All about the annual small petal

A small flower growing along the roadside and in the fields, similar to a chamomile and a daisy, is an annual small petal. It is popular with gardeners for its pleasing appearance and medicinal properties.

Small-petal annual or fine-borer - herbaceous annual plant... In Latin, its name sounds like Erigeron annuus. It belongs to the genus Small-petaled. Fine koluchnik is part of the dicotyledonous Aster family.

The small petal is an annual native to the eastern part of North America. The flower was introduced to Europe in the 17th century as an ornamental plant. In Russia, this species appeared in 1900. Nowadays, these wildflowers are widespread as a weed plant.

The thin-borer reaches a height of 100 cm. The stem is erect.

It often branches out at the end and has white bristles on its surface. The root system of the plant is fibrous. The plant has a triploid type of reproduction.

The leaf arrangement is next. The leaves have a rich green hue, as well as a larger size at the base of the stem - up to 17 cm in length and 4 cm in width. By the time the flowers appear, they often die off. The leaves located in the root area taper in a wedge-shaped manner at the base and have a serrated edge. Stem leaves are smaller - up to 9 cm in length and up to 2 cm in width. They have a shorter petiole, a lanceolate shape, a sharp tip and an irregularly serrated or almost even edge.

The plant has up to 50 baskets in a common or corymbose inflorescence. Their size is up to 8 mm in length and 15 mm in width. Each of them is covered with two or three rows of leaflets and short pubescence. The annual small-petal blooms in July-October. The flowers look like chamomile and have the formula Ca (5, pappus) Co (5) A (5) G (2). In baskets of 80-150 false-lingual flowers up to 6 mm in length, arranged in 2 rows.

They are white or light blue in color. The disc is covered with tubular yellow flowers up to 3 mm long. After the end of flowering, achenes appear. They are lanceolate and have short bristles of about 1 mm. In ligulate flowers, the achenes have a single-row crest, in tubular flowers they have a double-row crest. They are 2.5 times larger than flowers. Achenes ripen until early November.

The plant contains many different nutrients: vitamin C, flavonoids, tannin, tannins, essential oils and others. Due to this, small petals are used as a drug in the complex therapy of various diseases. It is used in the form of decoctions, oils and various tinctures, and even as a tea. The annual small petal has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and hemostatic properties.

The natural habitat of the fine-koluchnik is the east of the United States of America and the south of Canada. Secondarily, the plant spread to Europe, New Zealand, Central America, China, Japan, India, Korea, Nepal and the Far East. Most of all spread in European countries with temperate climates, where it often naturalized.

In Russia, the annual small petal is found mostly in the North Caucasus, the Far East and European territory - in 34 different regions. The plant has naturalized in 27 of them.

The habitat of the annual small-petal is the fine-earth soils of quarries, ravines and the foot of hills. The plant is often found along roadsides, in fields and wastelands.This invasive species has a very aggressive growth pattern and quickly invades large areas.

The annual small petal is an unpretentious plant. It has medicinal properties and has a lush bloom.

Reproduction of the plant can be carried out by seeds, dividing the bush and cuttings. Seeds are sown closer to winter or early spring. They are not sown thickly in moist soil. Germinated seeds are planted in open ground in June.

Thinkoluchnik is photophilous, so it should be located in areas with sufficient lighting. A little shading will not harm the plant. Very dark places with a lack of sunlight are not suitable for the plant. It will become elongated, with a lot of greenery and poor flowering.

The plant does not like excessive feeding. You can use complex fertilizers during the period of bud formation to form more of them. It will also make the flowering last longer. The transplant is painlessly tolerated by small-petaled.

The genus small petals has about 400 different species, some of which are used as decorative ones. The growth of the annual small petals must be controlled, as it can drown out other crops.

Fine koluchnik is harvested as a medicinal raw material from June to the end of September until the cold weather. The greatest amount of nutrients in the plant is contained at the very beginning of flowering. The entire green part is cut off from a young plant. The apical part is taken from adult plants.