Common bird cherry

Bird cherry (Padus racemosa L.)

Bird cherry – A tree with a rounded crown, representing the Rosaceae family. Other names: wild cherry, wild cherry, glotiha

Description:

Tree up to 10 m tall with a dense rounded crown or shrub. The trunk is covered with dull, dark gray bark with large rusty-brown or less often white lenticels. Young branches are initially light olive, shortly pubescent, later glabrous, cherry red; the bark is yellow on the inside; leaves are oblong-obovate or pointed-elliptical, up to 10 cm long and 2-6 cm wide, serrate-toothed along the edge, glabrous, dull and slightly wrinkled, on petioles, equipped with two glands at the base of the leaf. Stipules subulate, rapidly falling. Inflorescences rather long and rare drooping racemes, flowers on pedicels, white, fragrant, medium-sized, blooming later than leaves, bisexual; calyx and corolla of 5 leaves (sepals and petals), stamens 20, pistil 1. The fruit is a spherical, black, shiny drupe. Bird cherry blossoms in May, bears fruit in July.

Harvesting, description of raw materials:

In medicine, the fruits of bird cherry – Fructus Pruni padi are used. Harvest them mature, cutting off the brushes with secateurs. Before drying, the fruits are separated from the stalks. Dried in ovens or dryers at a temperature of 50-60 degrees Celsius. The raw material consists of wrinkled oblong-rounded, less often pear-shaped black drupes. With long storage, the fruits become covered with a white coating due to the release of sugar. The pulp contains one large, light, wide, ribbed bone. On the lower plane of the fruit, a light scar is noticeable – a trace from a torn stalk. The smell is absent, the taste is astringent, sour-sweet. Diameter of dry fruits up to 8 mm, stones up to 6 mm.

Contains active substances:

Bird cherry fruits contain tannins, organic acids, sugar, dyes. Amygdalin glycoside was found in the seeds.

Medicinal use:

In official medicine, it is used as an astringent antidiarrheal agent, like blueberries. In folk medicine, a decoction of the bark is drunk against diarrhea; bark infused with vodka – rubbing with sciatica; a decoction of bird cherry leaves is used for gastric diseases; flowers insist on kerosene and are used as a rub for rheumatism. Bird cherry is also used for coughs, colds, pulmonary tuberculosis, scabies, the leaves are applied to abscesses, the fruits are used for diarrhea., sore eyes are washed with a decoction of the bark.