The rowan (Rubus ulmifolius Schott, 1818) is a thorny plant belonging to the Rosaceae family.
Because of its very variable characteristics the plant has given rise to difficulties and uncertainties in the classification. For this reason there are several synonyms we can mention: Rubus amoenus Port., Not Köhler, Rubus discolor Weihe et Nees’ Rubus fruticosus L. aggr., Rubus legionensis Gand. Rubus rusticanus Mercier.
The Rubus ulmifolius belongs to the Eukaryota Domain, to the Kingdom Plantae, Magnoliophyta Division, Magnoliopsida Class, Rosales Order, Rosaceae Family, Subfamily Rosoideae and then to Genus Rubus and Species R. ulmifolius.
The scientific name of this species is composed of the Rubus name and the ulmifolius species. The term Rubus comes from the Latin ruber: red that could refer to the color of ripe fruits of other species of the same kind, such as raspberry, or directly to the immature form of the fruit of this species.
The specific term Ulmifolius always comes from the Latin ulmus, elm and foil, leaf and this is derived from the similarity with the leaves of the Ulmus minor tree.
Geographic Distribution and Habitat –
The rowan area includes almost all of Europe, North Africa and South Asia. Rubus ulmifolius was also introduced in America and Oceania.
Where the crescent grows, the presence of deep and slightly humid soils is indicated. Reproduction is sexual through the seeds in the drupe, but also vegetative through the grafting of branches that give rise to a new plant.
The rover is considered to be poisonous as it tends to spread rapidly and eradicates with difficulty. Neither cutting nor fire is effective. The use of herbicides also gave little results. Because it is a heliophilic plant, it does not tolerate the shade of the other trees, so it is found at the edge of the woods and along the paths, hedges and stains.
Often in the woods the rocks form real unbreakable barriers. Especially in association with vitalba, they can create inexhaustible tangles often at the expense of arboreal vegetation, which is in practice assaulted and choked. Such situations are, however, almost always the expression of a forest degradation.
The Rubus ulmifolius appears as a perennial shrub plant, with a longitudinal pentagonal longitudinal planes of up to 6 meters and even more, provided with arched plugs.
The rover is a semicaducifoglia plant as many leaves remain in the winter.
The leaves are imparipennate, variably consisting of 3-5 leafs with serrated margins of dark green, elliptical or obovate and abruptly acuminate, top leaf glabra and underside tomentosa with white hairs.
The flowers have a color between the white and the pink and consist of five petals and five sepals. They are grouped into racemes to form inflorescences of oblong or pyramidal shape. The color of the petals varies from one specimen to one in size of between 10 and 15 mm. Flowering appears at the beginning of summer.
The edible fruit is composed of numerous small tree trees, green at the beginning, then red and finally blackish to maturity (blackberry), each derived from separate carpels but belonging to the same juniper. In Italy, the fruits ripen from August to September; The taste is variable from sweet to acid.
Multiplication of the plant occurs by apical or cuttings.
The oaks (Rubus ulmifolius) can be found everywhere in our countryside, and for its fruits and its leaves (with their properties) is a gift that nature makes us every year between August and September. At least once, walking through the fields, we stretched out one hand to pick one and place it directly in the mouth.
The question you can ask is: why grow the garden yard? Because you can have more handy, bigger and juicy thongs, very suitable for preparing jams, pies, tarts and macedonias.
Because they are plants that are not very demanding, they adapt to any type of soil and are more rustic than the “brothers” raspberries. And then they are rich in mineral substances including: vitamin A and antioxidants.
The more are robust and unpretentious plants, they can live in almost every land, but those who prefer are the ones that look more like woodland, so better when we prepare the soil, we will add the soil for acidophilic and a little bit of Organic fertilizer to help its growth and development.
More, unlike raspberries, need more sunny positions. The rays of the sun give the black and shiny fruits more sugars and precious substances, in practice with the sun we will have more flavorful.
The best time to put young sea plants in the orchard or in the orchard is the spring months, from late March onwards, without straining during the warmer months or otherwise we will have to water them continuously and the plants will struggle to grow. If we live in the Central-Southern regions, the best planting period is November, because there is no danger of early frosts in those areas, which could be deadly for our young sea plants.
When we put the seedlings at home, remember that the bread with the root should be placed at a depth slightly higher than that of the collar. Once transplanted it is better to prune the young shrubs to a height of about 30 cm from the ground. We leave about one meter between one plant and another, but depending on the variety we may need even more distance. If we do two rows better leave 2.5 m between one row and the other.
The most beautiful plant is the one in the back: we plant about 3-4 m high 2 m high poles, properly anchored at the two ends of the row, will support three wires (at 50 – 130 – 180 cm from the ground) to which they will be bound Vertically the suckers, or horizontally, making them run along the wires.
Depending on the variety, approximately 3-5 gallons per plant will be allowed to grow properly attached to the support poles (about 2m high), while the weaker jets will be eliminated.
So in the late fall, when harvesting, we will cut the base of all the branches that have already fruit and we will select the most robust jets to naturally bind to the supports, placing them at a height of about 180 cm, while the side jets, if any, Will be shortened to three gems. In this way we will always have clean and well-organized huts. But know that if we do not make the necessary pruning we will soon find ourselves with a garbami of branches.
It is better to implant the more in land where no strawberries, raspberries or solanacees have been previously cultivated to prevent the spread of fungal diseases. For this reason it may be useful to sprinkle the plants with decoction of nettle and nettle in the spring. The best advice for having healthy and robust bait is mulching, which can always be done and may change every two years.
Uses and Traditions –
This plant was used by popular medicine for its delicate intestinal astringent properties, assisting in the treatment of hemorrhoids and anal fissures, to curb diarrhea, normalize inflammation of the intestine.
For external use was used in flushing and gargle, for soft and bloody gums, for irritation and sore throat, are in addition useful in vaginal lavishes in case of white leaks and to clean the same areas and those around the eyes in Itching and redness.
Leaves were used with decoction as astringent intestinal.
Herbalist and homeopathy is used as a natural remedy in the treatment of oropharyngeal inflammation, to treat hemorrhoids, against diarrhea.
The Ministry of Health (December 2010) directive allows nutritional supplements and plant extracts of this plant, in particular folium, fructus and sùrculi (young jets), to be included in dietary supplements.
Leaves are mostly used because they give greater regularity to intestinal transit and well-being of the throat.
The fruits for supporting and reconstituting action.
As is well known, the plant is used to delimit property and farms with main defensive function. Other functions of hedgehogs are in the supply of nectar for honey production (especially in Spain), in the association of antagonistic species of crop parasites (eg viticulture), in the formation of ecological corridors for animal species.
The fruit, mentioned among the so-called berries, has discrete nutritional properties with marked C and A vitamins. One hundred grams of fresh meat contain 52 kcal, 0.7 grams of protein, 0.4 grams of lipids, 12, 8 grams of glucose, 32 mg of calcium, 0.6 mg of iron, 6.5 er (retinol equivalent) of vitamin A, 21 mg of vitamin C. It displays herbalistical indications for its astringent and laxative properties.
The sea has a significant nutritional content in terms of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid – a vitamin B, and the manganese essential mineral (table).
The more they represent an exception among the other berries (in fact the drupe) of the Rubus species due to the large and numerous seeds, not always appreciated by consumers. They contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid) and omega-6 (linoleic acid), proteins, dietary fiber, carotenoids, ellagitanins and ellagic acid.
From the aerial part of Rubus ulmifolius, 3 new antennas were isolated: rubant A, B and C. The rubant A showed to have antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.
The fruit of the Rubus ulmifolius (the blackberry) is not suitable for long conservation. It is marketed for natural food purposes and as a gourd of sweets, yoghurt and ice cream, or in the packaging of jams, jellies, syrups, wine and spirits (ratafià).
In popular use, young shoots, harvested in spring, are excellent bakes briefly and consumed with oil, salt and lemon as well as many other springtime spring herbs.
Spring shoots, harvested when the sun is high, washed and left to macerate in a jug of cold water all night, give a delicious and aromatic depurative water, traditionally used to promote intestinal functions and purify the body from the toxins accumulated during the winter.
The goodness of its fruit was known since antiquity. Virgil writes: “It’s time to have light tanks with bumblebees.” Esophus, in his fairy-tale does not forget the rover. In that of “the fox and the swaddle” is told of a fox who, when jumping a hedge, slipped and, standing to fall, grasped, in support of a rovo. “Alas!” He said painfully, as he had the bloody paws of his thighs, I turned to you for help, and you made me feel much worse. ” “The mistake is yours, my dear,” replied the bramble, “you wanted to cling to me, which, by the way, is what clings to everything.” Morality, like in other fables of Fedro, highlights the folly of men, who often resort to help to those who, instinctively, are more likely to hurt. According to another popular legend, the sea should no longer be harvested after September 29, St. Michael’s Day. On that day, in fact, the devil (Satan), after being driven out of the heavens, in his nocturnal garrison rushed into a grove of rows, wounding and tearing. Since then every year, on that day, the damned comes out of hell, and returns to the earth to fling his curse against the bushy bush, spit on and dry his fruit, making them inedible. In fact the fruits of the rowan, after that period, become dry naturally, more insipid and useless. If you want to go and collect more, do it in time, because there is not much fun out there that makes you cheerful and happy. The rotten in mythology was a sacred plant in Saturn and always loved by poets, who considered it worthy of adorning the kingdom of heaven. It is, however, little appreciated by the florists, because in the language of the flowers at the swamp is a symbol of envy, one of the capital’s sins. The peasants do not love him because he is poisonous, and they say, “Give him a space and you will come to the room.”
Methods of Preparation –
With the sea you can prepare great syrups.
To do this you have to wash the sea under the stream of running water; Allow them to drain well of excess water. Place the eggs on a tray and cook them with kitchen absorbing paper.
Now take a steel pot, transfer the more, add the lemon zest, turn on the fire and bake for 30 minutes, mixing with a wooden spoon.
After the time has elapsed, remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool. Sift the sea, then filter the juice with a linen cloth or cotton gauze.
Measure the juice of the sea, add the sugar (700 grams of sugar per liter of liquid obtained), peel of 1 lemon (clearly untreated) and mix.
Put on the fire and let it boil until it becomes clear.
Pour hot still juice into a bottle with a sealed cap, let it sterilize for 20 minutes in boiling water, allow it to cool in the water itself and, once cooled, keep the sea syrup in a cool place or in a refrigerator and shelter of the light.
Sea syrup is great for flavoring ice cream, granite, macedonie, mousse and fruit pie. Diluted sea water juice with gassed water is great for preparing refreshing drinks, for the care of fragile capillaries and to give a more intense color to Ischia’s sea liquor.
The fruits of the Earl, rich in sugars and vitamins, are also an excellent dietary food and are also used as flavor remedies in the drug industry and as coloring agents for food and medicinal preparations.
We see some preparations for internal use.
Fresh fruits are used as astringent and intestinal regulator. To this end, the syrup described above may be used.
Leaves can also be used as intestinal astringent.
With the leaves of Rubus ulmifolius you can prepare a decoction:
Place a handful of rowan leaves dried and crushed in 1 liter of water and boil for about 10 minutes. Add honey and filter. They can drink two or three cups a day.
For external use, the leaves can be used in inflammation of the skin, gums, hemorrhoids and intimate mucous membranes.
For the preparation of the decoction, proceed as follows: 5 grams in 100 ml of water. Rinse, gargle, wash, irrigate, apply tablets soaked in the affected areas.
Of course, the preparations and uses in the kitchen obviously lack. With rowan leaves you prepare a nice tea. As well as the fruits (well-known, with which they are packed with excellent preserves and fragrant juices), the largest and turgid roots are harvested, which, after long boiling, are made soft and reduced to a good flavoring seasoning. It is often used to combine this root with that of raspberry, whose similar taste improves much of this food.
The most suitable time for collecting and storing is as follows: the leaves are collected in the spring – summer, when they are fully developed; The fruits are harvested in July – August, at full ripeness.
Fruits and shoots are used fresh, the leaves dry in shade in thin layers and roots dry in the oven or in the sun.
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– Treben M., 2000. The Health from the Pharmacy of the Lord, tips and experiences with medicinal herbs, Ennsthaler Publisher
– Pignatti S., 1982. Flora of Italy, Edagricole, Bologna.
– Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. (ed), 2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora, Palombi Editore.
Please note: Pharmaceutical applications and alimurgici uses are indicated for information purposes only, do not represent in any way a medical prescription; it accepts no liability on their use for therapeutic purposes, cosmetic or food.