Lavrovishnia
Family - Rosaceous. The homeland is the warm and temperate regions of Eurasia and America.
There are more than 75 species known. For indoor gardening, laurel cherry is important.
Lavra cherry plants adapt well to room conditions, they are highly decorative and easily shaped.
In Western Transcaucasia, its natural thickets are widely distributed under the canopy of deciduous and coniferous species. It rises to the mountains to an altitude of 1500 m above sea level, where the absolute temperature minimum reaches 15-18 ° C below zero.
Drugstore - a perennial evergreen shrub, at home reaches no more than 1 - 1.5 m in height. Leaves are leathery, jagged, dark green. The flowers are white, small, very fragrant, collected in the inflorescence - a brush. It blooms in April-May, it begins to bear fruit from 4 to 5 years. Fruit is a sweet, sweet potato. The apartment fructifies regularly. The fruits are edible, very tasty. Seeds( bones) are poisonous, contain a small amount of prussic acid.
♦ Accommodation. In cool, light rooms, absolutely not afraid of shading. Therefore, plants are best kept in offices, storefronts, on staircases, you can place a laurel tree near shaded windows, in dimly lit rooms. In summer, we recommend taking the plant out into the air, where it can be freely kept, until the first frost.
♦ Care. The plant is undemanding to the conditions of growth. Do not allow excess moisture during irrigation. In winter, watering is moderate - once every 1.5 - 2 weeks. If the temperature is high, we recommend spraying water at room temperature 1-2 times a day. They fertilize laurel cherry not more than once a month, preferably with a universal granulated dressing "Flower" or liquid fertilizer "Rainbow".
As a substrate for planting and transplanting laurel cherries, it is recommended to use a weakly acidic universal flower ground "Senpolia" or "Begonia".The transplant is done before the age of five, annually, then once every 2 to 3 years.
♦ Pests and diseases - occasionally scabies and insects. When the soil is waterlogged, brown spots appear on the leaves, causing them to fall off.
♦ Reproduction - by seeds, apical cuttings or cuttings of annual increment. The rooting of cuttings is best in the summer after the first growth, at a temperature of 22 - 24 ° C.Seeds are best sowed in autumn. Seeds germinate from 8 to 17 months.
Application of
The cherry fruit can be used both fresh and processed. From its fruits prepare various kinds of cooling, tonic drinks. Prepare "laurel cherry drops", which treat various types of cardiovascular diseases. From the leaves of laurel cherry are prepared laurel cherry water, which is an excellent soothing for nervous diseases.
The laurel cherries are very hard and beautiful. It is used for furniture and decorative finishing works. From the leaves and fruits are obtained the oil used in the liquor industry.