Blue sausages! - almost everyone who sees the fruits of the burner, hanging from leafless branches in autumn, will exclaim. It is also hard to resist the urge to stroke their pleasant-to-touch suede-like skin.This exotic shrub should be planted in a privileged place in the garden, because only there it will show all its beauty.
The Lardizabalaceae family includes only nine genera and approx. 50 species of shrubs and vines found mainly in the Far East. Among them, in our climatic zone, the five-leaf Akebia quinata is the most commonly grown - a winter-hardy climber with palm-folded leaves, purple flowers and fleshy fruit.
Origin of the Chinese burner
The Chinese Decaisnea fargesii, especially old specimens, can only be seen in botanical gardens and arboretums.In its natural state, it grows in deciduous mountain forests in the Chinese provinces of Hupeh and Junnan, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and in the HimalayasFrench missionary and botanist Paul Guillaume Farges (1844) contributed to the discovery of this species for science. -1912), who lived in China for over 30 years and from there sent seeds of previously unknown plants to the company of Maurice L. de Vilmorin. The author of the first scientific description of the burner from 1892 was the French botanist Adrian R. Franchet (1834-1900).
The genre epithet commemorates the discoverer of the species Farges, while the generic name Decaisnea was derived from the name of Joseph Decaisne (1807-1882), a Belgian botany professor who worked at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.Thanks to Farges in 1895, Chinese hen reached Europe. First it was planted in the Vilmorina nursery, and two years later it was cultivated in Kew Gardens near London. He appeared in Poland around 1916.
The stems are thick, straight and stiff, which makes the shrub resemble an aralia in its habit. In its homeland it reaches 5 m in height, in Poland it is 2-3 m. Its extensive root system is formed by thick, poorly branched roots.The leaves, arranged in a straight line on the tips of the shoots, consist of 13-25 pointed, bluish leaves on the underside.The length of the leaves reaches 80-100 cm. They turn yellow or orange-brown in fall and then fall off.
In June, numerous green-yellow bell-shaped flowers develop, gathered in hanging panicles up to 50 cm long. They can be male, female or bisexual.Finger-shaped fruits are formed from female and zwitterionic flowers, which are the greatest decoration of the bush.They mature in September or October.The inside of the fruit is filled with large black seeds, similar to watermelon seeds, and surrounded by an almost clear, jelly-like flesh that is sweet and edible raw.
Position and requirements
The burner frost resistance is satisfactory, only during extremely frosty winters the shoots can freeze to the edge of the snow.The leaves that develop in April are also vulnerable to frost damage.Young specimens are secured by covering the shoots for the winter and mulching the soil in spring, preventing the vegetation from starting too early.
Palecznik can be successfully cultivated even in eastern Poland, but the most beautiful and oldest specimens grow in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in arboretums in Przelewice, Wojsławice and Glinna near Szczecin.Wojsławice specimens of phlegmons were planted in the 1970s. Their above-ground part sometimes freezes (usually after extremely severe winters), but it regenerates after 2-3 years.An average garden soil and a sunny or semi-shaded position suit it.
Good to know
The Chinese call the Chinese burner "a cucumber similar to a cat's waste".In other languages it is called "blue sausage", "blue cucumber bush" or "blue bean tree".In the USA this plant is called "dead man's fingers" and is used to make decorations for the holiday Halloween.
How to reproduce?
Chinese bacon can be multiplied by several methods. The easiest way to sow seeds in spring is that they are stratified immediately after harvest at a temperature of a few degrees above zero. They germinate quickly and to a large extent.Young seedlings must be kept in a frost-free room for the first winter.Vegetative reproduction gives faster results: in summer from non-lignified shoot cuttings, and in winter - from root cuttings. Ready-to-plant shrubs can be bought from the best nursery farms.
