Moroznik is a perennial herbaceous plant from the family Ranunculaceae. It lives in the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the Balkans. Hellebore can be found on shady mountain slopes or in light forests. It can be called a primrose, because flowers appear in early spring. Sometimes at the end of winter you can see blooming buds on freshly fallen snow. Blooming hellebore is considered a good Christmas present in some European countries, so it is sometimes called a "Christmas rose" or "winter". The scientific name of the plant is hellebore. The plant is popular not only among gardeners, but also among those who want to lose weight, because many people consider hellebore an effective tool to combat excess weight.
Botanical characteristics
Moroznik is a grassy perennial with shoots 20-50 cm high. Close to the surface of the earth is a short thickened rhizome. The bare stalk is weakly branched and completely devoid of leaves. The foliage is concentrated in a socket near the ground itself and forms a dense green bush. It grows on long fleshy petioles and has a cirrus-dissected or foot-dissected form. On the petiole can be from 5 segments located radially. Each leathery lobe is colored dark green, it has solid edges and a groove along the central vein.
The flowering period falls on February-April, depending on weather conditions. At this time, a flower or small inflorescence forms at the top of the stem. Each bud has its own short, drooping peduncle. The bell-shaped nimbus has 5 bright sepals, which are often mistaken for petals. They are painted in white, pink, yellow, ink or purple. The petals themselves transformed into nectaries. The lush core consists of a bundle of stamens and an ovary. During flowering, a mild unpleasant odor hovers over the flowerbed. In some species, it is completely absent.
The multifoliate fruit contains a large number of small seeds that are released after full ripening. Throughout this period, the bright sepals persist and only after the maturation of the seeds are wrinkled and fall off. Even after the shoot withers with an inflorescence, a lush green bush remains and gradually the old stem is replaced by a new, more juicy and green one.
Types of Hellebore
Various scientists attribute 14-22 plant species to the hellebore genus. Most of them are able to grow in culture in central Russia.
Black hellebore. Rhizome perennial with dark green leathery foliage, able to persist even in frosty winters. Leaf plates bare, cirrus dissected into lanceolate or oval segments. The top of the fleshy shoot up to 20 cm long is decorated with 1-3 flowers. Sepals of white color gradually become pinkish, and when the fruits ripen, they turn green.
Caucasian hellebore. The inhabitant of the Caucasus, Turkey, Greece and other warm countries grows 20-50 cm in height. The length of the dark green leathery sheet is about 15 cm. It is divided into 5-11 wide oval parts with a pointed edge. The peduncle carries several greenish-white flowers with a diameter of up to 8 cm. They bloom in the second half of spring and last about 6 weeks. The rhizome of this plant contains the most toxic alkaloids and glycosides, which, when overdosed, have a depressing effect on the cardiovascular system.
Moroznik is eastern. Perennial grasses with a height of no more than 30 cm are distinguished by grayish-green vegetation and lilac bell-shaped flowers with a diameter of about 5 cm. This variety is especially sensitive to fungal infections. Juice from leaflets in contact with skin causes burns.
The hellebore is reddish. The plant is found in Hungary, Romania and other countries of Southeast Europe. All overgrowth has a pinkish tint. Unlike most other species, this one does not retain its large basal leaves for the winter. The foliage has a feathery-dissected shape and consists of 5-7 shiny pink-green lobes. Flowers on drooping peduncles inside are painted in purple-purple, and on the outside they have a faded, gray-purple hue.
Breeding rules
Hellebore can be grown from seeds or by dividing the bush. Seed propagation requires more time and effort, since planting material must be stratified for a long time. First, the collected and dried seeds need 2.5-3 months of heat, and then the same amount of cold. When dry, seeds quickly lose their germination capacity, so you should not hesitate to sow. They are conveniently sown immediately after harvest in open ground. Purchased planting material is sown in the garden (if about 3 months are left before the cold) or in pots for growing seedlings.
At home, use pots or boxes with loose garden soil or sand and peat soil. Seeds are buried by 5-10 mm and moisten the earth. First they are kept for 3 months at room temperature (about + 20 ° C), and then put in the refrigerator for the same period. After stratification, seedlings are expected soon. The pot with seedlings is kept warm. The grown seedlings dive in separate pots and put in a shaded place. Young hellebores are transplanted into open ground for a permanent place in 3-4 years of life. Flowering of decorative varieties can occur from the second year after planting, but usually occurs after 3-5 years.
A highly overgrown bush in early spring (before the sap flow) or already in September (after seed ripening) can be divided into parts. First, the hellebore is completely dug up, and then with great care they are freed from an earthen coma. Rhizome is cut into delenki. 1-2 leaves or several leaves are left on each. Saplings are distributed in pits with a depth of about 30 cm with a distance of 30-40 cm. The soil must be well loosened and fertilized before planting. Within 2-3 weeks, more thorough care and abundant watering will be required. The adaptation period can be extended for a long time. In the year of transplantation or division, the bush is sick and withers for a long time. However, do not worry, hellebore must survive and begin to grow rapidly.
Outdoor Care
In the garden, it is better for a hellebore to find a place protected from drafts and bright sun. Penumbra is suitable for him, where the sun is only in the morning or evening hours. Reliable protection is required at noon. In a very bright place, flowers will appear earlier, but pretty soon they will fade. The leaves are also crushed, they do not form such a large lush rosette. Flowers can be planted under trees with a translucent crown, so they will receive optimal lighting and nutrition from overripe leaves.
Soddy soil with a neutral, and preferably alkaline, reaction is suitable for planting. Before planting, the ground is dug up with lime, ash or bone meal. Better adapt plants planted in the fall.
Caring for the hellebore is easy. Usually he gets enough water from the soil. Rigid foliage weakly evaporates moisture. Only in dry and hot weather it is watered 1-2 times a month.
On a site with nutritious soil, regular feeding to hellebore is not necessary. The earth already contains enough humus. Also, flowers use nitrogen from the atmosphere and very few other minerals from the earth. It is enough to form a layer of fresh mulch in spring. It will protect the rhizomes, because they are located very close to the surface and can be exposed.
Several times during the season it is recommended to weed the plantings and thin out the plants. Although in one place it can grow for many years without problems, self-seeding thickens the vegetation. This adversely affects the appearance and provokes diseases.
Almost all species of hellebore are sensitive to fungal diseases (anthracnose, powdery mildew, leaf spot, rust). With high humidity, the infection spreads faster. Having found leaves damaged by spots, they must be cut off immediately and destroyed. Adjacent vegetation is treated with copper-containing preparations.
Among the parasites, hop hoppers, caterpillars, and aphids predominate. In dense thickets slugs and snails hide, and mice can also hide. Mollusks are collected by hand, poison is laid out from rodents, and insects are exterminated by insecticides and acaricides. With due attention and timely detection, pests do not cause significant damage to hellebore.
Medicinal properties and contraindications
Black and Caucasian hellebore is used in folk medicine. To a greater extent, they are known as a means for losing weight and normalizing metabolism. However, hellebore can be used more widely. In the roots of hellebore contains a large number of glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, coumarins, flavonoids.
If the dosage is observed, hellebore treatment contributes to:
- lower blood pressure and blood sugar;
- getting rid of stones and sand in the kidneys and gall bladder;
- strengthening immunity;
- cancer prevention;
- cleansing the intestines from toxins and toxins.
Weight loss occurs due to the removal of excess fluid from the body and the normalization of metabolism.
As already mentioned, Caucasian hellebore is especially poisonous, as it contains a large amount of active substances and has a depressing effect on the human circulatory system. Therefore, any treatment must be carried out under the strict supervision of a physician. A contraindication to taking drugs in any quantities is a tendency to allergies, children's age (up to 12 years), the period of pregnancy and lactation. In case of an overdose, the following symptoms may appear: weakness, decreased heart rate and blood pressure, severe thirst, shortness of breath.
