Why are birches white? Birch is a symbol of Russia Black stripes on the birch trunk

Russia has long been called the birch land. They loved the birch, passed on beliefs about it, composed poems and songs, performed rituals and held round dances in the spring.

Let us remember the song “There was a birch tree in the field.” There are the words “break the white birch,” which, it turns out, does not mean at all that it is about to be broken. They broke a birch tree - bending its trunk to the ground and lovingly intertwining it with grass, the birch trunk is flexible and does not break. There was such a ritual before.

Birch is still very much loved in Russia and is called the Russian beauty. Although this tree is fragile in appearance, it has enormous internal strength and grows in North America, Japan, China, and many other countries.

Only birch was able to live in the tundra, withstanding any winds and frosts. Scientists conducted an experiment and placed birch branches in a chamber with a temperature of minus 273 degrees. After which they were taken out, and after a while the frozen branches came to life.

By the way, Birches are not only white. There are about 65 other different species. For example, in Transbaikalia, the Daurian birch tree grows, which has dark birch bark. On the Kuril Islands and in Japan you can find “red birch”, whose wood is orange-red.

The Schmidt birch is amazing, which is also called iron birch, with very durable wood, which in some ways is not inferior to iron and even stronger than cast iron!

There is also a birch, which is called paper birch for its bright white bark, which is easily divided into thin strips. The common silver birch, or as it is also called, “weeping” birch, also has white bark.

Birch is the favorite tree of our people, personifying the Russian soul, a tree of extraordinary kindness. It is also called the tree of life. The esoteric teachings of trees connect the birch with two runes of the Elder Futhark - Berkan and Uruz. Since time immemorial, the birch tree itself has been associated with fertility and healing magic; birch branches were used to impart fertility not only to the earth, but also to livestock and newlyweds. Cradles for newborns were made from birch wood (in almost all European countries!).

Symbolically and magically, the birch appears as a protection against all misfortunes, both physical and spiritual. Birch is extremely useful and very favorable in healing spells, spells aimed at strengthening the harvest. Birch branches (especially those that have just blossomed in spring) are rightly considered an excellent talisman, driving away sorrows and illnesses, protecting children from illnesses and many other troubles). Birch is gentle and compassionate, has a very soft, affectionate and at the same time strong influence. In contrast to oak, sick, weakened, and recovering people should turn to birch. It will ease suffering, help restore lost strength, make it easier to endure the disease, and speed up the recovery process.

Communication with birch is useful for people with upset nerves and depression. This tree relieves fatigue, neutralizes the negative effects of everyday stress, and helps restore mental harmony. A birch tree growing next to the house drives away nightmares. The impact of this tree is long lasting. It is better not to come to it, but to live nearby, then it will be able to heal you. Birch has always been credited with the ability to ward off evil spirits.

Why is birch bark white?

In the woody layer, which only birch has. It's called birch bark.

Birch bark is white, with long black stripes. Scientists have found in it a substance that is found only in birch, and it is this that colors the birch bark white. It was named betulin, using the Latin name for birch. It is believed that it is this that gives birch such resistance to frost.

In addition, betulin has an antimicrobial effect because it contains silver ions that have this property. Therefore, walks in a birch grove are very useful, and various medicines are made from birch.

To do this, carefully take from the birch, so as not to harm the tree, the leaves, bark, sap and buds with which the birch is strewn in the spring.

Bath massage helps to get rid of many ailments associated with the respiratory tract, cardiovascular and integumentary systems. The ancient Russians knew about these miraculous properties, who passed on from generation to generation the knowledge of how to dry birch bathhouse brooms. The procedure is quite simple and accessible to everyone.

Why is the birch tree a symbol of Russia?

Tyutchev, Yesenin and Rubtsov dedicated heartfelt lines to this tree. This is what emigrants remember when they think about their Motherland. White-trunked is a symbol of our country, although this fact is not officially recognized (like, for example, sakura in Japan). The reasons for worship are as follows:

• Birch is a typical inhabitant of the Golden Ring, the cradle of the Russian state. Despite the fact that over hundreds of years Russia conquered Siberia and the borders of Central Asia, cedar and saxaul could not change the traditional idea of ​​Russian nature;
• Bright and memorable appearance. The white trunk, dotted with black dashed stripes, makes the tree unlike anything else and stands out among other species;
• The plant was a symbol of the pagan Slavic deity Beregini, who protected from illnesses, evil spirits and ensured fertility;
• Slavic tribes used the bark of this tree as a writing medium (birch bark);
• Before the Westernization of Russia by Peter the Great The symbol of the beginning of the new year was not spruce, but birch. Its flowering symbolized the awakening of nature from winter oblivion.

Technology for drying twigs with leaves

The plant would never have occupied an important place in the soul of the people if bath brooms had not been made from its branches. For many generations of residents of our country, it was impossible to imagine the washing process without these devices.

When drying branches, the following points must be taken into account:

• Do not allow active air exchange in the storage room. Otherwise, the unique aroma of birch leaves will go away forever;
• No foreign odors. Freshly painted walls can ruin a dozen brooms;
• Temperature conditions range from 8 to 27 degrees;
• It is necessary to avoid exposing the workpieces to direct sunlight and exposure to high humidity;
• The optimal place for drying is a non-residential space in the house (attic, storage room, garage);
• The duration of the procedure is about 14 days;
• Ready-made dry brooms are hung (not folded!) from the ceiling and left to be stored until X hour, until the time comes to use them in practice.

Why are black stripes needed on a birch trunk?

One of the most striking features of the national Russian tree is the stripes that dot its trunk from top to bottom. These formations not only have an aesthetic function, but also play an important role in the life support of the plant. Oxygen flows through them, necessary for the tree to breathe.

Are formed lentils- this is the name given to the black strokes on the trunk - as follows:

1. The skin of a young plant has special micro-holes, or stomata. They are formed between a pair of cells and have a slit-like shape;
2. As soon as the plant begins to prepare for the winter cold, the stomata begin to rise outward due to the fact that the tissues underneath them increase in size;
3. A tubercle of porous material is formed on the surface of the trunk, which allows air to pass through perfectly;
4. A crack may form at the site of the stomata, which further increases gas exchange;
5. The outer primary integumentary tissue begins to die and a plug forms;

Principles of broom massage

But let's get back to the brooms. So, they are already ready and can’t wait for the owner to put them into action. But here’s the problem: the presence of hot water and sewerage in every apartment has spoiled city dwellers.

Few people now know how to handle bundles of branches in a bathhouse. But there is nothing complicated about it:

• Dip the broom into a vat of warm water several times. Then pour a couple of ladles of hot water into it and wait until the twigs with leaves soften;
• It is not recommended to immediately apply hot water treatment: the foliage may fall off;
• You should use a broom only after the second entry into the steam room, when the body is properly warmed up;
• Wave the bundle several times over the lying person so that the hot air envelops him from head to toe;
• Sliding brooms over the entire body without coming off;
• Then comes a series of small, barely noticeable blows to stimulate blood circulation;
• If the temperature in the steam room is very high, you can periodically dip the bundle in cold water to make the sensation more comfortable.

Birch suvel: what is it? (photo)

Wood used by humans in economic activities is not always in ideal condition. Various deficiencies in the physical characteristics of wood material are called defects. In deciduous trees there is often the so-called suvel- a defect in the structure of the fibers, in which a smooth growth is formed on the trunk.

The reasons for the formation of suvel are not fully known to science. Scientists make the following assumptions:

• Impact of weather and climatic conditions;
• Mechanical damage to wood;
• Fungal infection of wood;
• Sometimes it is possible to artificially create a growth by wrapping the trunk with wire.

The texture of the growth can vary: from marbled to red-brown. In most cases, dark shades are observed.

Despite the fact that in logging, Suvel is recognized as a wood defect, folk craftsmen highly value this anomalous formation. The blanks are used to make souvenirs, women's jewelry, mugs, and even serve as a canvas for carving.

How does birch reproduce?

The tree is an extremely tenacious species and is prone to reproducing its own kind even after a forest fire. Among the methods of reproduction are:

1. Seeds. Occurs provided there is open space. When female flowers are pollinated by male flowers, seeds are formed that fall to the ground in the autumn-winter period. Having survived the cold, they successfully germinate in the spring;
2. Overgrowth. If the tree is not looked after in any way for several years, then young shoots will appear near its base. They are formed from buds “sleeping” on the root system of the plant;
3. Cuttings. To do this, in spring or summer, shoots are cut from birch trees that are more than two years old and an incision is made at the end of the seedling (so it can better absorb moisture). Planting is done only after roots have formed. Bury the cuttings in an open and well-lit area 2-3 centimeters into the soil.

The seed propagation method is also used for decorative purposes. After the catkins have acquired a brown color, they are collected and planted six months later, in the spring.

There is a number of knowledge worthy of being included in the Red Book: how to weave bast shoes, embroider on a hoop, how to dry birch bathhouse brooms. Until the achievements of civilization completely destroy the tradition of washing in a bathhouse, we list the main stages of the process: we prepare branches, dry them and hang them from the ceiling.

Video instruction: how to properly dry a birch broom

In this video, Viktor Medvedev will tell you in detail about the process of preparing brooms for a bath:

Lyshchenko Irina, 3rd grade student of the Volosovskaya Primary Secondary School

I chose this topic for my research because this issue is of interest not only to children, but to serious adults - professors and academicians. I became interested in finding out where the whitest birches grow, and how this tree differs from other trees. Starting to work on this topic, I put forward several hypotheses and suggested that the white birch is due to unusual substances in its bark, perhaps this is a protective property of the birch, and perhaps in this way the birch attracts insects during flowering.. .

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The work was completed by a 3rd grade student

Lyshchenko Irina

“WHY IS BIRCH WHITE?”

Volosovo

2013

Introduction

Why this topic was chosen:

I chose this topic for my research because this issue is of interest not only to children, but also to serious adults - professors and academicians.

Purpose of the study:find out why the birch is still white?

Research objective:

- find in additional sources information about what types of

Birches;

Find out what is unusual about them;

Find out where the whitest birches grow and how they differ from others

Trees.

Hypothesis: white birch possible

To attract insects;

Due to unusual substances in the bark;

This is its protective property.

Materials used:

The following materials were used in the research: the Internet, children's encyclopedias, personal observations.

1. Characteristics of birch.

Birch is a beautiful tree30-45 m high with thin, hanging branches and a white trunk.

Nature has not given white bark to any plant except birch. True, the bark remains smooth and white only on young trees. On old trunks it cracks heavily on the outside and becomes black and gray, especially in the lower part.

The crown is often weeping due to the fact that the branches are “dangling” (hence the name of the plant).Young branches are red-brown, with resinous warts, which is why this birch is called warty.

The buds are small, oily, and contain a lot of essential oils.

The leaves are round and toothed; fruits - nuts. The weight of 1000 fruits is only 0.1 g. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, collected in inflorescences - earrings.

In the conditions of Central Russia, birch blooms in early May and even at the end of April. At the same time, the birch tree blooms. The fruits ripen in July-August and immediately begin to fall.

The age limit of most birches does not exceed 100-120 years, although individual trees can reach 300 years.

The vitality of this “miracle tree” still surprises scientists. During the experiments, birch branches were placed in chambers where terrible frost reigned - minus 273 degrees Celsius. But when the branches were taken out of the chamber, they thawed and came to life.

1. Birch distribution.

Many types of birch trees grow in temperate and cold zones of Eurasia and North America. However, birch does not tolerate extreme heat, which limits its distribution in the south.

There are about 120 species. They differ in height and bark color. There are also shrubs among the birches. The most famous of them, dwarf birch, grows in the tundra of Siberia. It reaches only 1 m in height.

Not all birch trees are white. The “Daurian” birch has dark bark; it grows in Transbaikalia. But “red” birches grow in the Kuril Islands and the Japanese Islands. They got their name because their wood is orange-red. There are also Schmidt birches that are not white at all. It is also called “iron” because the wood of this birch is stronger than cast iron.

The whitest birches grow in the mountains. “Paper birch” is in the mountains of America, “useful” is in the Himalayas, and “fluffy” is in the mountains of Scotland.

There are four types of birch growing on the territory of the Russian Federation: common white birch, warty birch and weeping birch; fluffy birch; shrub birch and dwarf.

1. The structure of the woody layer of birch.

The woody layer of birch is bark. The bark is usually smooth, covered with a layer of cork fabric - birch bark. Most often white with black stripes, but there is yellowish or pinkish, very rarely even black.

Dark horizontal stripes are stretched over the white trunk. These are lentils. They peel off easily. Birch bark does not allow water or gases to pass through, and through the loose tissue of the lentils, oxygen necessary for the tree to breathe enters the trunk.

If you cut a birch trunk in early spring, clear, sweet-tasting sap will begin to ooze out drop by drop from the cut.

1. Why are birch trees so white?

A) It’s a matter of the composition of the birch wood layer. If you remove a piece of bark from a tree, you will be left with something like a white powder on your fingers. This substance is called betulin - a white organic pigment and is released from the cells of the cortex.It contains a lot of silver ions, which have an antimicrobial effect. In the bark of the “ribbed” birch its content exceeds 5%, in the “layered” birch the content of betulin reaches 14%, and in the “Manzhurskaya” bark – up to 27%.

Of the species growing in Russia, the maximum content of betulin is observed in the bark of the downy birch - up to 44%

B) The fact is that in the mountains there is very hard ultraviolet radiation, and it was to reflect it that plants over millions of years “learned” to protect the trunk with a white mirror.

1. Research result.

As a result of my research, the hypothesis that insects are attracted by the white color of birch bark was not confirmed. Insects are most attracted to the smell of young leaves and flowers.

The hypothesis about the presence of an unusual substance in birch bark was confirmed by research by scientists and personal observations. When you tear off a piece of birch bark, a white velvety coating remains on your fingers.

And the fact that birches can be very white, just white, and not white at all depends on the place where they grow. Russia has the best conditions for their growth, but in the north and in the mountains the conditions are difficult. This confirms the hypothesis about the protective properties of birch.

Conclusion:

The white color of birch bark is given by a resinous substance - betulin.

“We have a birch tree in every song, a birch tree under every window,” is sung in a beautiful song by composer A. Ponomarenok based on poems by M. Agashina. And it’s hard to argue with this - this tree has truly become a kind of symbol of our country. The attitude towards the birch has always been special - for example, it was an important “character” in the Semik rites, which in the Christian era coincided with the holiday of the Holy Trinity, and even in the Orthodox Church the custom of bringing birch branches to the temple on this holiday has been preserved...

The unusualness of this tree lies primarily in the color of the bark - it is not easy to find another tree with white bark! True, not all types of birch have this feature - for example, in Transbaikalia, the Daurian birch with dark bark grows, on the Kuril Islands and in Japan - red birch, which received this name because of its red-orange color... But in our area, birches are white with black spots.

Why birches are white was explained by the outstanding Russian chemist T.E. Lovitz (1754-1804). He isolated a crystalline organic substance from birch bark, which was named betulin (from the Latin name of birch - betula).

Betulin is a white resinous substance that fills the cavities of the cells of birch cork tissue - this is what gives birch bark its white color. After all, the content of betulin in it is enormous: in different types of birch it ranges from 14% to 44%. What does such an evolutionary acquisition give a tree?

First of all, betulin is rich in silver ions. And silver, as is known, has bactericidal properties, so betulin is a wonderful natural antiseptic that protects the tree from infections. It is not for nothing that birch has long been known as a medicinal plant - its juice was used to treat skin diseases, as well as colds. However, the matter is not limited to this: tea from birch buds is an excellent diuretic, a tonic drink rich in vitamins was prepared from its leaves, and people living near a birch grove get sick an order of magnitude less thanks to the volatile bactericidal substances of this tree. For the same reason, people with weak lungs are advised to take more walks in birch groves.

But let's return to betulin. It not only protects against bacteria, it is also directly related to the property of birch, such as frost resistance - it was this that helped this tree take root in cold Russia all the way to the tundra. The frost resistance of birch is truly amazing: during laboratory experiments, birch branches restored their viability after being in a chamber with a temperature of minus 273 degrees!

So, we've sorted out the white color - but what about the black spots?

They are called lentils. The fact is that neither water nor gases pass through the top layer of birch bark - birch bark. This is also a protective property, but such protection could “strangle” the tree if it did not have an “entrance gate” through which the tree can breathe. These “entrance gates” are the lentils with their loose tissue.

As you can see, the fact that it was the birch that became the “Russian beauty” is quite natural: this tree is perfectly adapted to life in our harsh climate.