The fragrant berries of an early-flowering dogwood shrub, with a sweet and sour taste, are very highly valued in southern and eastern countries. In Crimea, many legends are associated with it, since dogwood is able to cure many diseases.

Dogwood Firefly: description and characteristics

Dogwood bush can reach up to 7 m in height and resembles a medium-sized tree. There are times when a plant grows up to 9 m tall. Dogwood is a long-liver - its age can reach 120–250 years. The vegetation period of dogwood is very long, this shrub begins to bloom in early spring, and begins to bear fruit in late summer - in the fall, after almost six months.

Dogwood branches well, its young shoots are painted yellow-green, become gray in the process of aging and then red-brown in color, the lignified bark begins to crack. Bushes bear juicy sweet and sour berries that are used in food.

Did you know? The name of the berries comes from the color in which the fruits are painted. For example, in Tatar, which is part of the group of Turkic languages, “kyzyl” means “red”.

The benefit of cornel is that the berries contain a high concentration of ascorbic acid, due to which they have an immunostimulating effect on the body. The use of berries allows you to speed up the metabolism, improve the condition of the skin, increasing its elasticity and delaying aging.

Eating dogwood helps to eliminate toxins, reduce weight, and also eliminates inflammation. The fruits, leaves and branches of the shrub have healing properties and are actively used in folk medicine for the treatment and prevention of many diseases. For the preparation of medicinal tinctures and decoctions, both fresh and dried berries are used.

Geographic distribution

In the wild, the plant can be found in the southern latitudes with a mild, warm climate: in Transcarpathia, in the Caucasus, in Crimea, on hills up to 1.5 thousand meters. Kizil grows on the edges, in thickets of shrubs, in mountain and plain forest areas in Central and Western Asia, Southern Europe.

Since bush flowering occurs in March, and the growing season lasts 250 days in a moderately warm climate, for growing dogwood in the northern regions it is necessary to opt for varieties of early ripening.

Important! Healing dogwood berries are used for cooking rich in ascorbic acid, which helps to overcome a disease such as scurvy.

Description

The description of the variety must begin with the fact that Firefly is a very decorative species and its bushes grow on average 2.5 m in height and 3 m in width. Fruit ripening occurs in the first ten days of September, which makes it possible to attribute Firefly to mid-ripening varieties.

Firefly is a very decorative variety, which is often used as an element of landscape design. A crown with lush foliage is formed pyramidal.

The characteristics of the variety are:

• high productivity - up to 50 kg of fruit from an adult bush, whose age exceeds 15 years;
• large-fruited;
• pleasant taste of berries;
• frost resistance - the variety is able to withstand temperature drops to -30˚C;
• good transportability, however, the delivery time should not exceed 3-4 weeks;
• stable fruiting, which begins at 3-4 years of growth;
• immunity to many diseases.

Root system

Dogwood tolerates significant decreases and increases in temperature indicators, and is resistant to frost to -30 -C. The plant copes well with drought. Such qualities of the bush are explained by the fact that it has a powerful root system, which can reach a depth of 1 m or more.

Thus, even in severe frost or dry days, cornel roots can find moisture deep in the soil and prevent the plant from suffering from such adverse weather conditions. In addition, if the outer part of the plant is severely damaged, it can recover over time and start new shoots.

To prevent this situation, it is recommended to shelter young bushes for the winter, in order to prevent the death of the upper part and not to force the plant to spend a lot of vitality on restoration. It is optimal to grow berries on nutritious, lime-rich soils, however, the plant is unpretentious to the composition of the soil.

Important! A negative effect on the growth and development of plants can have a close location of groundwater and flooding of the area where cornel grows, even if these are short-term phenomena.

Leaves

The shape of the leaf plate is whole, elongated, resembling an ellipse, the end is pointed, on the surface there are pressed single hairs. The sheet has a glossy green color on top and a lighter tone at the bottom. The leaves of the shrub have healing properties and are recommended to be applied to areas of the skin with rashes or inflammations. Tea from dogwood leaves helps reduce heat, is used for diarrhea.

Did you know? An amazing feature of dogwood can be called the fact that the taste of the fruit becomes much brighter and more interesting after freezing.

Fetus

Berries of Firefly are one of the largest, their weight can reach 6–8 g. The shape of the fruit is pear-shaped. Inside the fleshy juicy pulp is a drupe. The color of ripe berries is dark red, while unripe fruits have a bright shade of the same color. The pulp also has a dark red color.

The taste of ripe berries is sweet with sourness and subtle notes of tart flavor. A pleasant aroma is noted.

The bush begins to bear fruit from 3-5 years of growth and its productivity is growing steadily with the duration of its life. So at 10 years, he can bring about 20 kg of berries, and by 15 years, the yield can reach 50 kg with proper care. Ripe berries are kept on a bush and do not crumble to the ground.

The composition of berries includes many biologically active substances, vitamins and acids:

• sugars 17%;
• organic acids 3%;
• vitamins A, C. P;
• iron, potassium, calcium, sulfur and magnesium.

The healing potential of dogwood has been used by many eastern peoples for centuries. Modern gardeners actively apply the unique taste of fruits to prepare various sauces and healthy vitamin drinks.