We associate birch with youth, spring, girlish slenderness and fragility. There is a constant debate about the origin of the Latin name. According to one version betu means "resin", and since the time of Pliny the Elder it is known that the Gauls obtained tar from it and Pliny himself called it gallicaarbor... But at the same time, neither in Ancient Greece, nor in Ancient Rome, birch was not really known or used, because it simply did not grow in the Apennines and the Balkans. According to another version, the word Betulacomes from Sanskrit and means "a tree on the bark of which you can write."
In the monastic medicine of central Europe in the Middle Ages, birch was used very widely. Hildegard Bingen (1098-1179) used birch sap for jaundice and edema, and bark for skin diseases. Lonitserius (1564) and Bock (1565) recommended birch sap for kidney stones, and externally for lichen. In 1737, Weimann of Regensburg recommended juice for scurvy and gout. In addition, he believed that drinking large quantities of juice banished depression and melancholy. Matiolus (1754) recommended juice for dropsy.
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Hanging birch, or warty (Betula pendula Roth. syn. B. verrucosa Ehrh.) Is a deciduous tree up to 30 m high with smooth, white, easily exfoliating bark. The trunk is straight, the branches are drooping. In old trees, the bark at the base of the trunk is deeply cracked, black-gray. Young shoots are brown, covered with resinous glands resembling warts. The leaves are alternate, triangular-ovate, with a broad-wedge-shaped base, smooth, dark green, thin-skinned. Young leaves are sticky. The buds are ovoid-conical, with a sticky wax coating. Men's hanging earrings, 5-6 cm long, women's cylindrical earrings. The fruit is an oblong-elliptical nutlet with two membranous wings. Weight of 1000 nuts 0.17-0.2 g.
Blossoms in May-June; fruits ripen in August-September. Life expectancy is 100-120 years.
The drooping birch has an extensive Euro-Siberian range, that is, it is distributed over most of Russia, both in European and in Western and Eastern Siberia. In the Caucasus, this birch is found in the form of isolated islands. In the mountains it rises to an altitude of 2500 m. It is most abundant in Western Siberia, as well as in the middle zone of the European part of Russia.
Hanging birch often forms secondary forests that arise in the place of felled or burned pine forests, spruce forests, larch forests or oak forests, and also fills abandoned fields. She quickly populates the vacated territories and dominates them. But in the future, birch is replaced by other species, for which it, as a pioneer, prepares the conditions for successful growth and development. It is often found in various types of forests, as an admixture to other tree species. Birch is an ecologically plastic species that grows in various climatic conditions, from tundra to forest-steppes, on dry and wet, sandy and loamy, as well as peaty soils.
In addition to drooping birch, scientific medicine permits the harvesting and use of raw birch downy.
Fluffy birch (Betulapubescens Ehrh.) Differs from drooping birch in shorter, upwardly directed branches, bark remaining white until old age at the base of the trunk, pubescence of young shoots, more leathery and oval-ovate leaves. It is more adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the north, transfers swampy soils and replaces the first species in the northern regions.
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Medicinal properties
Birch is not only the heroine of fairy tales and songs, it is a plant that has been revered by the medicine of the peoples of Russia for centuries and scientific medicine for decades. It is used almost completely.
Birch buds are in great demand and are currently a scarce raw material.This is due to the fact that the need for birch buds is constantly growing and is not fully satisfied due to the lack of massive organized harvesting. On average, the reserves of buds in birch forests are 0.2-2.4 t / ha of air-dry raw materials. The main procurement areas are the Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories. Birch buds are harvested during felling, in late winter or early spring, at the beginning of their swelling, but before blooming. They can be a by-product of harvesting birch firewood, and earlier they were received as an additional product when harvesting ... brooms for janitors. Yes, yes, in the recent past, the leshozes earned money with this, and quite well! But now brooms are mostly synthetic, and birch buds are in short supply, although birch has not diminished.
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The most effective harvesting of buds is as follows: the branches are cut off during winter felling, they are dried in a cold room, preferably in an unheated attic - in the warmth the buds bloom and high-quality raw materials cannot be obtained. After the brooms have dried, the buds are threshed from them either by hand - by spreading a tarp or oilcloth and paddling the buds on them, hitting the brooms against the deck, or with the help of a special device. Sticks and impurities are selected from the threshed raw materials, dried, sifted through sieves and packed.
At home, birch leaves are used. According to popular belief, they had to be collected for Trinity, when they are the size of a penny (a five-kopeck coin of Soviet times). But in practice, the period for collecting the leaves is slightly longer. Young leaves are harvested in May-June and their reserves can range from 3 t / ha or more.
Birch sap is obtained in early spring during the period of intensive sap flow by tapping, that is, by causing special damage to the trunk and collecting the sap in a substituted container. The juice yield is 5-30 t / ha.
Tar is obtained from birch bark by dry distillation, which contains aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons (guaiacol, cresol, pyrocatechol, etc.), behenic acid, antimicrobial and antiparasitic agent externally. It is included in the composition of ointments used for skin diseases (eczema, psoriasis, chronic skin inflammation, lichen and dermatoses) and skin parasites, as well as in the composition of Vishnevsky's ointment. And in European countries, the bark itself is used.
Activated carbon is obtained from birch wood, which is widely used for various gastrointestinal problems.
Chemical composition
Silver birch buds contain 5-hydroxy-7,4-dimethoxyflavone (0.3%), the triterpenoid compound betulinic acid, essential oil (1.5-5.3%), which contains a fairly large number of components, in particular cadinene , D-germacrene, copaen. The leaves contain betulin and betulinic acid, ascorbic acid (of which, by the way, there is quite a lot - up to 0.5%, and the leaf is a good source of it), tannins (5-9%), terpene alcohols, saponins (3.2% ), flavonoids (hyperoside, quercitin, myrcetin, etc.). According to the requirements of the Temporary Pharmacopoeia Monograph, the amount of flavonoids in terms of rutin must be at least 2%. In addition, the leaves contain phenol carboxylic acids (caffeic and chlorogenic), relatively little essential oil, and quite a lot of potassium (as potassium tartrate) and calcium (as oxalate).
Birch bark contains tannins (4-15%), leukoanthocyanidins, triterpene alcohol betulin, betulinic acid, phenolic glycosides, phenolic acids (protocatechic, lilac, vanillic, hydroxybenzoic) flavonoids, tannins and essential oil (up to 0.3%).
Medicinal use
Herbal preparations from birch leaves and buds have a moderate choleretic, diuretic and antiallergic effect. It is interesting that diuresis increases the more, the stronger the need for this in the body. If there is no excess fluid in the body, then the diuretic effect is very weak. In addition, they have antiseptic, fungicidal and anthelmintic properties.Betulinic acid has antiviral activity, including against HIV.
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Tincture of birch buds exhibits antimicrobial activity against antibiotic-resistant strains of staphylococcus isolated from patients with various forms of manifestation of purulent infection - furunculosis, phlegmon, abscesses). Alcoholic tinctures from birch leaves are active against lamblia and Trichomonas.
Betulinic acid, contained in various parts of birch, exhibits anti-inflammatory effects similar to corticoids, which makes birch leaves and buds a valuable remedy for rheumatoid diseases. Recent studies have shown that betulinic acid promotes apoptosis in cancer cells and reduces the activity of the metastatic process in melanoma. True, so far these are only laboratory tests.
It is very funny to use a birch leaf for rheumatism, gout and arthritis externally. Woolen socks or mittens are stuffed with fresh birch leaves, depending on what hurts, and put on at night. The remedy is very effective, by the morning the pain practically disappears. And in medieval Europe, they even stuffed bags, some rheumatics went to bed, covering themselves with a feather bed. One of the important factors in the effectiveness of this technique is heat.
Birch juice destroys kidney and gall bladder stones, mainly of phosphate and carbonate origin, but does not affect oxalate and urate stones.
Infusions and decoctions of birch buds are effective as a diuretic for edema of various origins, for chronic inflammation of the bladder and kidneys.
Infusion of the kidneys prepared from 1 teaspoon of raw materials and 200 ml of boiling water. It is heated for 10-15 minutes in a water bath, insisted until cooled and filtered. Take a little warmed up 1 / 3-1 / 2 glass 3 times a day 15-20 minutes before meals. When preparing the broth, the ratio of water and raw materials is the same, but the broth is boiled over low heat for 30 minutes. Choleretic and antimicrobial properties of birch bud preparations are used in the complex therapy of liver diseases. They are used for diseases of the respiratory system (tracheitis, bronchitis, laryngitis) as an antiseptic and expectorant. Topically used as a wound healing and antimicrobial agent. In the form of a compress, preparations of birch buds are applied for neuralgia, myositis, arthritis, as well as bedsores, trophic ulcers and wounds.
Better for a compress alcoholic infusion 70% alcohol. It is prepared in a ratio of 1: 5, that is, 1 part by weight of the kidneys is poured with 5 parts of 70% alcohol and insisted for at least 2 weeks. It is taken orally 20-25 drops 3 times a day in a tablespoon of water as a diuretic and for inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract.
An infusion is prepared from the leaves, pouring 2 tablespoons of raw materials with 1 glass of boiling water, insist until cooling and drink 50 ml 3-4 times a day. To prepare a bath, take 200 g of dry or 500 g of fresh leaves, brew in a bucket of boiling water, insist and pour it into a bath of water of the required temperature. Such baths are good for both skin and metabolic diseases.
Decoction of bark used internally for dropsy, skin diseases, and externally for foot baths and compresses for abscesses.
It is not recommended to use birch preparations inside, especially birch buds, with functional kidney failure, due to the content of a large amount of resins that have an irritating effect.
Birch sap is a tonic and stimulating agent. They are used in the complex therapy of urolithiasis. It is drunk without restriction for pyelonephritis, gout, rheumatism and skin diseases. Outwardly, the juice is applied in the form of lotions for eczema and skin inflammation. Spring cleansing course of 1-1.5 liters of juice daily for 10-15 days has a very beneficial effect on the body, gives strength and removes all unnecessary things that have accumulated over the winter.
Separately, it should be said about birch pollen. On the one hand, it is a strong allergen, and on the other hand, it is a kind of concentrate of trace elements and biologically active substances, which can be a strong general tonic. It is harvested during the flowering period of birch in the morning. A plastic bag is put on a branch, tied at the base and shaking the branch strongly, or you can even knock with a stick. The pollen settles on the inner walls of the bag, then it is collected, sifted through a flour strainer and stored in a cool dark place in a well-sealed jar. For ingestion, it is mixed with a small amount of honey to obtain a pasty consistency, approximately 1 part of pollen by 1 part of honey. Take 1 teaspoon on an empty stomach in the morning and drink it with a little water.
Other application
Firstly, it is a cosmetic product for problem skin and hair loss. To do this, prepare a concentrated broth and rinse the head after washing, carefully and leisurely massaging the scalp. For the face, you can prepare ice cubes by freezing the infusion in the freezer.
Currently, birch is widely used in ornamental gardening, various decorative forms of silver birch have been developed, differing in habit, crown shape and other features. All of them can also be used for medical purposes. And if, naturally, no one will rip off the bark from the only tree on the site, then 200-300 g of leaves collected from the tree will not bring tangible damage to either the appearance or the viability of the specimen.
- 'Laciniata' has deeply dissected leaves and weeping branches.
'Purpurea' has dark purple leaves.
- 'Tristis' has an erect trunk and weeping twigs.
- 'Youngii' - has a weeping form of shoots and, being grafted onto a common birch, forms a falling cascade of branches without growing upwards.
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In addition, birch, but not all, is the price of an ornamental species. Karelian birch, which grows in the northern regions of our country, has a very beautiful wood texture and is used for the manufacture of expensive, but very beautiful furniture.
Well, on birch brunks (catkins), which are harvested in early spring, vodka is infused, getting a tasty, aromatic and healthy drink in moderate doses.
