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Warty euonymus is widespread in Russia. It is considered the most winter-hardy of the species and is planted even in regions where other members of the genus suffer from frost. Photos and descriptions of warty euonymus in autumn explain the reasons for its popularity as an ornamental plant. Ease of care and undemanding growing conditions made the culture indispensable in parks.
Description of warty euonymus
Warty euonymus, in Latin - Euonymus verrucosus, a species belonging to the genus Beresklet, widespread in temperate climates. Under natural conditions, it grows in rare deciduous and coniferous forests, oak forests, in clearings throughout the European part of Russia. The species is distributed from Narva in the north to the Krasnodar Territory in the south.
Warty euonymus is a deciduous tree up to 6 m high, but more often it is an erect shrub about 2 m (rarely 3.5 m). Under natural conditions, the plant lives up to 80 years, as an ornamental culture - no more than 50.
The warty euonymus develops slowly, it even retains the cotyledons for up to three years in sunny areas, in undergrowth conditions - about 7-8. The species gives the main growth in the first 15 years, when it stretches up to one and a half meters. Then the increase in size is extremely slow, and after 30 it stops.
Leaves are opposite, elliptical or oblong-ovate, light green, 2 to 6 cm long, with a pointed tip. The edge of the plate is finely serrated, the surface is smooth, sometimes pubescent along the veins. With sufficient lighting in the fall, the crown of the warty euonymus changes color to one of the shades of pink.
Small brownish-green flowers with four petals are collected in 3-7 pieces in panicles that emerge from the axils of the leaves. The buds open in May, along with the lily of the valley. Flowering lasts a little less than a month, usually 27 days. The warty euonymus is pollinated for the most part by flower flies, they are attracted by the unpleasant smell of the plant, which for some reason is called mouse.
The fruits are pink boxes with a diameter of 8-12 mm in the form of an oblate ball. Black seeds up to 3 mm long, reaching maturity in late August or September, fall off in 7-10 days. The seedlings are red, the berries are half surrounded. Fruiting begins at the age of six. The ovary produces only 1-3% of flowers.
The warty euonymus got its name thanks to the shoots covered with growths similar to lentils. It is a loose fabric that allows branches to breathe, the bark of which is corky due to the high content of gutta-percha. We can say that this species lives precisely because of the "warts". Young shoots are very thin, green or olive. Over time, they darken, crack and become almost black.
The roots of the warty euonymus are superficial, fibrous, well developed.
Use of warty euonymus
The wood of the warty euonymus is yellow, hard, previously used for the manufacture of spindles and shuttles.Today combs, musical instruments, hairpins, knitting needles are made from it. The fatty oil extracted from the seeds is used in soap making. A brown and yellow natural dye is prepared from the fruit valves.
Application of warty euonymus in medicine
Leaves, bark, branches, seeds, horses and fruits have healing properties. They are dried in warm rooms protected from the sun with good ventilation. Leaves are harvested during the flowering period, seeds - at a time when they are already ripe, but have not yet had time to fall to the ground.
The medicinal properties of warty spindle tree are due to the chemical composition, among other ingredients stand out:
- glycosides that regulate cardiac activity;
- carbohydrates;
- pectin;
- organic acids;
- vitamin C;
- alkaloids;
- tannins;
- steroids;
- flavonoids;
- anthraglycosides, which have a laxative effect.
Preparations, in the manufacture of which warty euonymus are used, lotions, decoctions, alcohol infusions help in the treatment of:
- headaches;
- edema;
- liver;
- nervous disorders;
- hypertension;
- impotence;
- to normalize the heart rate;
- bowel disorders.
Why is euonymus dangerous?
The most poisonous are the berries of the warty euonymus. They have at least a not very pleasant, but sweetish taste, besides they look elegant, therefore they attract children. An adult is unlikely to eat so many fruits to seriously poison himself, but for a fragile growing organism, poison can be really dangerous.
Even an overdose of warty euonymus preparations can cause:
- violation of the heart rhythm;
- nausea and vomiting;
- intestinal inflammation and diarrhea;
- convulsions, chills.
First aid for poisoning - gastric lavage, enema, taking sorbents. The patient must remain at rest, his cardiac activity must be monitored.
Use of rubber from warty spindle tree
The roots, bark and leaves of euonymus contain gutta-percha, the chemical composition of which is the same as that of rubber. Most of the valuable technical substance can be obtained from the Warty and European species. In the first half of the last century, bush plantations were even established in order to extract gutta-percha in the northern latitudes.
But with the development of the chemical industry and the advent of cheap artificial polymers, the need for them has disappeared. Deciduous spindle trees grow slowly, and most of all gutta-percha is found in the roots, so today it is unprofitable to extract it from plants.
Use as an ornamental plant
Warty euonymus - ornamental trees and shrubs, which are widely used to create hedges, decorate fences and outbuildings. They are planted on the steep slopes of ravines and along the steep banks of water bodies to prevent soil erosion. In landscaping parks and forest parks, warty euonymus often acts as an undergrowth.
The plant is not of great decorative value in spring and summer. Although the bushes look attractive, they cannot compete with other crops, including evergreen species. But in the fall, everything changes. As you can see in the photo, warty euonymus dresses in pink foliage, fruits of the same color with red seedlings hang on long pedicels. The plant looks fantastic.
It is possible to plant warty euonymus as part of large and small landscape groups or as a tapeworm (single focal plant).Recently, automnals have come into vogue - gardens of autumn flowers. There deciduous euonymus, including warty, are more than appropriate.
Planting and caring for warty euonymus
Euonymus is an easy-care culture. But different species may have different requirements for growing conditions. Warty euonymus, in comparison with others, is more demanding on soil fertility. Under natural conditions, it most often grows as an undergrowth of deciduous forests, on loose, humus-rich soils, neutral or slightly alkaline.
Landing rules
Warty euonymus is planted in the south in early autumn, in other regions - in spring, when the snow melts and the soil warms up a little. The place should be chosen dry, the culture does not tolerate sticking of roots. Sand, peat or compost should be added to dense soil, acidic is improved with chalk or lime. Best of all, warty euonymus grows on hills under the protection of larger trees.
On well-permeable, moderately fertile soils, it is enough to dig a planting hole, 2 times the volume of the root system, fill it with earth, compact it, water it abundantly. If the groundwater is close, or the landing site is prone to clogging, a drainage layer of 15-20 cm should be arranged from broken red brick, expanded clay, gravel.
In extremely poor soils, sandstones add a handful of complex fertilizers. Fat chernozems are brought in accordance with the requirements of the warty euonymus with the help of sand. The plant takes root well, but does not like transplants, especially in adulthood. It is necessary to immediately take into account the size of the deciduous euonymus after 10-15 years.
When creating a hedge, a shallow ditch is made instead of holes. After planting and watering, the near-trunk circle is mulched with low-lying peat, you can use well-rotted sawdust or tyrsu.
Watering and feeding
Warty euonymus well tolerates overdrying of soil. It should be specially watered only in the driest summer in the absence of rain. This species has slightly higher nutritional requirements than others. It responds well to spring fertilization with a mineral complex with a high nitrogen content and autumn phosphorus-potassium fertilization.
Shade tolerance of warty spindle tree
In relation to light, warty euonymus can be called a culture that does not like extremes. If you plant it in a deep shade, it will not die, just the shoots will stretch out and thin out, in the fall the leaves will not turn pink, but simply turn brown. Flowering will also be scarce, and since only 1-3% of the berries are tied, they will not be able to serve as a decoration for the bush.
In a strong sun, the distance in internodes will decrease, the warty euonymus will become compact, but the foliage will burn, which will also not add decorative effect. The best place to plant should be reminiscent of conditions in the wild - light partial shade or good lighting part of the day, preferably in the morning.
Pruning
All euonymos tolerate pruning well. Although deciduous species gain height slowly, lateral shoots grow well. Warty euonymus does not need special molding. Only frozen, dry, diseased, broken branches and those that are too elongated or simply spoil the view or block the view of other crops are cut out from him.
If in a landscape group the plants are located tightly to each other, it is necessary to remove some of the shoots that are not noticeable from the point of view, and come into contact with other trees or shrubs.There will be no harm to the euonymus from this, and the composition will become much more attractive, and the neighbors will exchange less diseases and pests.
Since not only the leaves are attractive in the culture, but also the fruits, it is better to do the forming pruning in the fall, after the seeds fall.
Preparing for winter
It is believed that the warty is the most winter-hardy of the euonymus. Under natural conditions, it grows even in the Leningrad region. It is usually not covered for the winter. An increase in frost resistance is facilitated by autumn water recharge and fertilizing at the end of the season with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
You can protect a crop planted in an open place by covering the bush with a cape of white agrofibre or lutrastil.
The fruits of the warty euonymus
Berries are the most poisonous part of the warty euonymus; their taste, though sweet, is not very pleasant. An adult will not be able to eat enough to get seriously poisoned, and will most likely get away with vomiting and diarrhea. But the taste of children can be bizarre, some toddlers eat safe, but disgusting, bitter black privet berries by both cheeks. It is for the younger generation that you need to closely monitor, being next to a bush hung with bright red and pink earrings.
But in the diet of birds, euonymus fruits occupy an important place. Linnet especially loves berries ripening in August-September. Passing through the digestive tract of the bird, the seeds increase germination.
Reproduction
Best of all, warty euonymus reproduces by root suckers, which just need to be planted in spring or autumn.
The cuttings take root well too. In early spring, a twig located at the surface of the ground or inclined to the ground is fixed in a shallow groove and sprinkled with soil. All summer they are watered little by little, and in the fall or at the beginning of the next season they are planted in a permanent place.
Green cuttings cut in June-July are rooted in a peat-sand mixture or perlite. They do not allow the substrate to dry out, and in the fall they are planted in a school or in a permanent place.
Warty euonymus can be propagated by seeds. But they do this only when you need to get a lot of plants. Even nurseries that sell crops in dozens, not hundreds, prefer vegetative propagation over seed propagation.
The fastest growing ornamental plant can be obtained from offspring. In the next place - layering, they are delayed in development for about a year. Not all cuttings take root, but they give a completely satisfactory result and may even bloom in 2-3 years. The euonymus obtained from seeds is planted in open ground after 2-3 years, and all this time it needs to be kept somewhere and carefully looked after. It will bloom no earlier than 6 years later.
Diseases and pests
Unlike congeners, warty euonymus is resistant to euonymus moth. The greatest danger to the species is represented by such pests:
- aphid that destroys flowers, young leaves and shoots;
- spider mite, tightening the back of the leaf with thin threads and sucking the juice out of it;
- weevil eating leaves in spring;
- caterpillars, which the euonymus as if "pulls" on itself from other crops, including fruit crops;
- euonymus moth eating berries.
Control pests with appropriate insecticides.
Attention should be paid to such diseases of spindle tree:
- viral mosaic, starting with the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves, which deform over time;
- powdery mildew is a fungal disease that manifests itself as a white bloom on vegetative organs;
- spots - spots first appear on the leaves, then pads or dots with mushroom spores;
- necrosis, in which the bark changes color, then cracks, exfoliates, dies off.
Viruses today have not learned to cure, and in case of fungal diseases, the bush is treated with fungicides, in advanced cases - three times, with an interval of 2-3 weeks.
Conclusion
Photos and descriptions of the warty spindle tree give an idea of the shrub in different periods of the growing season. Its main purpose is to serve as an ornamental plant in private and public gardens, to attract birds to the site. The warty euonymus looks especially beautiful in autumn. Lovers will appreciate the bizarre appearance of the plant after the leaves fall and before the blooming of the dots, when the bulging lentils on the almost black cracked bark are especially noticeable.
