For most people, the word "oak" conjures up a picture of a huge and very old tree. It has long been considered a symbol of power and longevity. The most famous plants are taller than 40 meters, with a trunk diameter of more than two meters. Holm oak fully corresponds to the idea of these powerful examples of the Earth's flora: it grows up to 30 meters and lives for more than a thousand years.
Description
This evergreen tree belongs to the beech family, which has over 600 species. Features of holm oak:
- Height can reach 30 meters. Having reached this mark by about 80-100 years, the plant stops its upward growth and begins to spread out in width. Moreover, this growth does not stop throughout life. The girth of individual representatives of the species can be 7-9 meters.
- Homeland is the Mediterranean region. It grows in areas of southern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa, the Caucasus (up to 1200 meters above sea level), in the Crimea. Able to withstand frosts down to -200C. Favoriteplaces - dry, sunny, rocky slopes, undemanding to soils.
- Wood. Characterized as a hard, heavy, strong, dense specific gravity 1, 14. Properties depend on the place of growth: on dry soil - slightly elastic, straw-yellow, hard, fine-layered; in wet areas (river coasts, lowlands of swampy places) - elastic, heavy, with a pale pink tint, large-layered, when dried, it cracks strongly; on transitional soil (not too dry and not too wet) - quite elastic, yellowish in color, somewhat inferior in hardness to previous samples.
- Root system. Very powerful, with a deep tap root. In some cases, when there are deposits of hard rocks (for example, limestone) under waterlogged soil, the root system may be located in the top layer of the earth or superficially.
- Kora. Dark gray in color, smooth in young holm oak. With age, scaly formation occurs. Covered with sinuous transverse and longitudinal deep cracks.
- Leaves. In shape (depending on the place of growth) they can be oval, elliptical, narrow oval. In structure - dense, leathery. From above, the leaf plate is naked and shiny, dark green, densely pubescent below, white-gray. Margins are either entire or with a few sharp teeth. The length is from 2.5 to 7.5 cm, the width is from 1 to 4 cm.
- Flowers. Flowering begins in spring, after the appearance of the first leaves. One tree has both male and female flowers. Both species are collected inearrings, only men's are pale pink, and women's are small, greenish, a crimson hue is noticeable along the edges. The mature pollen released from the earrings is viable for no more than five days.
- Fruits. The acorn carries one large seed. It is protected by a hard pericarp. "Sits" in a cup-shaped plush (a kind of bed of fused leaves), initially it surrounds the seed by a third or half, and as it grows, it descends to its base. Edible, made into flour.
Growing
Reproduction of the plant occurs by acorns. Due to the fact that they quickly lose their germination capacity, acorns of the same year are chosen for sowing. Acorns can be planted in both autumn and spring. Fall sowing is easy, but there is a risk of rodent damage and freezing in cold winters.
Spring sowing will be effective only with proper storage of acorns. A dry basement with a temperature of about 0 0C is well suited for this. They are collected in dry weather, pre-dried at room temperature for a week, and only after that they are stored for storage. Only he althy acorns are selected, with no visible external damage.
Can be sown in the garden, the distance between acorns - 7-10 cm, between the beds - 15-25 cm, when growing annual plants with subsequent transplantation to a permanent place. Depth touched - 2-3 cm, in the fall a little deeper - 3-6 cm. The ground above the seeds is leveled. This is the first step in holm oak cultivation.
Seedling care is easy:
- monitoring the condition of the soil, notlet it dry;
- weed removal;
- A month and a half before mass leaf fall in a particular area, watering is stopped, this allows the seedlings to better prepare and endure the winter.
Usually, before transplanting to the main place, seedlings grow for two years. But if you transplant a two-year-old tree, you can damage the root, by this time it reaches a meter. To avoid serious damage, in early spring, "year-olds" are transplanted to the "school". Before planting, the root is cut at a distance of 15-20 cm from the acorn and placed in rows (30 cm between rows) at a distance of 15 cm. If annual oaks are transplanted immediately to a permanent place, then the root is not cut.
Use
Hammy oak is used in various fields of human activity:
- in construction;
- in furniture manufacturing;
- in the food industry (various drinks are aged in oak barrels for years);
- in the production of musical instruments;
- in folk crafts.
Oaks are often used for greening cities. In Italy, oak groves produce an excellent harvest of sweet, edible acorns. A curious property of trees is the fact that the root system is associated with valuable mushrooms - truffles.
Useful qualities
Hammy oak is also valued for its medicinal qualities. The bark has astringent, wound healing and anti-inflammatory effect. Tinctures, ointments and decoctions are used:
- with angina;
- allergic reactions;
- burns;
- skin diseases;
- gastritis, diseases of the intestinal tract;
- poisoning;
- stomatitis;
- wound healing;
- frostbite.
Bonsai
Holm oak (photos are presented in the article) is also used for decorative purposes, growing dwarf trees. This art comes from Japan. Buddhists believe that a person who has managed to grow bonsai can be equated with God. A properly grown oak has a massive trunk and a spreading, open crown of irregular shape. Such a masterpiece can decorate any interior.
