Ordinary Gledicia three-lobed: description, properties and reviews

Choosing ornamental plants for a garden plot, it is necessary to take into account the climatic conditions of the area, the illumination and the size of the garden. A beautiful decorative tree with a number of useful properties, Gledicia three-lobed is more suitable for urban landscaping and forest planting. Although, if you hold a permanent haircut - it's an excellent option for a hedgerow.

Biology of the plant

Meet: Gledicia tricolor ordinary. Description of biological features:

• Tree of the legume family.
• Height: average 25-30, on native lands reaches 45 meters.
• Crown: spreading, leaves dark green, shiny pair-petiolate, 14-20 cm in length, sometimes come across and more.
• Bark: dark brown, thin. The trunk and branches are covered with spines from 6 to 15 cm long.
• Flowers: yellow-green, collected in a brush, fragrant. Blossoms gledicia three-lobed in May-June.
• Fruits: dark brown flat beans, collected in a pod length of 20-50 cm. Sometimes curved and oblate. Inside are small brown seeds. Ripen beans in late autumn and can hang on branches all winter. They give the tree an exotic appeal even in winter.

American Beauty

Gledicia tricolor ordinary became known in the Old World after getting to know the American flora. Her homeland is the east of North America. The tree is quite thermophilic, it can be attributed rather to southern breeds, but it is cultivated and well established in Europe, in southern Russia, throughout Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Maximum of its magnitude gladichia shows on native lands, in a foreign land a tree grows up to 20 m in height.

Gledicia three-lobed (description, usefulness, biological properties we consider in the article) resembles acacia, only larger. The tree belongs to the longevity. There are known specimens that have reached the age of 300 years. Up to 80 years old, it retains the ability to reproduce by sprouting. Gledicia has a high resistance to drought, but it is demanding for soil nutrition. In turn, the plant enriches the soil with nitrogen.

Appreciates the American beauty with its wood. Valuable pharmacological properties of plants are used in medicine. In addition, Gledicia performs a decorative role and is an excellent medon.

Chemical composition

Young, only blossoming leaves of gladichia contain in large quantities alkaloid triacanthin, which disappears as the leaf grows.

Beans contain sugar, ascorbic acid, tannins, vitamin K, anthraglycosides. In the fruits of gladichia, significant proportions of glycoside epicatechin, amelin, fustin, fizetine, saponins were found.

Seeds are filled with carbohydrate mannogalactan, covered with mucus from the powder of endospermia.

Gledicia: species and forms, application in gardening

Stability before drought allows the use of gladichia in green plantations of the steppe zone. A powerful, ramified root system made the plant an ideal plantation for strengthening the slopes. Gledicia grows rapidly, rarely gets sick and is almost never attacked by pests. Young shoots are well pruned and pruned, which makes it possible to use gledicia as a hedge. Natural "barbed wire" makes such a fence a natural impassable and, at the same time, a decorative barrier.

Propagated by seeds, shoots and shoots from the roots. When cutting the tops quickly gives a thick young growth. Gledicia three-lobed, or Gledicia vulgaris - the most common species of this plant, but not the only one. In total there are about fifteen species, differing in size and shape of the crown, leaves and thorns. In our territory, you can still find Gledicia Caspian and Japanese. They are not so large, more thermophilic and less resistant to drought.

Valuable wood

Hardwood wood, with its properties resembling oak, has Gledicia vulgaris tricolor. Comments on working with her at the experts on wood are the most positive. The material is solid, resistant in contact with the soil, withstands considerable loads, is well processed by tools. Wood Gledicia refers to sound rocks, has a red color with variations from light to reddish-brown. It dries quickly, but does not crack. These qualities, beautiful texture and color make it possible to apply wood in the manufacture of furniture, construction, in the manufacture of various souvenirs.

Medicinal plant of Gledicia

Gledicia beans willingly eat goats and cows, a drink from her seeds to taste and composition resembles coffee. Gledicia three-lobed - an excellent honey, it is often planted apiaries. But the most important value of a plant for a person is its medicinal properties.

In pharmacology, young leaves and fruits of gladichia are used. The alkaloid triacanthin, which is contained in these parts, acts on the gastric tract stronger than papaverine. Broths of leaves and beans are treated diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: colitis, gastritis, chronic inflammation of the gallbladder, stomach and duodenum ulcers. The chemical constituents of the fruit of Gledicia have the ability to remove spasms, dilate blood vessels, which makes their use successful in hypertension.

Preparations from the plant also have antifungal, anthelmintic, expectorant, diuretic action.

In the treatment with drugs from Gledicia, there is one important warning. A high concentration of the active substance makes the raw material for broths highly toxic. The exact measure is a potent medicine, exceeding the dosage is poison. At the first signs of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, fainting, you should immediately wash your stomach and stop taking it.

Tinctures and broths

It is recommended to use folk remedies with caution and under the condition of accurate dosage.

• Tincture from the roots. Applied for the treatment of chronic polyarthritis. Prepare the following way. 50 g of root bark are poured with two glasses of vodka, insist 24 hours, periodically shaking. The daily tincture is heated in a water bath without boiling. They leave for another day. Once again, heat, and let stand for three days in a dark place. All the time, while the tincture is resting, it is periodically mixed. Three days later strain the syrup. Reception: 3 times a day for 1 tablespoon 15 minutes before meals. The course of admission is 40 days. If necessary, repeat two or three courses in a month.
• Decoction of leaves. With chronic constipation. 1 tbsp. Crushed young leaves are placed in enameled dishes and poured a glass of boiling water. Boil in a water bath for half an hour. Chilled and strained broth is added with boiled water to the original volume. Take 5 times a day for one tablespoon for half an hour before meals.

Cultivation and reproduction

In spite of the fact that Gledicia tricolor is related to southern trees, it can be grown in the area with cold winter, you just need to wrap up young seedlings well. With each subsequent year the tree will undergo acclimatization, and its frost resistance will gradually increase. As already mentioned, it is possible to grow a tree from root shoots, have grown, but the strongest and hardiest will be a plant from a seed. For sowing, beans need to be harvested in autumn, and sowing is carried out in the spring. To ensure germination, the seeds can be soaked in warm water for several hours before sowing and checked, but not dried. For permanent residence, the gladichia is transplanted after a year or two.

Features of growth

The plant is able to live for 100 years, therefore all the processes in it are slow. The blossom and fruit gladichia begins at the age of 8-10.

Special requirements for the site of planting, as well as special care, the Gledicia does not, it is extremely viable. Regular watering is only necessary for young seedlings.

The plant is particularly resistant to various diseases, it can only damage the caterpillar leaf-eating. Fighting them is done by spraying with any insecticide.