Vodokras frog: description of the plant and care. Application, medicinal properties and harm of water paint

Gradually, our ears got used to the silence, and we began to distinguish the indistinct cooing of cranes, the knock of a woodpecker-woodpecker.
We knew that somewhere here, near the road to the cordon, there was a deep lake Shuya. Each lowland in the forest, overgrown with impassable dark alder, we took for the shores of this lake. But it opened unexpectedly under a steep hill between pines, surrounded by a growth of young aspens and old, black alder.
Round like a bowl, with transparent and completely calm water, it reflected all this blue and misty, flowing day, all its depth and freshness. Every holly bush, white, almost transparent flowers of water-color, driftwood overgrown with horsetail, shy forget-me-nots in moss, flocks of fry with their noses buried in underwater roots - all this seemed so fabulous that we spoke in an undertone. It was as if we were let into a dense, bright land, where you can see how forest flowers open before our eyes, how dew slowly flows from them onto a substituted palm, how it moves brown leaf and from under it sprouting, straightening its shoulders under its little brown coat, a stocky boletus mushroom.
The shadow of the overhanging trees fell on the water. The water in the shade seemed unusually deep, black. A fallen aspen leaf lay on this water like a jewel carelessly thrown in a young autumn. Autumn was still quite young, at the very beginning of its short life.
If it were possible to slow down the passage of time, so that this quiet light and this amazing day would be blue over the lake for a long time, so that one could follow the shadow of birds on the water for a long time, the barely noticeable brilliance that rose to the sky!
The meaning of the word "perfection" immediately became clear. And with that, a slight regret began. About what? About the fact that under no effort a person will not be able to convey the charm of this day, these waters, herbs, great silence, as well as all the charm of what is happening now in his soul. And annoyance arose at the fact that you were the only one seeing all this, when all your beloved and dear people should have seen it. When a person is happy, he is generous, he strives to be a guide to beauty. Now we were happy, but were silent, because delight does not tolerate any exclamations and outward expressions.
In a clearing near the lake stood a bench made of birch poles. A sign was nailed to the floor next to it: "Smoking Area." At the bottom was written in pencil: “Look, take care of this forest. Lighting is strictly prohibited. Obezdchik Alexei Zheltov.
Around the bench, no matter how much we looked, there was only one browned cigarette butt lying around - this road was so deserted. And the more touching seemed this concern for the forest in those places where, perhaps, two or three people would pass in a week. The road, judging by the map, was lost about five kilometers, in the thickets behind Lake Linev.
The cordon stood on a hillock above the quiet pool of Pra. On its roof was nailed a plank shield with a black number on a white field - "273". By this number, aircraft flying over the forests were determined.
Forester Alexei Zheltov, a weather-beaten old man in a faded green cap with a badge of a ranger on the band - two copper oak leaves, was sitting on a bench near the hut and reading a newspaper, as if not seeing us, five people, slowly approaching the cordon.
It was clearly a trick. He had already noticed us through the window a long time ago and purposely came out with a newspaper on the threshold. With all his appearance, Alexei Zheltov (aka “Uncle Lesha”) wanted to show that passers-by are not a wonder here and that he, as a courteous person who has seen all sorts of things in life, is not at all curious about who we are, why we came and where we are going.
The conversation that began with Uncle Lesha was already familiar to us - a cunning conversation that confuses inexperienced citizens.
We talked about the drought, about the fact that somewhere - one must think, in the direction of Kriushi - a forest is on fire, about the harvest, news from the newspaper, the fair in Klepiki, but not a word about an overnight stay and about who we are.
Paustovsky Konstantin Georgievich

TASK: Highlight the endings of adjectives.
White, almost transparent flowers of water color, shy forget-me-nots in moss, underwater roots - all this seemed fabulous.
As if we were let into a dense bright land, where you can see how forest flowers open before our eyes, how a brown leaf moves and from under it a stocky boletus mushroom sprouts under a small brown coat.

ANSWER:
White, transparent, shy, underwater, fabulous, dense, light, forest, brown, small, brown, stocky.

White - th. transparent - th. shy - th. underwater. fabulous - th. dense. . light - th. forest - s. brown - th. small - them. brown - th. stocky - th.

Frog watercress - a floating plant often found in ponds with stagnant or slowly flowing water.

"Vodokras sometimes covers completely large areas, but is more often found in small groups along with duckweeds. Perhaps this is due to the sanitary role of duckweeds, since watercresses are sensitive to water pollution and settle only in clean waters. Duckweeds, as it were, create a favorable habitat for watercrabs .

Vodokras lives up to its name and really paints those secluded corners of the waters where it grows. Its juicy green leaves are scattered widely. They are almost round, with a deep heart-shaped notch at the base, very similar to the leaves of water lilies and egg-pods, but smaller than the latter. The length of the leaves is up to seven centimeters, the width is five centimeters. The upper side is smooth with a wax coating.

When water lilies, egg-pods, duckweeds and water-flowers meet in the same place, it seems that all this is one and the same plant, but only its different generations.

This is how Viktor Semyonovich Zhdanov describes the vodokras in his book "Aquarium Plants". This book was published in Moscow in 1973, and I advise those aquarists who are seriously engaged in the cultivation of various aquatic plants to get acquainted with it.

In summer, the water color multiplies strongly - from a bush plant. Lateral shoots diverge in all directions, giving new bush plants, which, in turn, give shoots, etc. And very soon the surface of the aquarium is completely covered with these floating plants.

Vodokras is very difficult to keep in an aquarium in winter. By autumn, water-color gives a lot of overwintering buds in the form of onions. These onion buds sink to the bottom and remain there until spring. And in the spring (in March - April), the buds open and give rise to new plants with a beautiful name - vodokras.

Warning! When moving plants from water bodies to an aquarium, remember that all plants must be carefully examined, old leaves and shoots that have begun to die off, and make sure that there is no hydra on the surface of leaves and stems. If the hydra gets into the aquarium, then it is very difficult to deal with it (I will tell you about the hydra a little later)! Look carefully if there are any snails or snail eggs on the leaves of plants brought from a pond, from a river, because along with plants, snails can also get into your aquarium, which will bring only trouble with them (our next story is about snails).

Literature: Onegov A. School of young naturalists. Living corner / Art. V. Radaev, V. Khramov. - M.: Det. lit., 1990. - 271 p.: ill.

Frog watercress is one of the inconspicuous and inconspicuous plants, without which nature would lack something. Already its name, which is a tracing paper from the Greek “hydrocharis” (hydrocharis), which means “decoration, or beauty of the waters,” speaks for itself: it really adorns the monotonous blue water surface with its presence, just as a modest cornflower adorns a field. But, in addition to decoration, water paint is also an indicator of clean water, so if you meet a quiet river somewhere in the wilderness with rounded leaves floating on its surface, a bit reminiscent of water lily leaves, know that you can safely drink from it. Maybe that's why now it is so rare to find this modest plant in rivers polluted by industrial and domestic waste?

General information

Vodokras ordinary, it is also frog - one of the three aquatic herbaceous perennial plants of the genus vodokras called "frog". There are two versions of the origin of this name, and both of them are associated with the famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778). According to one, when describing the water color, the scientist drew attention to its short, as if gnawed rhizome, which seemed to him like a “frog bite”. According to the second, for the same bite, he took a natural notch-cut at the base of the leaf, which gives it the appearance of a heart. It is interesting to note that in Belarus the vodokras is called “toad”, due to the commonality of its life zone with the frog, which may well be the third version of the origin of the species name.

This waterfowl can be found in a vast range from every corner of Europe to Western China, where it is adjacent to its fellow Asian water color, or doubtful. Its habitat is the coastal surface of ponds, lakes, oxbows and quiet backwaters, where by its presence it does not allow algae to develop. It is easy to recognize water color by the following signs:

1. the leaves are light green in color, rounded in shape with a deep heart-shaped notch at the base. The size of the leaves is from 3 to 6-7 cm in length and up to 5 cm in width. They are located on long petioles in this way: first - two short lower ones, followed by up to five of the standard form described above.
2. white flowers with a yellow base, protruding about 3-5 cm above the water surface.
3. smooth upper side of the leaf with a waxy coating.
4. frequent neighborhood with duckweed.

The last property is directly related to the value of hydrocharis as an indicator of the purity of the reservoir. Duckweed is not only used in folk medicine and in feeding domestic animals, but also acts as an orderly, creating a favorable environment for the habitat of the water crayon.

In some ways, this flower can be likened to an iceberg, since it has two distinct parts: surface and underwater. Surface - these are leaves and flowers visible to everyone; underwater - this is a short rhizome and numerous branching adventitious roots that do not reach the bottom. They are fleshy, sometimes reach a length of 7-10 cm, have thin hairs and air cavities, due to which the water color stays on the water. Its leaves have the same cavities. With the help of roots, hydrocharis feeds, extracting nutrients straight out of the water. The hairs on the root system also play an important role: protoplasm rotates inside them. There are almost no stems in the traditional sense of the word, and the entire vascular bundle in the roots is reduced to a single narrow vessel. The total height of the plant reaches about 50 cm.

Life cycle

Traditionally, hydrocharis is referred to as the so-called. dioecious plants - its male and female flowers (pistils and stamens) are formed separately and on different bushes - although recently these data have been questioned. For example, in the Kirov region, you can also find a monoecious vodokras with pistillate or stamen flowers. Perhaps this is due to the peculiarities of the areal distribution, but under what conditions it is possible to meet a monoecious vodokras and whether this is a deviation from the norm, scientists have yet to find out. It begins to bloom at the end of June and ends at the end of August. When flowering, the already mentioned white three-petal and three-cup flowers are formed, about 4 cm in diameter, having an egg-yolk-colored core, of which one or two are male (rarely more), two are female. They are short-lived, but regularly replace each other, so breaks in summer bloom the water dispenser does not. Regarding the fruits of scientists, there is no consensus. Some believe that the fruits of water color are absent at all, while others believe that they are and are formed on female flowers, but very rarely bloom.

The plant reproduces in two ways: pollination (less often) and vegetation (more often). The vegetative method is as follows: in March-April, lateral whip-like tendrils-shoots from 5 to 20 cm long grow from different corners of the leaf, on which daughter plants appear in summer. At their ends, a new leafy rosette is formed, which eventually forms its roots, breaks away from the mother and begins its life. For this reason, vodokras most often exists in the form of dense thickets, concentrated at a decent depth - from 0.4 to 1.2 m and even deeper. If the depth is not enough for him, he takes root in the ground.

By the beginning of autumn, the plant forms buds in which new leaves are packed. Old leaves die off, hibernation sets in for hydrocharis, buds fall off and fall to the bottom of the reservoir. According to the observations of many biologists, water paint is able to withstand not very frosty winters if it is below the freezing level of water. In the spring, in April, cavities form in them, the buds emerge and unfold the leaves. In a short moment between the formation and falling off of the kidney, the spread of water paint to other water bodies is possible. The kidney is covered in a sticky mucus—suggested to be its natural winter defense—that acts as a kind of glue. When the inhabitants of the reservoir touch it, the glue attaches a kidney to them, and thus the plant moves to another place. If it turns out to be as suitable for life as the previous one, the kidney falls to the bottom and waits in the wings.

How to grow hydrocharis at home

Taking into account the desire of a person to decorate his life with something unusual, exotic and even extravagant, water paint can serve as a good option for breeding in an aquarium of any size, thereby giving its environment an element of naturalness. It can also be bred on an artificial reservoir dug within the personal land plot. Planting material can be either purchased from a specialized store or any young rosette that has formed on a side shoot. For the aquarium maintenance of hydrocharis, the following requirements must be met:

1. water hardness dH 2-12 degrees.
2. pH 6.0-7.0.
3. the optimum temperature is + 18-22 in winter and + 24-28 in summer.
4. strong filtration and daily replacement of up to 30% of the water volume.
5. lighting intensity - 0.4-0.5 W / l.
6. the duration of artificial daylight hours is at least 12 hours.

It should also be remembered that water color leaves are delicate and can become easy prey for various pests (for example, snails), so they need to be inspected regularly. It makes no sense to use hydrocharis as an element of decor, however, where you need to create a shadow, it can be successfully used as a light filter. If you have a spawning aquarium, then water paint will fit perfectly into its environment as a substrate for spawning and an excellent shelter for fry. He does not need any fertilizing or any fertilizers. Vodokras will breed in an aquarium in the same way as in vivo habitat, so if desired, it can be adjusted by removing part of the sockets. If growth needs to be stimulated, the leaves should be sprayed with a one percent solution of urea (1 g per 1 liter of water) three times a year.

Under natural conditions, a plant is planted in the simplest way, lowering it into water in a sunny or semi-shady place, after briefly dipping it into a solution of potassium permanganate. Water can be both stagnant and slowly flowing. You can also root the plant near the shore, where the depth is no more than 30 cm. For the winter, several hydrocharis buds can be sheltered at home by placing them in a jar of water and soil that mimics the natural soil of the reservoir. In April, they can be removed from the jar and thrown into the pond.

There are few pests at the vodokras. In addition to snails, it is not averse to eating its leaves and moths, therefore, when growing, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the plant and take appropriate measures. In the first case, all snails should be collected and either resettled to another place, or destroyed, and in the second, all leaves infected with moth larvae should be cut off and destroyed so that they do not infect the rest.

Conclusion

Vodokras frog - very a good option for aesthetic decoration of any artificial reservoir. Experts advise not to be deceived by its allegedly abundant thickets in natural conditions: it grows weakly, so it will fit even in a miniature pond. The benefits of its presence are undoubted: it not only prevents the appearance of algae in the reservoir, but also prevents the water and everyone living in it from overheating.

Man, in a peculiar way, highly appreciated the role of water paint in nature. So, on December 2, 2008, the coat of arms of the city of Zhabinka was officially approved by the President of Belarus A. Lukashenko Brest region. One of its significant elements is a stylized image of water color flowers, hinting at the history of the city: Zhabinka was founded at the confluence of two rivers - the eponymous Zhabinka and Mukhavets. And in the book of the famous Polish writer Eliza Ozheshko (1841-1910) "People and Flowers over the Neman" there is information about the use of hydrocharis by Grodno healers in the treatment of skin diseases. By the way, they called him accordingly: "sverblyachka". So if you decide to decorate your country pond with an inconspicuous, modest water-color, it is quite possible that you will thereby become a little familiar with history and folk medicine ...

In my opinion, arrowroot is a perfectionist's flower. Not only does this plant have wonderfully colored leaves, but also multi-colored veins, lines, circles follow each other in a symmetrical order. So care for him should be exactly the same - balanced.

WHO AND HOW RANKS MARANTA

The arrowroot comes from South America. An unusual plant, of course, attracted the attention of Europeans, and they hurried to bring it to the Old World.

For the peculiarity of raising and folding "piously" oval palm leaves, perennial grass is often called " prayer plant". The nightly "ritual" saves the leaves from overwhelming severity - abundant dew that falls in the evening hours in the tropical forests.

V South America this plant is extremely popular, it is in almost every home. There it is called "pilgrimage" because the dark spots on the leaves remind believing Latin Americans of the beads on the rosary. In Japan, there is a legend about a fox woman whose name was Kuzunoha, which roughly translates as "arrowroot leaf". In addition, people often call arrowroot " Princess Frog”, because the colorful coloring, however, resembles the skin of the enchanted Vasilisa the Beautiful.

Officially, the perennial herb received its name in honor of the botanist, physician, Renaissance scientist Bartolomeo Marant. For many years he worked in the botanical gardens of Rome and Naples, his research was devoted to the study useful properties plants, including varieties of arrowroot.

Today, starch (West Indian arrowroot), obtained from the tubers of the reed arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea L.), is widely known among cooks. It is also used in medicine as a tonic and warming remedy for colds. And nutritionists recommend the use of arrowroot in diabetic nutrition.

About 30 types of arrowroot are known, each of which has a unique color. As houseplant most commonly grown arrowroot tricolor (Maranta tricolor or Maranta leuconeura erythrophylla/eritroneura). The closest relatives of arrowroot are stromatata and.

WHAT CARE SHOULD BE FOR A ROOM PLANT?

When I first got it, I was frightened by the reviews of many flower growers who claim that this plant is very capricious. In fact, this is not so, there are just a few unshakable rules that must be followed. And although the arrowroot will stoically endure unfavourable conditions, but this struggle will not be slow to affect appearance flower.

Rule 1 The most important and often difficult requirement is to ensure high humidity air. It is especially difficult to do this in winter, when the plant begins a dormant period. V given time watering is reduced to once every 5-7 days.

But if you have dry air, you are forced to water the plant as often as possible. And here care must be taken not to overwater the flower, since the absorption of moisture by the roots is not as intense as in spring or summer.

Pour out excess water flowing after watering into the pan. Water the soil after it dries out upper layer substrate.

Do you want to know the next watering time? Stick a long one into the edge of the pot wooden stick. And before you are going to water the flower, take out the stalk and inspect it. If the tree is wet, there are damp clods of earth on it, then set aside water treatment. The branch is slightly moistened - it's time to irrigate the ground. In addition, clay indicators are sold in stores.

Watered ornamental grass warm and soft water. ( Read how to soften hard water for watering flowers.)

How can you increase the humidity in the air? You can put the plant in the florarium, or spray it in the morning and evening hours, and so that lime stains do not form, wipe the leaf plates with a soft sponge. Set the flowerpot on expanded clay and sphagnum moss soaked in water. A pot on a damp bed can stand without a tray, but first make sure that the holes in the bottom of the flowerpot do not come into contact with the liquid.

An increase in humidity is fraught with two consequences - the appearance of midges and podura.

Rule 2 Maranta does not tolerate direct sun rays. Burns may appear on the leaves - yellow spots. If the room is too light, then the leaves grow small, ugly, lose their mathematically verified color.

At the same time, the flower cannot be called shade-loving, rather, shade-tolerant. "Bogomolets" prefers light penumbra.

Rule 3 The “princess” does not like temperature drops and drafts, indeed, where can they come from in the tropics? Therefore, keep the plant away from split systems, open windows and passages. However, you can not be afraid to put the plant on the balcony, breathe fresh air Naturally, I remember the above.

Rule 4 for arrowroot should be light, loose. Be sure to pour expanded clay on the bottom of the pot. root system she has a superficial, not very developed, so choose a wide and shallow container for the “frog”. Once I took advice from some flower website and wrapped the arrowroot roots in moss. My experiment nearly killed the "South American". The fact is that sphagnum really retains moisture well, but it also does not let air through, and this, as you understand, is nothing. good flower does not predict.

The plant is transplanted every 2-3 years. The plant is propagated by division of tubers or cuttings. The cuttings are placed in water, and after a while, roots hatch from the nodules.

Rule 5 Optimum temperature during the period of vegetative growth - + 25-26 ° C, but the plant feels good even at + 28 ° C. In winter, during the dormant period, the thermometer should not fall below + 16 ° C. After frost, the plant is unlikely to recover.

Rule 6 Periodically apply liquid fertilizer to the substrate. Keep fertilizing to a minimum between October and February.

In one specialized publication I read advice that helps me out in “Hour X”: we dilute 1 egg white in a glass of water. We remove to infuse in a cool and dark place(but not the refrigerator). After 7 days we get it, dilute it in 2 liters of water. With this life-giving solution we will drink arrowroot. I warn you, the smell is unpleasant, but after such a miracle drink, the flower literally comes to life before our eyes. By the way, other plants like it too organic fertilizer, it stimulates their growth and flowering.