This medium-sized berry of pleasant red color, mostly grown in the harsh northern latitudes, has been known for its amazing beneficial properties for many centuries. It was not only a tasty delicacy, but also a very useful healing product, which it is to this day.
General information
This magical berry has always been legendary. She had a rather impressive and corresponding name - "berry of immortality".
In this article, you can see and learn a lot of interesting things about this amazing berry called lingonberry: photo, where it grows, description, properties, etc. Also here will be described in more detail the Moscow region, rich in thickets of a miraculous plant.
One of the most famous he althy berries, revered by many, belongs to the group of medicinal plants.
What does lingonberry look like? (Photo)
Where the berry grows, we will tell after its description.
Cowberry is a small evergreen shrub fromVereskov family. It grows to a height of about 25 cm.
Its leaves are alternate, leathery and thick in structure, overwintering. White-pink bell-shaped flowers with a faint delicate pleasant aroma are collected in apical brushes. Bright red fruits of spherical shape - shiny berries with a diameter of 8 mm.
The plant usually blooms from May to June, and the fruits ripen from August to early September. As a rule, lingonberry berries from about 2 to 9 pieces sit in a dense bunch on one brush.
Collection of ripened fruits is usually carried out from August to September, moreover, the yield in continuous thickets is achieved up to three or more centners per hectare. Here she is - lingonberry! Where this magical fruitful berry grows, we will find out a little later.
Common lingonberry usually begins to bear fruit from the 3rd year of life.
To taste, its fruits are quite astringent, tart and sour, but after the very first frosts they become pleasant, sweet and sour. Now it is grown in many places in huge plantations. According to its properties, ordinary lingonberries are very useful and popular. Where does it grow and what can it be used for? More on this later, but for now a little about its properties.
Useful properties
Today, many people know the benefits of not only lingonberry fruits, but also its leaves. Moreover, the latter as a remedy are used more often than the fruits. What are the beneficial properties of cranberries? Both leaves and berries have antimicrobial andantiseptic properties, and they are also widely used as a choleretic and anti-sclerotic agent.
This miraculous plant has other properties: wound healing, anthelmintic, antiscorbutic. It is also used in the treatment of beriberi, enuresis, gout, hypertension, neurosis, rheumatism, tuberculosis, gastritis with low acidity, diarrhea and liver diseases.
It can be said that this is the best natural remedy used for kidney diseases and diseases of the urinary tract (for cystitis and urolithiasis).
This plant is widely used in the field of beauty. Cowberry extract has a good tonic effect on the skin, improves its elasticity. Also, decoctions of the plant perfectly strengthen hair, help eliminate dandruff and relieve skin inflammation.
And lingonberries, which have a powerful oxidant property, prevent aging. Amazing and magical lingonberry! Where such a miracle grows, we will soon find out.
It is also worth noting that the constant use of berries or syrup is good for improving vision. An infusion brewed with lingonberries not only perfectly quenches thirst, it also lowers body temperature in case of colds. Here she is - an amazing lingonberry (berry).
Where does it grow?
This cold hardy plant in the wild prefers regions with harsh winters and cool summers. And the berry prefers soils that are more acidic and poor. It usually grows in coniferous dry and mixed forests, amongshrubs, and sometimes on peat bogs (mostly on dry peat bogs).
It should be noted the curious fact that these low shrubs may well compete in their durability with oaks, because they live up to almost three hundred years.
Cowberry thickets can be found in Asia, North America and Europe (northern and central).
Cultivated lingonberries first appeared in the 60s on the plantations of Russia, Belarus, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Finland, Holland and Poland. The yield of such lingonberries turned out to be almost 30 times higher than natural, wild.
Now, in addition to Russia, this evergreen plant is well established in some territories of Ukraine (Carpathians) and Belarus (Polesie).
Russian Berries
As noted above, this culture appeared in Russia in the 1960s. Usually the area of distribution of a shrub covered with smooth leathery leaves is thickets of other shrubs, peat bogs and alpine meadows. A lot of lingonberries can be found in the forest.
Where does lingonberry grow in Russia today? Its habitat is mainly mixed coniferous forests (spruces, pines, larches), and sometimes deciduous forests.
As for where lingonberries grow best, for the most part these are flat areas, mountain belts of taiga and coniferous forests of the Far East and Altai. In addition, it is not uncommon to find whole shoots of this amazingly tasty sweet and sour berry in the tundra and forest-tundra.
This necessary and useful plant grows even on cold shoresthe Arctic Ocean and in the harsh conditions of the Urals. Lingonberries can also be found in the regions of the Caucasus Mountains, in Karelia, in the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions.
The swampy forests of northern Russia are also a good place for lingonberries. And now let's take a closer look at the Moscow region.
Berry places near Moscow
Where does lingonberry grow in the Moscow region? In general, the vast forests of these places are very rich in a variety of varieties of berries: blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. And lingonberries have settled in well here.
This is not at all surprising, due to the fact that the southern spurs of the northern taiga reach here from the north, and from the south there is the northern border of the southern oak forests. It is at the junction of the borders of broad-leaved and coniferous forests that a diverse berry flora has found its refuge.
Moss, peat bogs and heavily swampy pine forests are favorite places for lingonberries. These are mainly the territories of the floodplain of the Suloti and Dubna rivers, as well as Meshchera near the town of Shatura.
In addition, lingonberries grow in other areas around water bodies overgrown with peat. These are the Krugloye and Trostenskoye lakes in the Lotoshino region.
In the above places, usually from one hectare of a swamp with cranberries, up to a ton of berries can be harvested per year. Moreover, the fruits are collected in three terms: September, the beginning of freezing, early spring (April). Lingonberries are perfectly preserved throughout the winter.
This amazing berry, as noted above, prefers drier pine forests, burnt areas, clearings and illuminated edges. So,The following forest areas of the Moscow region are very rich in these berries: the northern regions - the Zagorsky district; eastern - Noginsky, Orekhovo-Zuevsky and Kurovsky; western - Volokolamsk, etc.
A little about the composition
We learned about what a lingonberry is, where it grows. Now a little about the composition of this magical berry.
There are carbohydrates, proteins and fats in it. The composition of the plant: vitamins A, B, E, PP and beta-carotene. Most of all, vitamin C is in the berry. There are also various organic acids: oxalic, citric, malic, benzoic, salicylic.
Mineral substances are represented by potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorus and calcium. Cowberries also contain pectin, natural sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) and dietary fiber.
About contraindications for use
Having lingonberry berries and using it in food, you should always remember about contraindications. For example, the fruits of this plant should be moderately consumed by people suffering from gastritis and high acidity, because the substances contained in it can irritate the gastric mucosa. This also applies to people with cholecystitis.
Also, lingonberry leaves and juice from it reduce blood pressure, have a negative effect on hypotensive patients. Fresh lingonberries are contraindicated in case of duodenal ulcer and stomach ulcer, in the presence of stones in the urinary system.
Conclusion
In any case, with moderate and proper use of lingonberries, the benefits of it will be greater thanharm.
It should also be noted that this wonderful plant is also loved by bees and beekeepers, as it is involved in a very important matter - in the production of amazingly fragrant amber honey.
