and the estate was given the name Oranienbaum( in German - "orange tree").A little later, Catherine II ordered to call this palace together with the village "Oranienbaum" and dedicated the coat of arms to it: an orange orange tree on a silver background.

    Of course, citrus fruits were expensive at that time and they were grown only in the greenhouses of dignitaries. But the exotic fruits were so attractive that they gradually began to spread in the dwellings of ordinary people.

    It is said that at the beginning of the 19th century one artisan brought two lemon plants from Turkey to the village of Pavlovo, not far from present-day Nizhny Novgorod. Since then, citrus cultivation has become a tradition for Pavlov's residents. Up until the 60s of the XX century in each house of this village there were up to 5 trees of lemon and orange. From there went a well-known indoor grade of lemons - "Pavlovsky".With careful and proper care, one tree of this variety yields 10-16 fruits per year.

    And yet, in the open ground, citrus fruits are still grown within the boundaries of a certain range. The northern part reaches the Himalayas and northern China, and in the south it ends near Australia and New Caledonia.

    Industrial citrus culture in the south

    of the former USSR began to develop only in the 20-30s of the last century. However, they are known in those lands for a long time;the first mention of citrus is already in the "Geography of Georgia", written by Prince Vakhushti. In our country, directly in the ground, citrus fruits were grown on a narrow strip of the South Caucasus, near the border with Turkey. A great work on cultivating and spreading citrus fruits was conducted by the famous Russian botanist A. N. Krasnov. After many expeditions to tropical and subtropical countries, he collected and concentrated in the Batumi botanical garden the richest collection of citrus plants - citral.

    Of course, the citrus family has its own botanical characteristics. Almost all citrus plants are evergreens( they are children of the subtropics).But some species still drop their green outfit for the winter. Some citrus fruits are armed with thorns, for example the lemon familiar to all of us.

    The height of citrus trees is not very large. They only occasionally reach large sizes. Mandarins are generally dwarf trees. Even 30-year-old specimens do not grow above 3.5-4.5 m. But the yields are quite abundant - up to 5-7 thousand fruits.

    A very interesting property of citrus fruits is the ability to germinate in several shoots. One seed can germinate 1-2, and sometimes 10-12 sprouts. This phenomenon of botany is called multi-nucleation, or polyembryony. If not

    plant sprouts, then one larger plant will grow, while others will die.

    Fruits of some citrus fruits sometimes do not fall off for 1,5-2,5 years. As a rule, neither lemons nor oranges fall in the first year of life. If you do not cut them, they will hang yellow before winter, and in the spring they will start to turn green again. In the summer their peel is very thickened. In the fall, they turn yellow again, as if "ripen" again. But with two-year-old fruit, despite their size, they have less useful taste qualities - that is, they contain less vitamins, acids and other active substances. Therefore, experts do not advise "chasing" for large thick-skinned fruits - this can be two-year-old fruit. It is better to look for fruits of medium size, with a thin skin.