Chokeberry Rowan

Soibus melanocarpa Wild. Chokeberry is more often planted in orchards. It can be grown as a bush or as a decorative tree with a high stem. It does not require special care quickly and regularly fructifies, grows and under severe climatic conditions. Chokeberry Ashberry blooms white flowers, has oblong leaves. Fruits ripen in September, and if their birds do not eat, they can stay on the tree for two months. And after harvesting the fruits are very long preserved. Berries the size of 1 cm have a tart, sweetish taste, they are more delicious than sweet-pitted mountain ash, they have a coloring juice. We have a variety of "Nero".Chokeberry contains primarily vitamin C - about as much as lemon and carotene. Sugar, which is in it( up to 14%), is easily assimilated by diabetics. Chokeberry has a healing effect, it is choleretic( therefore suitable as an adjunct for hard-to-digest products), moderately lowers blood pressure. Berries can be used in raw and even frozen types. For canning, mainly for compotes, berries are harvested in September. Chokeberry can be dried, made of compotes, syrups, juices, liqueurs, jams, often mixed with elderberries.

Family Rosaceae - Rosaceae

The generic name comes from the Greek word aros - aid, usefulness, which indicates the usefulness of the plant;The species definition is formed from two Greek words: melanos - black and karpos - the fruit and characterizes the color of the fruit.

In recent years, chokeberry has become increasingly popular. And this is true. It contains vitamins C, B, E, P, PP, carotene, sugar( up to 8%), organic acids, manganese, copper, boron, iodine, magnesium, iron.

Black chokeberry is effective in hypertension and atherosclerosis. In the clinic of the Omsk Medical Institute 70 patients with hypertension were treated with the juice of chokeberry. The juice was administered 50 ml 3 times a day for 1-1.5 months. The majority of patients( 75%) completely stopped headaches, sleep improved, blood pressure decreased to normal.

Chokeberry is also useful in gastritis with low acidity, capillarotoxicosis, toxicosis of pregnant women.

Phytoncides of aronia blackberry delay the development of Staphylococcus aureus, dysentery bacillus.

Botanical description of .Branching deciduous shrub, 2.5-3 m high. In young plants, the crown is compressed, but with age it becomes spreading. Shoots almost naked, young brownish-red or reddish-brown, then acquire a dark-gray color. Leaves are regular, elliptical or obovate, 4-6 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, with acute tip. The upper surface of the leaves is dark green, glossy, the lower one is lighter, sometimes with a whitish shade. Edge of leaf blade serrate or crenate. In autumn, the leaves acquire a red or reddish-purple color, which gives plants an elegant appearance. Bisexual flowers are collected in corymbose inflorescences. They are five-type, white or whitish-pink, built like the flowers of mountain ash. Fruits are apple-shaped, up to 10 mm in diameter, spherical or almost spherical in shape, black or black and purple, shiny, with a bluish coating and dense skin. Seeds are small( up to 2 mm in length), dark brown, wrinkled.

Blossoms in the second - third decades of May - the first decade of June. Fruits ripen in late August - first half of September and do not fall off for a long time.

The plant usually begins to bear fruit on the fourth( less often the third) year of life. Fruits are edible, sour-sweet( with a pronounced astringent taste).

Geographical distribution. Aronia black-headed - a relatively new culture in our country. In the wild, it grows in the eastern regions of North America( from southern Canada to Florida).In Russia, it appeared in the first third of the XIX century. It was grown mainly in botanical gardens as a decorative culture.

A huge role in introducing the culture of chokeberry aronia in our country belongs to IV Michurin. He used it in breeding sweet-fruit varieties of mountain ash( Liqueur, Dessert Michurinskaya).At present, culture is conducted everywhere in many republics, territories and regions. Aronia is grown in many state farms, collective farms and leshozes, and amateur gardeners are on their private plots.

Collection and drying. Prepare ripe fruits at the end of August and September( before frosts), cutting off the flaps with fruits, without damaging branches and pads.

In a cold, dark place, fresh fruits can persist for several months.

Medicinal raw materials - Fructus Aroniae. According to FS 42-66-72 fresh fruits should be globular, black, with a bluish coating, 10-15 mm in size. At the top of the fetal are scars of sepals, fused with the ovary. The skin of the fruit is dense, the flesh is violet-red, almost black. Seeds are small, brown. The taste is sweet and sour, astringent. The moisture content in fresh fruits should be at least 70 and not more than 83%;unripe fruit not more than 2%;impurities of leaves and parts of the stem not more than 0.5%;fruits damaged by pests, not more than 0.5%;mineral impurity not more than 0.5%;flavonoids in fresh fruits not less than 1.5%.

Chemical composition. The dry matter content in fruits is from 15 to 25%( depending on the cultivation area, cultivation conditions and weather and climatic conditions), sugars - 4.6-9.4%, organic acids - 0.97-1,87%( for raw material).Organic acids are mainly represented by apple, sugar - glucose and fructose. The fruits of aronia are rich in pectinic substances, the amount of which reaches 2.5%.

C-Vitaminicity is medium or low( 8.0-72 mg / 100 g).There are also large fluctuations in the content of carotene - from 1.1 to 11 mg / 100 g. Here, the influence of the growing area is largely affected. For example, in fruits grown in the Urals, only 1.1 mg / 100 g of carotene was found, whereas in the Moscow Region the content of this substance reached 11 mg / 100 g.

The fruits( and leaves) of chokeberry aronia are very highthe content of phenolic compounds( flavonoids and phenolic acids), capillary strengthening, anti-inflammatory and hypotensive action. Taking into account that the average yield of fruits is 6 tons / ha, and the total content of phenolic compounds is 5-6%, it is not difficult to calculate the gross yield of flavonoids of chokeberry - 300-360 kg / ha. Flavonoids are represented mainly by anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanins and catechins. Flavonols are much smaller. Cyanidine and its derivatives predominate in anthocyanins. There are also traces of delphinidine. Of the leucoanthocyanins, the fruit mainly contains leucocyanidin. Catechins contain predominantly( -) - epicatechin and( +) - catechin. Flavonols are represented by quercetin and partly by kaempferol and isoramnetin, and also by their glycosidized forms. Flavones in chokeberry are very few, and they are mainly derivatives of luteolin.

The fruits contain chlorogenic and other phenol-carboxylic acids, which possess choleretic, capillary-strengthening and anti-inflammatory effects. There are data on the ability of phenolic carboxylic acids to regulate the function of the thyroid gland.

Fruits have also been found folic acid( 0.1 mg per 100 grams of raw fruit substance), riboflavin( 130 μg), nicotinic acid( 0.5 mg), vitamin E( 1.5 mg / 100 g), phospholipids -lecithin and cephalin. The flesh of the fruits of chokeberry also accumulates significant amounts of iodine( 5-6 μg per 100 g of fresh fruit or 24 μg per 100 g of dry pulp without seeds).In addition, molybdenum, manganese, copper, boron, cobalt and other microelements have been found in fruits. There are data on the presence of ursolic and other acids.

Action and application. Fruits fresh and processed( juice, wiped with sugar, dried) are used for medical and preventive purposes in pathological conditions, accompanied by increased permeability and fragility of blood capillaries, atherosclerosis, hypertension, kidney disease( glomerulonephritis), diabetes, hemorrhagic diathesis, capillary-toxicosis, radiation damage, etc. As an auxiliary medicine, the fruits of chokeberry aronia and preparations obtained from them are recommended for septicendocarditis, rheumatism, arachnoiditis, measles, typhus, scarlet fever, allergic conditions. Effective aronia in the treatment of some skin diseases( wet eczema, etc.), as well as in violation of the permeability and fragility of capillaries resulting from the use of certain drugs - anticoagulants( substances that reduce blood coagulability), acetylsalicylic acid( aspirin), arsenic compounds.

Especially shown aronia in hypertensive disease. Fresh fruits and juice take 50-100 grams three times a day for half an hour before meals for 10-30 days, after which they take a break for 1-2 months, and then, if necessary, repeat the treatment.

The fruits of aronia contain a sweet crystalline sorbitol, which serves as a sugar substitute for diabetic patients.

Using aronia blackfruit in the diet, as well as other fruits and berries rich in phenolic compounds( mountain ash, black currant, etc.), it should be remembered that consumed in large doses, they can affect blood coagulability. That is why it is necessary to be careful when using them with patients with an increased prothrombin index Contraindicated fruits and juice of chokeberry aronia with peptic ulcer of stomach and duodenum, as well as with gastritis with high acidity

Therefore, for medical purpose, aronia is taken only for the intended purpose and under controlThe doctor has recently received data indicating that the leaves contain substances that improve liver function, promote the formation and outflow of bile

Indications: juice of chokeberry rump Preparation and storage: uses fruits as a medicinal raw material, they are harvested in the autumn, after frosts. They are dried before drying, the pedicels are separated and air-dried, dried in the sun or in a dryer at a temperature of 60-70"C, scattering a thin layer. After drying, the blackened berries are removed. They are stored in wooden containers for 2 years.

Dosage forms: , Aronia ashberry juice is prescribed 50 ml 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals for 10-30 days.

Fruits are taken 100 g 3 times a day for 30 minutes before meals. Treated with juice and fruits of mountain ash is not recommended for stomach ulcers and duodenal ulcers, as well as for hyperacid gastritis.

The homeland of the mountain ash is North America, from where it was brought to Europe, and from where it recently came to Russia. Great role in its distribution in our country was played by I.V.Michurin. Now ashberry is cultivated in many regions of the country.

Fruit of blackberry rowan contains from 5 to 10% of sugars( depending on the place of growth of mountain ash), organic acids( mainly apple), vitamins C, B1, PP, significant amounts of vitamin P, carotene, tanning and coloring substances, mineral salts.

Berries and juice of chokeberry excite appetite, increase acidity and digestive capacity of gastric juice, they are useful for people suffering from gastritis with reduced acidity of gastric juice. Fresh berries and juice from them contribute to a significant decrease in blood pressure and therefore are recommended for hypertension. It should be noted that in people with normal blood pressure, consuming juice and berries of black chokeberry, blood pressure does not change. Berries and juice of ashberry ashberry are also used for various bleeding and diathesis. The use of mountain ash and juice from it is contraindicated in cases of increased blood coagulability.

2 cups of mountain ash rub and squeeze out the juice that is put in a cool place. Squeezes of blackberry pour 1 water, add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of mashed forest ash and a peel of 1 lemon, boil on low heat for 5-7 minutes, filter and cool. Then the juice is mixed with a decoction.