Juniper Cossack - Photo, Description And Application

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 09:49

Juniper Cossack

The article describes the Cossack juniper, its main diseases and pests. Possibilities of using the plant in the medical field, in the economy and in landscape design are indicated.

Juniper Cossack is a coniferous shrub belonging to the genus Juniper. The plant does not exceed 1.5 meters in height. This type of juniper grows very quickly in width and forms dense thickets. The Cossack juniper is also called the Don juniper.

The Cossack juniper can be represented not only by shrubs, but also by trees, but they are rare in nature. The trunk of a tree does not exceed 4 meters in height, most often it has a curved shape and red-brown bark.

Juniper Cossack is a poisonous plant. The needles of a young shrub are needle-shaped up to 6 mm long, their color is bluish-green with a median vein. Adult shrubs have scaly needles, it stays on the branches for about 3 years, after which it falls off. The color of adult needles is dark green. The shoots of the plant contain essential oils, so a strong smell emanates from the Cossack juniper from afar.

Juniper Cossack is a dioecious plant, cones up to 7 mm in size are formed on it, having a rounded-oval shape. Coneberries contain two seeds, and a maximum of 4 seeds. They ripen in spring and autumn.

Juniper Cossack does not impose special requirements on the soil, tolerates drought well, has a powerful root system that prevents soil erosion. The shrub loves sunlight, is not sensitive to smoke and gases.

Most often, the plant is found in forests and steppes. The shrub loves to settle on rocks and mountains, as well as on sand dunes. Habitat of Cossack juniper: Caucasus, Urals, Siberia, Primorye, Southeast Asia, center of Europe. The average life span of a plant is 100 years.

Content:

• The use of Cossack juniper in the farm
• The use of Cossack juniper in medicine
• The use of Cossack juniper in landscape design
• Diseases and pests of Cossack juniper

The use of Cossack juniper in the farm

Cossack juniper shoots contain about 5% essential oil. Its pungent smell repels insects, so the branches of the plant are often used to get rid of house moths. To this end, the twigs are laid out in the closet, next to woolen things.

The plant is not used for livestock feed, as all its aboveground parts contain about 17% sabinol. This substance can cause severe poisoning in animals, as well as provoke miscarriages.

As for the wood of the plant, it is very durable, but soft. The wood is easy to process, polish and paint. It is used for both flat-relief and volumetric threads. Products made of wood of Cossack juniper do not crack or warp. The roots and branches of the plant are used to make salting tubs, fishing hooks, milk pots, beer and kvass mugs.

The use of Cossack juniper in medicine

Since the Cossack juniper is a poisonous plant, its use in medicine is very limited. Mostly it is used externally.

Preparation of the ointment. An ointment is prepared from juniper, which is applied to the hair for baldness. Such a remedy helps well in dermatological diseases. Ointment is applied to the skin affected by scabies, shingles, scab.

To prepare it, you need to take thoroughly washed leaves, twist them in a meat grinder and squeeze the juice. Then the juice of the plant is mixed with butter in a 1: 3 ratio and put into the refrigerator for 12 hours. The resulting ointment is applied to the affected skin 2 times a day. The course of treatment is 5 days.

• Preparation of the infusion. Infusion based on Cossack juniper is used to remove warts. It can also be used for douching with Trichomonas colpitis. To prepare the infusion, you need a tablespoon of berries and plant leaves. They are poured with 300 ml of boiling water and insisted for an hour. Then the infusion is filtered and lotions are applied to the warts. If the agent is used for douching, then the procedure must be performed once a day, before bedtime. The course of treatment is a week.
• Preparation of powder for the treatment of purulent wounds. The powdery form of the plant is used to accelerate the healing of purulent wounds. For this, dry leaves of a bush are ground and sprinkled with purulent ulcers 2 times a day. Due to the powerful antiseptic properties of juniper, the wound will clear of pus after a few days and begin to heal.

Young shoots with leaves are used in the form of an essence for the treatment of kidney and bladder diseases, for gout, painful menstruation and in case of cycle failures. However, it should be remembered that Cossack juniper is a toxic plant, so it must be used very carefully. Before starting treatment, you must consult a doctor.

The use of Cossack juniper in landscape design

Landscape designers use shrubs very widely to form various compositions. They decorate slopes, rocky rocks. On lawns, group and single planting of juniper is possible.

Often, Cossack juniper is used to create rough Scandinavian designs, where rocky spaces, clear boundaries and reasonable restraint prevail.

Junipers with yellow-green needles are combined with mosses, lichens and heathers. They look great with a variety of dwarf shrubs.

Large plants are used to create cool English designs. In this case, plants of the correct shape and dull color are taken as a basis. Such shrubs are not the center of the composition, but only complement and ennoble the overall landscape. The plant can be used to create a Japanese style. In this case, shrubs of a strict form are more suitable.

Content of Cossack juniper in the apartment

Juniper Cossack can be kept at home. As a rule, dwarf shrubs or trees are used for this purpose. The owners of such plants appreciate them for their high fungicidal properties, and not only for their decorative qualities.

Juniper loves sunlight and light soil. Sand, woody soil, peat and lime should be combined in equal proportions. Often it is not necessary to water the plant, it is enough to moisten the soil once every 3 weeks, but in the dry season, the frequency of watering should be increased. It is good if in the summer the plant can be taken out to the garden plot or to the balcony.

Diseases and pests of Cossack juniper

Juniper Cossack, like other conifers, suffers from pear rust. This fungal disease provokes the formation of growths in the bark and wood of the shrub, which lead to the thickening and death of the branches. The disease is practically not treated and becomes chronic. Therefore, when the first signs of rust appear, you need to treat the branches with fungicides. The procedure should be performed twice with an interval of 2 weeks.

Another disease of the Cossack juniper is biotorella cancer. This is a fungal infection that causes tree bark necrosis. To combat the disease, a 1% solution of copper sulfate is used. Then the wounds are treated with garden varnish or oil paint. All diseased branches are removed and burned.

The root system of the Cossack juniper is often infected by spore fungi, causing a disease called fusarium. At the same time, the plant stops receiving nutrients from the soil, its needles begin to turn yellow, then turn red and crumble. Gradually, the entire shrub dries up and dies. In order to prevent the development of the disease, it is necessary to abandon planting the plant on putrid soils, in areas with insufficient lighting and with stagnant water. For prophylactic purposes, you can use the solution "Baktofit" in which the root system of the juniper is soaked.

At the same time, the Cossack juniper is not afraid of insects, since the pungent smell emanating from it scares off most pests.

The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist

Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).