General features of the plant, tips for growing acanthopanax in your garden, recommendations for reproduction, possible difficulties in leaving, notes by a florist, species. Acanthopanax is included in the Araliaceae family. Ginseng is best known from this association of flora representatives, but the above plant is not inferior to him in healing, but not so popular. In nature, there is an opportunity to meet Acanthopanax in the Far East and southeastern regions of Asia, even in the Himalayas. However, the places of its natural distribution also fall on the Korean lands, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krai and North China. It prefers to settle in open places with a fertile substrate, of which there are many along the river arteries. There are up to 20 varieties in the genus.
| Family name | Aralievs |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Deciduous shrub or short tree |
| Reproduction | Seed and vegetative (cuttings or planting of root shoots) |
| Landing period in open ground | Rooted cuttings, planted in spring |
| Substrate | Fertile |
| Illumination | Open area with bright lighting |
| Moisture indicators | Prefers moist soil |
| Special Requirements | Unpretentious |
| Plant height | Up to 3 m |
| Color of flowers | Dark purple or magenta |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Spherical or paniculate, general - semi-umbellate |
| Flowering time | August |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Place of application | Single plantings or hedges |
| USDA zone | 3, 4, 5 |
This representative of the flora received its name thanks to the thorns that decorate the shoots and medicinal properties. Thus, combining two Greek words "akantha" and "panax", meaning: the first is "thorn", and the second is "healing root", we get the phrase "thorny healer". The local population calls it Turkish or Siberian ginseng.
Acantopanax has a shrubby form of growth, or it can be a medium-sized tree, reaching a height of about three meters with its shoots. If it looks like a shrub, then it is distinguished by abundant branching, but with a tree-like shape, the shoots do not have so many lateral processes. In any case, the crown of the plant takes on a spherical shape. Along the entire length of the branches, there are often located thorns, which are small in size, but high in hardness. At the base, the thorn has an extension. The shoots themselves are powerful outlines, their color is light grayish or greenish-brown, the surface is glossy, but the young branches have an ash-gray shade.
For the winter, the plant sheds its leaves. Leaf plates with a finger-shaped complex shape are attached to the branches with thin petioles. Leaves grow in regular order, but occasionally they can cluster on short shoots. Due to its shape, the foliage seems delicate and has a bright green color, while this rich color scheme remains until the very frost.
The flowering process for Acanthopanax begins when they reach the age of three, while the flowers will keep on its branches for 20 days. The size of the flowers is small, their petals have a dark purple or purple color. The inflorescences take a paniculate or spherical shape, but at the tops of the shoots they gather in a few common semi-umbrellas.
With the arrival of autumn, fruits begin to form, which fully ripen by the end of September. But Acanthopanax begins to bear fruit, having reached a 4-year period from planting, and every year. The fruits resemble flattened berries. Their color is black, they are unsuitable for food. The berries also serve as an adornment for the "prickly healer", as they stand out effectively with a dark color scheme against the background of green deciduous mass.
This shrub is used not only as a solo plant, but because of its thorny branches it is used to create live impenetrable hedges. Many species that do not differ in winter hardiness are difficult to cultivate in the conditions of our winters, but there are also those that perfectly survive 40-degree frosts.
Tips for growing acanthopanax outdoors
The plant does not differ in capriciousness and exactingness in care, but there are some recommendations that will help you get a healthy bush of "thorny healer" at your dacha.
- Disembarkation point Acanthopanax. The plant prefers open areas in nature, so it is better to choose a well-lit flower bed with a southern location for planting. However, there is information that Acanthopanax can grow well in the shade, but the foliage size, crown width and growth rate will decrease.
- The choice of soil. The soil should have fertility and good air permeability, be constantly moistened, but not wet, since the shrub does not tolerate stagnant water.
- Landing. Before planting seedlings or rooted young acanthopanax in the chosen place in the garden, it is necessary to put compost or other organic fertilizer in the hole before planting. You also need a drainage layer to protect the roots from moisture.
- Watering. When grown in open ground conditions, the plant has enough natural precipitation even in the summer heat.
- Fertilizer Acanthopanax is carried out only once in the spring, but annually. Complete complex mineral preparations for garden plants are used.
- General advice on care. If the seedlings of the "prickly healer" are not used as a hedge, then they do not need to be cut with the arrival of spring. The plant does not have a high growth rate, especially when it gets older. Shelter will only be required for young Acanthopanax, which have not yet adapted in the first winter. A layer of fallen leaves is applied, which is shoveled onto a young bush before snow falls. However, if the variety is not frost-resistant, then it is better not to risk the plant and grow it as a tub culture.
Recommendations for propagating acantapanax from seeds and vegetatively
During reproduction, both seed and vegetative methods are used (stem and root cuttings are rooted or root suckers are planted).
The simplest is to sow seeds, which can germinate almost 1-2 years after sowing. Often it is necessary to carefully care for an empty breast for a whole year: removing weeds and watering. The germination rate of seed is 76%, and these properties are retained only for a year. Seeds are recommended to be taken from fully ripe berries. Since the size of the seeds is large, it is quite easy to distinguish them in the pulp. The pulp is peeled from the seeds and used. If you want to speed up the process of sprouting, then the seeds are processed - they are soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (its color should be barely pinkish, otherwise you can burn the seeds). The soaking time is 15-30 minutes.
It is customary to divide stratification into two stages: warm and cold - this will greatly help germination. At the first stage, the seed is kept for 2-3 months at a heat rate of about 18-20 degrees, then the temperature is reduced to 9-10 degrees and so another month or two passes. Then proceed to the second stage (cold stratification) with a thermometer of 0-3 degrees. In this process, the seeds germinate at a very low rate, and this time stretches from one month to one and a half. If the seeds are moved after a month in a room where the temperature is maintained in the range of 9-10 degrees, then they germinate much faster.
When the process of cold preparation of seeds is in progress, they begin to leave the dormant state much earlier, while their ability to germinate increases. However, for a certain period of time they are still in a state of forced "sleep". If the seed material is transferred in a timely manner in a room where the heat indicators are higher, then the stratification period will be significantly reduced.
When there is a desire to further increase the germination of acanthopanax seeds, then they are treated after 30 days of cold stratification with gibberellin. In this case, after a month of processing, the germination rate of such material will be 91%.
When planting, the seeds are planted to a depth of 1, 5–2 cm. Well-drained and light soil is selected for sowing, for example, a mixture of peat and river sand, taken in equal proportions. When a seedling reaches one year of age, it has a height of about 20 cm, has 7-8 true unfolded leaf plates and a fully developed root system. The seedlings are rather weak and they may not survive the first winter (they freeze), so it is recommended to cover them with foliage or agrofibre. It is better to build a shelter even before the snow falls, since then it can be difficult - under the shelter, the plants will begin to rot. After Acanthopanax turns five years after the formation of seeds, then only then can the ripening of the fruits be expected.
When grafting is carried out, the workpieces must be cut from the tops of the shoots, and the length of the branches should be 8-10 cm. Cutting is performed at the end of spring. It is recommended to root them in greenhouse conditions.
Difficulties arising in the care of acanthopanax
Since the plant is not susceptible to any diseases and harmful insects do not pose a threat to it, Acanthopanax is just an ideal representative of the garden flora. But here it must be borne in mind that in especially snowy winters, its shoots can be damaged by field mice. And although the damage will be small, it will be necessary to treat the damaged areas with fungicides in order to avoid infection.
When the seedlings are still young, and the owner has not taken care of shelter for the winter, the shoots of the bush freeze slightly. Therefore, for the period of the cold season, experienced gardeners try with frosts, when the soil began to freeze, use modern covering materials, for example, agrofiber. If you do not follow this rule, then the branches under the shelter eventually begin to rot, which will cause the reproduction of pathogenic fungi.
Notes to flower growers about acantopanax, a photo of a plant
This plant is known to folk healers, as well as its "relative" ginseng for a long time. Even the medicinal properties of acanthopanax are practically not inferior to the latter, since they can stimulate the central nervous system. Also, the root system, like ginseng, is used by local peoples as a means of stimulation, helping to increase the efficiency and the ability of the body to resist various colds.
Chinese healers make various tinctures and decoctions on the basis of the "prickly healer", which are prescribed not only for colds, but also helps to relieve the pain symptoms of arthritis. Such drugs are used because of their tonic effect. Tincture of roots will be useful when the body, after a long illness, is not able to recover itself and this has led to its fatigue and nervous exhaustion.
If you use the bark from the shoots of a bush, then it also has a stimulating effect, and can also tone up the human body. When a decoction is prepared based on the bark and foliage of acantapanax, it can be advised for people suffering from colds and rheumatism.
Both traditional medicine and the official one have already recognized the plant as a medicinal one, and it was introduced not only into the Chinese pharmacopoeial lists, but also the same collections of many Western European countries.
It is best to harvest the foliage during the flowering period of Acanthopanax, but the bark will be useful when it is harvested in the autumn months (October-November). It is recommended to dig the bush from one side so that no more than 1/4 of the root system is exposed. Those root shoots that are already clearly visible must be chopped off using sharp garden tools, and it is important to sprinkle the base of the bush with a substrate tightly. The roots should be cleaned of soil, washed thoroughly with cold water and cut into pieces so that their length is 5-15 cm. If the root thickness is more than 6 cm, then it will need to be split lengthwise. The resulting root lobes are dried in direct sunlight or in special dryers, where the temperature is 50 degrees.
Acanthopanax species
- Acanthopanax spread out (Acanthopanax divaricatus). The native habitat is in Japanese lands. It prefers to grow in a well-lit place where there is a well-drained and moist soil with fertile properties. Usually it can be found on the edges of forests or in the floodplains of river arteries. In culture, this species is a rather rare guest. The shrub can vary in height in the range of 1-3 m. Shoots form a wide crown. An active vegetation process begins in March and lasts until mid-September. While the seedlings are young, they grow at an average rate, but then the older the bush becomes, the slower it grows. Flowers bloom from mid-to-late August, but they can also be at the very beginning of autumn. The flowering period is in any case 20 days. The fruits ripen fully until the end of September, but they are formed annually. Although the winter hardiness is average, there is a possibility of partial freezing in severe winters. And although the cuttings are always completely rooted in the summer, the seeds practically do not germinate.
- Acanthopanax sessiliflorus may also be called Acantopanax sessile, Panax sessiliflorum, Healer or Stosil. The most popular species on the territory of the CIS, but in natural nature it can be found on the lands of the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, in Korea and in northeast China, it grows in Europe and Asia, as well as on the North American continent. Prefers open places located near river beds, where there is fertile soil. Sun-loving, but can tolerate shade. Differs in unpretentiousness and abundant branching. It takes the form of a shrub whose branches reach 2-3 meters in height. The crown is spherical. Young shoots are ash gray, and the trunks are light gray. Their entire surface is covered with rare, single-spaced small hard spines, which have an expanded base. On the shoots, palmate-pinnate leaf plates with long petioles are formed. The length of the leaf is 12 cm, the number of lobes varies within 3-5 units. There are also rare thorns. When blooming, small buds bloom, the corollas in which are dark purple or brownish-purple in color. Flowers are collected in spherical capitate-shaped inflorescences, which are then combined into semi-umbrellas, crowning the tops of the shoots. In such a compound, the inflorescence located in the center is much larger in size than all the others. Inflorescent axes have a whitish felt covering. Flowers will bloom on the shrub for 20 days or a little more. The plant blooms when it reaches the age of three years.
This is followed by the formation of fruits in the form of berries, a practical black color scheme. The berries have a slight flattening on the sides, their length is no more than 1 cm. The pulp inside is with a dark purple tint, surrounding two seeds. The seeds are elliptical in shape. The fruits are unsuitable for food. Fruits ripen in plants that have crossed the 4-year line. The plant has been cultivated since the beginning of the 19th century.
