Probably, every person at least once in his life saw wild rose bushes, or, as it is popularly called, wild roses, because it really belongs to the Rosaceae family. Thanks to a number of useful properties that contain both fruits and rose hips, you can not only significantly strengthen the immune system, but also cure many diseases. It is for this reason that it is so important to know where wild rose usually grows, how to properly collect and harvest its flowers and fruits so that they retain all their beneficial properties for a long time.
Why do you need to collect wild rose hips?
Rosehip is one of the most commonly used plants in folk medicine due to a number of useful properties that it contains. Knowing the places where wild rose grows, you can provide the body with all the necessary vitamins for a long time.
When properly harvested, it has a significant effect on the body:
- tonic;
- anti-inflammatory;
- choleretic;
- antimicrobial.
Due to the high content of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in rose hips, as well as vitamins B (stimulates the circulatory system), P (improves the condition of capillaries), K (stimulates blood clotting), E and carotene, anyone can choose the part of the rosehip that is optimal for your needs, containing the required vitamins, and significantly strengthen the immune system with it.
The area where wild rose grows can be so vast that the harvest can be used even on an industrial scale. An example is the May wild rose, the natural thickets of which reach a length of several kilometers. Rosehip has received the widest use in the form of a variety of tinctures, syrups, powders, oils, which help to significantly increase the body's resistance to a variety of infectious and viral diseases.
Cinnamon Rosehip
It's no secret that not all types of rose hips carry the same composition of useful properties, which is why it is important to know not only which species will bring the maximum benefit to the body, but also how to distinguish them among a significant variety of varieties. Rosehip cinnamon, or May, is one of the most useful species of this plant. At the same time, the places where wild rose grows are very difficult to access, although they are distinguished by a high degree of productivity.
In fact, the May wild rose is a shrub that reaches a height of 2-2.5 m with a largethe number of spikes. They are present even on leaf-bearing shoots, albeit in a much more compact size, being small, thin and straight spines. Its branches are covered with brown-red bark. The flowers are large, most often solitary with five pink petals. The easiest way to recognize this type of wild rose is by the berry-shaped fruits, which, in fact, are false.
Their color ranges from orange to bright red. Inside the fleshy false fruits are a large number of fruit-nuts that have an angular shape and are surrounded by many hairs.
The main flowering period falls on July, and the fruits ripen towards the end of August. Considering that the places where cinnamon rosehip grows are very productive, the yield of the largest thickets can reach 500 kg / ha. Most often, it can be found along roads, as well as in clearings, edges and clearings, where soil with an average degree of moisture prevails, however, floodplains remain the most favorable terrain for it, where it can form literally kilometer-long thickets.
Brown rose hips
Unlike May, the area where the brown rosehip grows is not too extensive. Oddly enough, despite the favorable climate, it is practically not observed in the southern steppe regions and the Crimea, but it can often be found on the slopes of rivers and glades, where it usually grows in single specimens. Its height does not exceed 2 m, and the branches are covered with blood-red bark. Despite the fact that the bush itself is quite prickly,there are practically no thorns on the flowers.
Flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, pale red or red. Fruits of a spherical or slightly flattened shape contain a large number of seeds inside. Despite the fact that brown rosehip blooms, like May, in May, you can start picking fruits at the end of September.
Useful properties of berries
Rose hips contain not only vitamin C, but also flavonol glycosides, numerous organic acids and many micro- and macro-elements, due to which a variety of rosehip decoctions are quickly absorbed by the body. At the same time, despite the fact that the fruits are a strong diuretic, its composition gently affects the tissues of the kidneys without destroying their structure, and also stabilizes the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, regulating metabolism.
Technology for harvesting and storing berries
Having decided where the wild rose grows and how to find it, you can start picking berries directly. In doing so, you must always take into account the fact that they must be ripe, and not overripe. Fruits taken from the bush are stored in a cool room, where they will not be exposed to direct sunlight for no more than a year. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature in it does not rise above 15 degrees, otherwise the berries will lose some of their beneficial properties.
Knowing where the wild rose grows and how to store it, you will be able tofor a long time to provide your body with a large number of useful macro- and microelements, without spending a lot of money on the purchase of specialized vitamins in a pharmacy. It is recommended to dry the berries at a temperature of 100 degrees. In the event that you do not have a dryer, you can use a conventional oven for this purpose, distributing the berries over the surface in an even layer.
At the same time, despite the fact that part of the vitamins with such a preparation will still disappear, the duration of storage of wild rose with the preservation of all the remaining vitamins will increase to approximately two years.
Collecting and harvesting flowers and roots
In order to preserve the maximum amount of useful elements contained in wild rose flowers, it is necessary to determine the place where wild rose grows long before flowering and start collecting directly during flowering. Dry them in a warm room where there is constant air circulation. The storage period should not exceed 1 year.
Rosehip roots are recommended to be dug up with the onset of the first cold weather. After being removed from the ground, they are thoroughly cleaned of dirt and dried in the air. With this harvesting technology, they will retain their useful properties for approximately 2 years.
Main habitats
Rosehip is a rather unpretentious plant that can grow without problems in almost any area, up to regions with a fairly cold climate. It is noteworthy that the wild rose does not require specialconditions of care or a special area for growth, due to which it is quite common.
The largest thickets of this plant can be found in regions dominated by the steppe area. At the same time, it will be much less in the steppe itself than in small forests and plantings growing in this territory. In addition, wild rose bushes can often be found in ravines. Although reaching these bushes will not be easy in most cases, you can be sure of a significant amount of harvest that you can harvest.
Places where wild rose grows, the properties of which will bring the greatest benefit to the body, are quite secluded and difficult to collect. In the event that you live in a large city and you do not have the opportunity to travel to the steppe to collect wild rose, you can purchase berries in pharmacies and specialized stores. However, if you want to get the most out of the berries, it will be enough just to go to the nearest urban planting, where, upon careful inspection, you will surely find several rosehip bushes.
