Cranberries are one of the most healthy berries. What is the plant itself, as well as what exactly the properties of its fruits, read below.

What is cranberry?

To understand what constitutes the taxonomic unit in question, you need to become more familiar with the botanical classification, according to which the following life forms of plants are distinguished:

1. Grass (grassy) - vegetation with soft, thin stems. They are divided into one-, two- and perennial.
2. Tree - a form with perennial woody shoots, as well as the main trunk. Distinguish between coniferous and deciduous.
3. Shrub - vegetation with woody perennial growths, but without the main trunk.

Shrubs are divided into shrubs and shrubs. The first are forms without a main trunk, with stiff solid growths. In a shrub, the shoots are woody only in the lower part, and in the upper remain soft, grassy. Did you know? Forests provide excellent sound insulation. 1 ha of forest can reduce noise from the motorway by 11 decibels.

Botanical Description

Based on the above botanical data, marsh or ordinary cranberries are wild berry plants. Life form is a small evergreen shrub. All cranberry varieties are chamephites, that is, plants whose regeneration buds are localized at a height of no more than 25 cm.Thanks to this structural feature, the shoots are covered in winter with a thickness of snow, which, in fact, ensures a high level of survival of the considered taxonomic unit in cold conditions.

Description of external data and the structure of cranberries:

• rhizome - rod type, has a high ability to renew, because it is adapted to grow in conditions of high humidity (partial root decay with subsequent replacement occurs every 3-6 years);
• a fungus lives on the filiform processes of the root, the cells of which are in close symbiosis with its cells, receiving moisture and nutrients from the soil, and then transmitting them to the plant body;
• shoots creeping, thin, rooting, 15-30 cm long;
• the leaves are arranged alternately, kept on short petioles, have an oblong-ovate shape, pointed at the ends, painted in a saturated green color, shiny above;
• each leaf is 3 to 15 mm long, on the lower side it is covered with a thick layer of wax coating that protects the stomata (pores intended for gas exchange) from water during its spill in marshy areas;
• the flowers are pink or dark pink, drooping, with a four-separated corolla, eight stamens, arranged circularly in 2 rows, held on long, pubescent pedicels, collected 2-5 pieces. in umbellate inflorescences, less often located singly;
• vegetation begins to bloom in May-June;
• the fruits ripen in September-October, and if they were not harvested, they can freely winter on the branches without crumbling, they are multi-seeded berries.

Important! The symbiont mushroom, living on the roots of cranberries, is able to absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. This feature can be used to their advantage in the cultivation of plants that need this element, planting them in areas where cranberries used to grow.

What species does it belong to?

The taxonomic unit of plants under consideration belongs to the genus Vaccinum of the Vereskov family, which unites a whole group of evergreen creeping shrubs. The fruits of all groups of cranberries are edible, actively used in traditional medicine, cooking and the food industry.

Characteristics of berries, taste, color, berry in the context

Cranberry berry has an aligned spherical shape, in diameter reaches 16 mm. The skin is thin, shiny, painted in a deep red color. It is covered with a wax coating. The pulp is juicy, acidic, contains many seeds.

Sectional cranberry berries will look like this:

Fresh berries harvested in September and November are stored for 8–10 months. The fruits that are removed from the branches after the snow melts are not stored for long - about 2 weeks. But they taste sweeter than those obtained in the fall. Find out if cranberries are an allergen.

Nutrition value of 100 g of fresh fruits:

• calorie content - 28 kcal;
• proteins - 0.5 g;
• fats - 0.2;
• carbohydrates - 3.7 g;
• dietary fiber - 3.3 g;
• organic acids (saturated fatty acids, Omega-3, Omega-6) - 3.1 g;
• water - 89 g;
• ash - 0.3 g.

Vitamin and mineral composition of berries:

Vitamins	Macronutrients	Trace elements
beta carotene; thiamine; riboflavin; choline; pantothenic acid; pyridoxine; folates; vitamin C; alpha tocopherol; biotin; phylloquinone; niacin	potassium; calcium; silicon; magnesium; sodium; sulfur; phosphorus; chlorine	aluminum; boron; vanadium; iron; iodine; molybdenum; copper; manganese; lithium; cobalt; nickel; rubidium; selenium; strontium; fluorine; chromium; zinc; zirconium

Wild habitat

Wild species of the plant in question are distributed in cool areas on marshy soils, in coniferous forests . Nearby cranberry thickets, such neighboring plant forms as pine, sphagnum moss, ledum, sedge, and blueberry are most often found. The historical homeland of this plant is Russia. Merchants sold the berries to other countries and imported the Vikings.

Spread:

• Europe, Asia, North America - the natural habitat grows far north, in some places it reaches the Arctic Circle;
• Ukraine - Carpathian, Carpathian, Polesie (in the Carpathians and Polesie there is also a close view of small-fruited cranberries);
• Russia, Belarus - the vegetation of this species is widespread here, thickets are located mainly in mossy marshes, mossy forests, river floodplains in forest and forest-steppe zones, the largest wild cranberry plantations are localized on Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

Important! In connection with the draining of the swamps, the variety of small-cranberry is listed in the Red Books of Ukraine and Russia as vulnerable. This means that its habitats are few in number and are endangered in the next few years.

Breeding

Vegetation propagates by shoots and seeds. Creeping growths root in nodes independently, therefore cranberry bushes occupy large areas. In the wild, birds eat berries. Seeds come out with their waste products, thanks to which the vegetation spreads over long distances.

Video: Cranberry seed propagation

Features, significance in nature and forest

The forest is a complex ecological system, which consists of links (trees, bushes, grasses, mosses, lichens, mushrooms, animals and microorganisms). Each of them is of great importance and coexists in close symbiosis with the rest. For example, vegetation releases oxygen, herbivores feed on it and distribute seeds, and carnivorous animals eat representatives from the previous link.

The considered taxonomic unit in forests and nature takes not the last place:

• maintains and improves the quality of marshy soil due to the accumulation of moisture in the rhizome, the creation of a shadow over the earth cover, which does not allow the liquid to evaporate and protects the moss from death, as well as peat is formed during the natural dying of plant parts and decay;
• is food for birds;
• It produces oxygen, cleans the atmosphere of dust.

Read about the beneficial and harmful properties of cranberries for men and women.

Cranberries

This view is most useful. It is actively used in traditional and traditional medicine, cosmetology, and cooking. In addition, on the basis of wild specimens, many varietal units were bred, which are successfully cultivated on an industrial scale.

Cranberries

Garden cranberries are cultivated at home. To organize its cultivation, you need to select a site with a high occurrence of groundwater (40 cm). Soil of such an instance needs peat, in contrast to forest, with a high acidity index.

Large-fruited fast-growing: characteristics

This group of plants combines 6 varieties bred by American breeders with the aim of growing on an industrial scale. The first cranberry plantations were laid in America in 1829.

Large-fruited varieties:

• Pilgrim;
• Franklin;
• Stevens
• Bergman;
• Bekayut;
• Wilcox.

Fast-growing varieties have a number of differences compared to the bog. The first is the shoots. Vegetation includes 2 types of growths - erect and creeping, growing up to 2 m in length during the season. Knots of creeping shoots give a large number of roots, which contributes to the formation of new erect stems on which flower buds are laid. Flowering begins in late June and early July.

Did you know? Wild forms of cranberries can exist for 100 years, while maintaining the ability to bear fruit.

Fruits in diameter reach 2.5 cm. Yield from 1 m² of stands is an average of 2-3 kg. The taste of the fruit is not as sour as that of the forest variety. A little later, cranberry varieties with large fruits began to be bred in other countries. They differ from the forest ability to tolerate not very long drought, and also grow not only on marshy soils, but also on peat-sand. Today, more than 200 cultivated cranberry varieties are known.

Cranberries are an evergreen, creeping, perennial small-sized bush. The place of growth of the wild species is a swamp, mainly in coniferous forests, less often in mountainous areas (Karpaty, Ural). They cultivated cranberries and began to cultivate them on an industrial scale about 200 years ago.