Unusual desert plants: juzgun. Description, use

Djuzgun is a real child of the desert. It grows in the hottest and sultry places of the planet, while maintaining high decorative appearance, bright fragrant flowers and amazing fruits. In the culture of indigenous peoples, it has found wide application, since it is sometimes almost the main plant of the area.

Juzgun plant: description

Under this name is united the genus of branched perennial bushes from the buckwheat family. Translated from Latin, it combines the words "beautifully" and "interstice", which in fact reflects the appearance of the plant. In the people dzhuzgun has found a number of names, including firebox, haze, acid (due to the taste of shoots), Tursuk, etc.

The size of the bush ranges from 0.4 to 7 meters, depending on the place of growth. So, near the occurrence of groundwater some species grow like tree-like or multi-barreled shrubs.

The plant has an openwork lavishly branched crown. The trunk and old branches eventually become curved, the young shoots are sinuous, long, articulate, the color is gray-green, there are practically no leaves. The species is in many ways typical for desert plants.

Djuzgun lets out shoots annually, in bundles from sinuses of lignified branches as in the autumn they almost completely die off. The leaves are inconspicuous, subulate or acicular, linear, 3-7 mm long, their base has a caulking bell, they fall early.

A powerful plant should have a corresponding root system. For juzguna, the surface type is more typical. Horizontally located lateral roots spread up to 20 m in length and 30 in depth, in order to provide themselves with water.

Flowering juzguna

The plant develops very quickly and at 5-6 years is already reaching its maximum size, characteristic for the species. At the same age, one can observe the first flowering of a desert shrub.

It's nice to watch what juzgun looks like during flowering (from the middle to the end of April). A tall shrub, almost without greenery, is covered with many single white, pink (sometimes with a purple hue) or green flowers. They have a pronounced aroma, axillary, regular shape, bisexual. After more than two weeks of flowering ovaries are formed, in the end of May - beginning of June, the formation of fruits begins. The very process of vegetation begins in the second half of March.

Fruiting

Fruit juzguna is a straight or twisted nutlets, having a hard pericarp. A distinctive feature is that it is winged, or covered with branched or simple bristles. They are several times longer than the nut itself. Such adaptations are possessed by many desert plants. Djuzgun in this regard is well spread, as the seeds do not settle in the sands, but are easily carried by the wind to very long distances. However, in connection with the woody shell, their germination is not very good, but the ability to germinate persists for 5-9 years.

Range of growth

Representatives of the genus Djuzgun are characterized by exceptional stability and ability to survive in the most severe conditions. Often these are the only species of higher plants that grow in sun-scorched deserts. The area of growth is extensive: from the Sahara desert (North Africa) to Alashan and Ordos in China. An extensive genus, numbering more than 150 representatives, is found in Russia on the territory of Western Siberia.

Djuzgun (description above) feels well in the sands, surviving falling asleep to the level of the summit and other extreme conditions. However, it is sensitive to spring frosts, at a temperature of 2-5 ° C, young shoots begin to blacken and dry up.

Types of juzguna

As already mentioned, the extensive genus includes more than 150 species of shrubs differing in appearance and size, colors and fruits. We will stop your attention only on some, including those that grow in Russia.

• Djuzgun is a tree-like shrub with a well-developed root system, reaching up to 3-3.5 m in height. One of the first plants, which is fixed on mobile sands, is therefore used to strengthen the soil. Has high decorative properties and is used in tapeworms, group plantings, on the fringes, to create a hedge or protective strip.
• Juzgun leafless - shrub up to 2 m in height and long horizontal roots (up to 12 m), which allows it to be used as a soil-restorative plant. It grows on clayey, sandy soils, solonetzes, solonchaks of some species. In Russia it is found in the south of the lower Volga region, Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia. It finds wide application (in food, for firewood, as animal feed) among the indigenous steppe peoples.
• Gizgun is tall. This is a low tree (up to 7 m) with a slender trunk and a thin crown, or a slightly branched bush. Few people know that the plants of the desert juzgun including can be decorative. This species has a white bark and large flowers.
• Djuzgun "jellyfish head" is a strongly branched fast-growing shrub up to 2 m in height. The most unusual of all the genus's representatives, it has bright and fragrant flowers, has rich red or green hues. Used in group plantings, tapeworms, hedges.

Human use

Long since valuable plants of the desert are korsak and juzgun. Young shoots of the latter are used by the indigenous inhabitants of Kalmykia to quench their thirst, and from the outgrowths on the branches they make smoking pipes and dishes.

Its economic importance is also very noticeable. Young shoots and fruits, which have a characteristic sour taste, act as a food for camels and sheep. Given the not very rich food base, the value of such a product is quite high. Tree species of the genus are used as firewood, as well as for the manufacture of hand-made articles and souvenirs. Some desert plants (juzgun in particular) have the ability to grow on mobile sands, so it is actively used to strengthen the soil and as an ornamental plant.