The gloomy and austere beauty of the taiga forest is enlivened by the undergrowth. On the banks of the rivers there are thickets of alder and willow, and in the forest there are shrubs and shrubs. Among the latter are juniper and rose hips, honeysuckle and meadowsweet. Taiga is also rich in berry bushes: raspberries and blackberries, lingonberries and blueberries, cloudberries and cranberries.
Common taiga shrubs
Juniper
The most common shrub in the taiga. It is also called black grouse berries, heather, moss. On this coniferous bush, in the second year, cones, rich in microelements, organic acids, sugars, and phytoncides, ripen. They are used to treat bronchitis and kidney disease.
Dwarf cedar
Grows on the border of tundra and taiga, mainly on stony soil. It grows slowly, but it can live for 250 years. Dwarf nuts are no less useful than pine nuts. Its sap (resin) goes to turpentine. There is more carotene in the needles of a bush than in carrots; it is also rich in other vitamins. That is why elfin can be used as a vitamin preparation.
Ledum
Evergreen shrub 45-130 cm high with leathery leaves. Grows in swampy pine forests and swamps. The flowers are white on long stalks, located at the ends of the branches with large umbellate shields. Flowering time is May-June. Ledum has a very strong odor.
During the flowering of wild rosemary, it is not recommended to stay in its thickets for a long time. Dizziness and nausea may appear. It is an excellent honey plant, but honey is considered conditionally poisonous. Can be used as food after warming up.
Buckthorn
This shrub dissolves its leaves later than other bushes, blooms all summer, and the berries ripen on it unevenly. Buckthorn bushes are covered with green, red and black berries at the same time. Their taste is unpleasant, however, birds, especially blackbirds, like it.
Wolf bast
Rarely found in spruce forests because of the early beautiful flowers resembling lilac flowers, with a pleasant strong aroma. Squat shrub with several branches. The berries are red, shiny, but poisonous, like the whole plant, including leaves and branches, even the roots.
Berry bushes
Cowberry
An evergreen shrub with leaves capable of absorbing rainwater and hibernating two to three times under a layer of snow. Grows in peat bogs and dry forests. A popular and tasty berry that is frozen, jam made, eaten fresh. The lingonberry berry contains natural benzoic acid, so the lingonberry does not deteriorate during storage. It is useful for hypertensive patients, rheumatism, diabetes, kidney disease.
Blueberry
A small shrub spreading in the grass. Propagated by thin creeping rhizomes, from which new bushes grow over time. The flowers look like greenish or pink peas. The berries ripen by mid-summer, have a black-blue color with a bluish bloom. Blueberries are very useful for the eyes, helps with gastrointestinal diseases.
Cranberry
This is a marsh plant that grows next to sphagnum mosses. Evergreen shrub up to 80 cm tall with thin branching stems. In May-June, it is covered with white or pinkish small flowers. The berries ripen in September and early October, and can persist on the bush until spring. They are rich in various trace elements, contain benzoic acid, so they do not deteriorate for a long time. Cranberries remove radionuclides, copes well with inflammation in the kidneys.
There are berry bushes in the taiga that are used to being considered garden ones. These are raspberries, currants, and also not quite garden, but no less famous rose hips.
Blueberry
The shrub grows in mountainous areas closer to the tundra on rocky hills. The berries are similar to blueberries. Berries have properties to strengthen blood vessels and even slow the growth of cancer cells. Relieve eye fatigue, help restore vision.
Vodyanik
This shrub grows, like blueberries, closer to the tundra, but at the same time chooses swampy places. The berry tastes watery, rich in vitamin C, carotene and manganese.