Birch of Schmidt. Features of birch wood Schmidt

How many interesting things exist in our plant world! What unusual, amazing trees grow on Earth! And one of them is called the Schmidt birch. The well-known botanist Komarov in 1903 recalled in his works that it is very different from representatives of this genus and never had close relatives.

Iron birch

On our planet there is a large number of trees, unusual in form and features: giants, dwarfs, trees of a century old and immense thickness. There are those who have giant and surprisingly small leaves, and there are with strange flowers and terrible thorns.

Most of all, it's not the species itself that surprises, but the names invented by people. One of them is the iron birch of Schmidt. About it and talk further.

Botanical description

The iron birch of Schmidt reaches a height of 35 meters with a barrel diameter of about one meter.

The bark is grayish, beige, cracked, peeling and exfoliating. On young branches it has a dark cherry color. The old branches are violet-brownish, sometimes with resinous glands.

Leaves 5-8 cm long and 3-5 wide, ovate, epileptic, have up to 10 pairs of pubescence clearly visible from below and with veins, veins on top, completely bare, petioles short. On the edge of the sheet is a notch.

Earrings of a female species about 3 cm in length contain 200-250 wingless fruits, which reach maturity in the very beginning of autumn. Propagated by seeds, and at the age of 100 - by shoots.

Ecological properties of the Schmidt birch

Ecological properties of birch of this breed are defined quite well. It prefers to grow on sufficiently drained, often skeletal soils on the upper and middle parts of the mountain slopes. In the valleys is rare, does not tolerate large humidity. The Schmidt birch can grow on the forest edges, illuminated by the sun , in places where other plants do not grow.

This breed is characterized by a tendency to form even trunks or with a large slope. The last specimens can be found in dense plantations, which is confirmation of the light-loving nature of birches of this type. A young tree stretches to the light, acquiring an oblique position.

What is special about the Schmidt birch

Birches are different, some do not resemble others. They occur with a black or orange bark, wood because of its weight easily sinks in the water. Where did they come from? What are these completely "non-birch" birches, one of which is named iron? What is special about the Schmidt birch?

She is the only representative of the natural species from the category of "iron trees". This is a very unusual plant!

Why is she like that? Just an iron birch is the oldest of all the others, in one copy surviving among other unusual relatives. The period of her life is 300-400 years, differs from other birches by slow growth, especially in the first fifty years. Given the long life expectancy, this is normal.
This breed blossoms a short time in May-month. Seeds ripen in the second half of October.

What is the peculiarity of the Schmidt birch, which greatly distinguishes it from others? It perfectly resists the fire, which makes it possible to have an advantage after the fires of mixed (fir, cedar) forests.

Birch Schmidt: feature of wood

Wood has a pink with a yellow tinge color. Almost no noticeable annual rings, large vessels. The basic structure - thick-walled cells. The wood is heavy, strong, solid. The strength is higher than boxwood, which is considered to be the strongest.
In its resistance to decay, it is higher than all birches growing in our country. The main pest of the iron birch is a gray-yellow tinder, but the core of the wood resists destruction very staunchly.

Birch Schmidt, whose wood feature has its significant advantages, has not found application in the farms, since there are no tools capable of processing it yet.

The oak is considered to be the standard of the fortress, although it is not the hardest tree. Why, speaking about this quality, first of all we remember the oak, and not the iron tree called "Schmidt's birch"? There is nothing surprising in this, because the birch grows only within Russia, and the oak tree grows all over the globe.

A unique feature of the wood of these trees is that it can not be destroyed by any acids. A half times stronger than the cast iron, it can not be pierced by a bullet.

Value, application

This amazing features of the tree has gained wide application in green construction in the form of valuable ornamental species when planted in parks, forest parks, forest edges and glades. In tandem with an oak it can be planted in a protective strip.
The features of the Schmidt birch are also determined by its beauty and simplicity. A tree giving a through shade is an ornament of a rural species in summer and winter, it is very popular. Since ancient times people have sung birch in songs, it was and remains a symbol of beauty.

Technological features of the Schmidt birch: it is able to be well polished, subject to processing with cutting tools. Use this tree for the manufacture of art products, like plywood raw materials and in machine building.

This tree is also used in medicine. With a curative purpose, both kidneys and birch leaves are used.

When treating the flu, you can take inside four times a day for two tablespoons of infusion from the kidneys and leaves of the birch. To make it, you should brew 1 tablespoon of raw material in a glass of boiling water.

The use of iron birch in the syndrome of chronic fatigue: take a tablespoon of kidneys for a glass of boiling water, heat for half an hour in an enamel cookware in a water bath, strain, squeeze and add boiling water to the original volume.

Places of growth

The most solid iron tree has the greatest popularity in the reserve "Kedrovaya Pryad" of Primorsky Krai. The species of this birch is protected and listed in the Red Book. Occurs in China and Japan.

For a long time people have been grateful to this tree with gratitude and wholeheartedly thanked him for his tender beauty and the gift that helps to preserve his health.