Sea buckthorn

Family Moose - Elaeagnaceae

The generic name of the plant comes from the Greek words hippos - horse and phaos - shine. In ancient Greece sea buckthorn was treated to horses, and their hair at the same time became shiny. The species definition "buckthorn" indicates that the sea buckthorn is a thorny bush, as are some types of buckthorn.

General information: received its name as a sea-buckthorn for numerous and dense berries on short stems. It grows in the form of a bush or a tree with a height of up to 5 m, branches have prickly thorns. The plant is dioecious. On some bushes are female flowers, on others - only for men. Blossoms in early-mid-May. Flowering lasts up to 10-12 days. The root system is superficial, the main mass of the roots is located at a depth of up to 40 cm. In terms of diameter, the root system extends 2-2.5 times wider than the diameter of the crown.

Botanical Description. Trees or shrubs with a height of 2-5 m, are of a tree-like shape, up to 10 m in height. The branches and short shoots have strong spines from 1.5 to 7-8 cm long. Young shoots are covered with silver scales and stellate hairs, they grow rusty with age-The brown color.

The bark of the branches is brown, yellow-brown and even almost black. The kidneys are spherical, with 2-3 external scales covered with copper-bronze scales.

Leaves alternate, oblong or linear-lanceolate, short-petioled( almost sessile), single-stranded, with a wedge-shaped base, above - silvery-gray or silver-green, below - brownish-silvery or yellowish-white, pubescent. The length of the leaves is 2-7 cm, width 2-8 mm.

The plant is dioecious, as the male and female flowers are on different specimens. Blossoms simultaneously with the unfolding of leaves or even somewhat earlier. Flowers unattractive, very small, collected by short tassels on last year's shoots. In male( staminate) flowers collected in a short spikelet, the perianth is bifid with concave, greenish-brown lobes covered with brown and rare white scales on the outside. Female( pistil) flowers are usually located( 2-7) in the axils of shoots or spines on very short pedicels( almost sessile).Their perianth is tubular, oblong, back-ovoid in shape, externally covered with scales, blades blunt, from above abundantly covered with white hairs.

Fruit is a juicy lozenge( ovoid), ovate, ovate, obovate, ellipsoidal or spherical in shape, orange, yellow, orange-yellow or golden-yellow in color( with many transitional shades), acidic or sweetish-sour pleasant taste, with a peculiar odor, reminiscent of pineapple.

Bone oblong-ovate, with one longitudinal groove, shiny, brown or dark brown( almost black) in color. Fruits are almost sessile, on very short pedicels, like branches of the tree( hence the name of the plant - sea-buckthorn).Fruits are edible, widely used for food and medicinal purposes. The branches are kept all winter long.

Geographical spread. Seabuckthorn buckthorn is common in significant areas of Europe and Asia, grows in a variety of natural conditions from Tibet and Sichuan to southeastern England. In the former Soviet Union, the main massifs of wild-growing sea-buckthorn were in Siberia( the Buryat ASSR, the Tuva ASSR, the Altai Territory), Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Ciscaucasia and the North Caucasus( Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR, Dagestan, North Ossetia ASSR, floodplains of the Laba and Terek rivers), Transcaucasia( Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mingrelia, Kakhetia, Abkhazia, Ajaria), the coastal part of the Kaliningrad region. Wild-growing sea-buckthorn is also found in the extreme south-west of Ukraine( floodplains of the Danube, Dniester and Prut), on the islands in the Baltic Sea and in some other places. Introduced into culture. It is cultivated in state farms, leshozes, in the areas of amateur gardeners. For the first time in the world, a number of varieties of sea-buckthorn were introduced by Soviet breeders( Altai News, Dar Kutuni, Golden Cob, Vitamin, Oilseaf, Shcherbinka-1, Amber, Excellent, Abundant, etc.), characterized by a number of valuable indicators: annual stable fruit bearing, high yield,fecundity, early maturation of fruits, weak development or almost complete lack of thorns, etc. In Belarus, in a number of farms there are plantations of varietal sea buckthorn. It began to grow leshozes.

Requirements: sea buckthorn is very light-loving( therefore, the distance between trees should be at least 2-2.5 m) and frost-resistant( the root system can withstand temperatures of -22 ° C, and the elevated part - up to -50 ° C).Soils require a light mechanical composition, with good air and water conditions, neutral reaction of the soil solution( pH 6.5-7).

Since sea buckthorn is dioecious, pollination is mandatory for it, if it is planned to harvest. Therefore, in the spring, in the flowering period, if there is windless weather, it is necessary to cut off the flowering twig from the male plant and shake it over the female crown.

Composition: in fruits of sea buckthorn contains sugars, organic acids, essential oils, carotene, vitamins C, E and K. Fruits contain 15 trace elements - iron, magnesium, boron, manganese, sulfur, silicon, aluminum, titanium, etc.value is sea-buckthorn oil, rich in carotene, tocopherol, phylloquinone and other biologically active substances.

The mature fruit of sea-buckthorn contains up to 85% of water, depending on the grade from 2.24 to 12.64 sugars, mainly glucose and fructose, up to 3% organic acids( apple and wine), tannic and pectin substances.

In fruits, many vitamins: up to 300 mg% of vitamin C, vitamins B, vitamin P( rutin and quartzitin) up to 700 mg%, amount of vitamin A or carotene from 3 to 20 mg%, vitamin E to 14 mg%.Even higher is the concentration of vitamins in the seeds.

Fruits extract up to 12% of fatty oil, also rich in various vitamins: up to 250 mg% of carotenoids, up to 165 mg% of vitamin E, vitamin F, regulating skin metabolism. In fruit, there are more than 10 trace elements: iron, magnesium, manganese, boron, sulfur, aluminum, titanium, etc.

As the fruit ripens, the content of oil, carotene, vitamin E increases, and the amount of vitamins C and P gradually decreases.

Planting: of sea-buckthorn badly tolerates autumn, especially late, planting dates. Well seedlings take root at the early spring planting, before bud budding. The optimal time for planting a sea-buckthorn is April-early May. The autumn planting of sea-buckthorn is not very fruitful, so the planting material harvested in the fall is stored until spring in the prikopke. To do this, you should choose a place on the site where water, protected from the wind, does not stagnate in autumn and spring. Dig a trench 20 cm deep with an inclined wall, pour 7-10 cm of sand onto the bottom and spread out the seedlings of the sea-buckthorn one by one, carefully spreading the roots. Roots and the bottom of the stem are covered with sand, and on top - a small layer of earth.

Most often, seabuckthorn plants are planted along the perimeter of the site with a distance between plants from 1.5 to 2 m. The long experience of growing sea-buckthorn shows that 1 male plant provides normal pollination of 5-7 female. In garden gardens with a small number of sea buckthorn plants, the optimal ratio of male and female plants is 1: 5 or 1: 3, but it is better to have two different male plant pollinators. One of them landed simultaneously with women, the second - in 3-4 years. This will allow to have a crop at the site, even in the event of the death of one of the male trees.

In the garden area of ​​6 hectare it is enough to have 3-6 varietal varieties of sea-buckthorn. They can be planted by the curtain on the lawn in front of the house, in this case the sea-buckthorn will play the role not only of the fruit tree, but also of the ornamental plant. Kurtin is laid from 5-7 plants, planting them closely, at a distance of 1.5 m from each other, in a circle or in a staggered order.

On heavy clayey soils, the sea buckthorn should be planted not above the ground, but, on the contrary, rising above the soil level. On the site of the landing pit, the mound is made 5-10 cm above the soil level, the sea-buckthorn is placed on it, and the roots are sprinkled with earth so that the plant is planted above the soil level. When preparing the site for planting, a complete digging of the soil is made with application of 10 kg of humus or compost, 400 g of simple superphosphate and 40 g of sulfuric acid potassium per 1 m2.Planting pit is prepared in autumn or 2 to 3 weeks before planting. On poor soils, the diameter of the landing pit is up to 1 m, the depth is 50-60 cm. The pit is filled with fertile soil with the addition of 2-3 buckets of humus or compost, 400 g of superphosphate and 40 g of sulfuric acid potassium. After planting, the seedling is watered with 2-3 buckets of water. After 3-4 days watering should be repeated. On light soil when planting, the root neck is buried 4-6 cm. Plant the plants strictly vertically. After planting the soil is mulched with peat by a layer of 5-6 cm.

Collection of .Prepare mature fruit. Of these, sea buckthorn oil and various food products are obtained( juice, mashed fruits with sugar, jam, etc.).The fruits of varietal sea buckthorn in Belarus ripen in August, wild - in the second half of September and October. Collection is done manually or with the help of mechanical devices( smearing).Work is underway to create a machine for harvesting sea-buckthorn. In Siberia, fruits are usually removed only when stable frosts are established( -10 ° and below).Then under the bush spread sackcloth, tarpaulin or other dense litter and gently beat on the branches or shake them: frozen fruits fall on the fabric. It is strictly forbidden to cut fruit bearing branches with fruits. This causes irreparable harm to the plant.

The collection of sea buckthorn fruits without a license in the leshozes, where thickets are fed, thinned, planted, lightened and where warning signs are installed, is considered poaching.

Fruits are cleaned from foreign matter, poured into clean wooden barrels or boxes and delivered to the enterprises. Frozen fruits can be transported and stored for a short time in clean cloth bags, preventing defrosting.

Medicinal raw materials .Fruit of sea buckthorn - Fructus Hippophaes should be mature, healthy, clean, with good taste and aroma characteristic of sea-buckthorn.

FS 42-1052-76 allows the content of unripe fruit in an amount not exceeding 1%;damaged by pests no more than 2%;foreign impurities not more than 1%;mineral impurity not more than 0.5%.Carotenoid content - not less than 10 mg%;titrated acidity - not more than 3%.

Chemical composition. Sea buckthorn belongs to those few plants, the fruits of which are rich in water- and fat-soluble vitamins. The high content of biologically active substances, the healing properties of fruits, oil, bark, leaves, kidneys - all this led to widespread popularity of the plant.

The content of organic acids( malic, tartaric, oxalic, succinic) varies widely - from 1.16 to 4.2%.Sea buckthorn is relatively poor in sugars, the amount of which depends on the geographical area in which it grows, the degree of maturity of the fruits, the weather conditions of the growing season. The sugar content of the fruits of the varietal sea-buckthorn is higher than that of the wild-growing one.

One of the most important indicators determining the quality of fruits is oiliness. Oil of different composition is contained in fruit pulp, seeds and bark of trees. Oil pulp varies from 1.7 to 9-10%( there are some wild forms with an even higher content of fatty oil), but in most cases it is 3 - 4.5%.The most rich in oil are small fruits with a bright orange color, the oil content of red and yellow colored fruits is much lower. The composition of the oil includes glycerides of linoleic, linolenic, oleic, palmitic, palmitooleic, stearic and a number of other fatty acids. The composition of the oils of fruit pulp and seeds is different. For example, in palm oil more than 60% are palmitic and palmitooleic acids, in seed oil, they are much less. In the latter prevail linoleic and linolenic acids.

Fruits are rich in vitamins. The content of carotenoids ranges from 0.31 to 20 mg / 100 grams of fresh fruit raw material. Carotenoids are much richer in pulp oil. Carotenoids of sea buckthorn fruits are represented by a, P and v-carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthin and other related compounds that are converted into vitamin A. in the human body.

The content of vitamin E( 2.9-18.4 mg / 100 g)all fruit and berry plants( except cloudberry).More vitamin E contains seed oil( 105-247 mg / 100 g), whereas in pulp oil its amount does not exceed 160 mg / 100 g. In the oil of sea-buckthorn, significant amounts of P-sitosterol( 0.10-0.28%) are found, which is an effective tool for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis.

By the concentration of vitamin K,( phylloquinone) - 0,8-1,5 mg / 100 g. - the fruits of sea buckthorn exceed the fruits of chokeberry aronia, mountain ash, hips, black currant. The sea buckthorn oil is very rich in phylloquinone.

The fruit contains quite a significant amount of phospholipids and betaine, which have a lipotropic effect, delaying the development of atherosclerosis.

C-vitamin fetuses range from 6 to 1284 mg / 100 g of raw fruit substance. The most rich in ascorbic acid is sea-buckthorn, which grows in Central Asia, the Kaliningrad region and in the extreme south-west of Ukraine. It is poor in vitamin C from the sea-buckthorn of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

Fruits are a valuable source of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds( mainly phenolic acids).Flavonoids are mainly represented by leukoanthocyanins, catechins, flavonols and, to a lesser extent, flavones. Among the flavonols, isoramnetin, quercetin and kaempferol have been isolated.

In sea buckthorn, growing in Mongolia, the North Caucasus, found a routine.

In fruits, leaves and kidneys there are also vitamins B., B2, B6, nicotinic acid, inositol and folic acid, but in very small quantities.

In the bark of branches, as well as in fruits, there is an alkaloid serotonin, which plays a big role in complex processes of excitation, inhibition and transmission of nerve impulses in the central nervous system. Serotonin has a high radio-protective activity, delays the pathological growth of tissues( in connection with which the alcoholic extract of the sea buckthorn bark is used in oncology).

In fruits and leaves, the presence of coumarins, biologically active substances, which have the ability to prevent the formation of thrombi in the blood vessels, is established. Also found( in significant quantities) are triterpene acids - ursolic and oleanolic, characterized by a multifaceted action, primarily anti-inflammatory, early-healing, tonic, hypotensive, etc.

Action and application. Sea buckthorn is widely used in scientific and folk medicine. Sea-buckthorn oil is treated with burns, bedsores, radiation damage to the skin.

Oil and lubrication of throat and nasal cavity quickly cures tonsillitis, pharyngitis and rhinitis. Inside sea-buckthorn oil is taken in the treatment of peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, as well as complications of radiotherapy for cancer of the esophagus and stomach.

The use of sea buckthorn oil is contraindicated for acute cholecystitis, pancreatitis and other diseases of the pancreas, as well as a tendency to diarrhea. A case of hypersensitivity to sea buckthorn oil and fruits with external and internal use is described( general weakness, itchy rashes, swelling of the face, dry mouth, aching in the heart).

Juice, puree, jam and other foods derived from sea buckthorn fruit are multivitamin products and are used for diseases caused by deficiency of vitamins( hypo and avitaminosis).They are also recommended for health promotion to people who have had infectious diseases and surgical operations.

In folk medicine, a variety of applications are found in leaves, fruits and seeds of sea-buckthorn. Leaves are considered a good remedy for rheumatism and gout. Irrigation and lotions from the decoction of fruits are used in the treatment of skin diseases. A decoction of seeds taken internally has a laxative effect.

Nourishing masks and creams with sea buckthorn oil are used in cosmetic practice.

In official medicine in recent years, sea buckthorn gets the most widespread.

Sea buckthorn oil is used in the treatment of burns, bedsores, with radiation damage to the skin, polpitis, endocervicitis, cervical erosions, gastric ulcer, chronic inflammatory diseases of the upper respiratory tract( for inhalation).It is an integral part of the drug olazol used in medical practice as a means to promote wound healing in burns, treatment of infected wounds, as well as eczema, trophic ulcers, itchy dermatitis.

For the treatment of gastric ulcer, 1 teaspoon of sea buckthorn oil is prescribed 2-3 times a day for 30-40 minutes before meals.

Store oil in a cool, dark place.

Oil can be obtained at home. After isolating the juice, the remaining mass is dried, ground in a coffee grinder and poured with sunflower oil( 1: 1.5).Insist 3 weeks at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Then the upper clarified part is carefully drained off. Sunflower oil extracts( absorbs) the biologically active substances of the fruits of sea-buckthorn.

The remains of the fruit( pulp) after the isolation of the juice and the production of oil are used for the preparation of multivitamin tea.

In traditional medicine, sea buckthorn leaves are used to treat rheumatism and gout;the decoction of fruits in the form of lotions is used for skin diseases. Decoction of seeds has a laxative effect.

In cosmetics, nourishing masks based on sea-buckthorn oil are widely used.