forest apple tree

Tree up to 10 m tall. The root is steep, deeply penetrating into the ground, strongly branched. The trunk has a gray bark, the younger branches are brown, the youngest ones are herbaceous, gray tomentose. The leaves are simple, alternate, long-petiolate, ovate or broadly elliptical, glabrous, gray tomentose below. The flowers are quite large, regular, on long stalks, collected in few-flowered corymbs; bloom at the same time as the leaves. Calyx of 5 leaves remaining with fruits; many stamens; petals are white or pink; one pistil with a lower five-celled ovary. The calyx, corolla and stamens are attached to the upper edge of the overgrown receptacle – hypanthium. The fruit – “apple” – is false, formed by an overgrown hypanthium, 2-3 cm in diameter. Blossoms in May-June, fruits ripen in September.

More often grows in broad-leaved and mixed forests of the European part of Russia, less often in the steppe zone.

Medicinal raw materials are fresh fruits, leaves. They contain nitrogen-free extractives, protein, catechins, acids: malic, tartaric, citric, chlorogenic, salicylic, arabic, boric, ascorbic; carotenes; vitamins B], B2, B3, pectin, fiber, sugar, iron, phosphorus, essential oil, flavonoids, amygdalin, fatty oil, etc. The seeds contain fatty oil, the leaves contain vitamin C (400 mg per 100 g).

 

As the fetus matures, amino acids accumulate. The content of ascorbic acid is closely related to various metabolic links in fruits. The fruits of the apple tree of the middle strip have increased acidity, in the south – increased sugar content. During storage, fruit weight loss occurs due to the evaporation of water and the destruction of carbohydrates. In such fruits and juices from them there is more sugar and less acid. Therefore, the doctor may prescribe apples to the patient, taking into account this factor.

For therapeutic purposes, it is better to use wild forest apples, juice from all varieties of apples is a universal remedy.

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