On the one hand, the wild radish is a malicious poisonous weed, on the other hand, it has medicinal properties and is often used in folk medicine, and the plant also releases nectar and pollen in sufficient quantities for bees to collect, that is, it is a good honey plant. Further about the features of wild radish, its botanical characteristics, classification, benefits and harms.
Botanical description
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) is a spring herbaceous annual plant that is often found on abandoned land plots, along roadsides, in fields, open wooded places. It thrives in temperate, subtropical, tropical climates and semi-arid regions. Possesses the following botanical characteristics:
- Stem. It grows vertically, reaching a height of 40-60 cm. It has a rounded or slightly lanceolate shape and bluish-green color, sometimes tinged with a purple hue. Most often, several long branches depart from the main stem, but sometimes some plants have an unbranched stem.
- Root system. It is represented by a powerful taproot, weakly branched root that extends shallowly into the ground. First, a basal rosette with large lobed leaves forms in the culture, then the stem is pulled out.
- Leaves. Petiole leaf blades have different sizes and shapes - lyre-shaped, oblong-ovate. They are slightly rough to the touch, since the bluish-green or purple leaves are covered with coarse hairs. On the branches, they are located alternately. The lower leaves are large - in length they can reach 15-30 cm, and in width - 5-10 cm. The higher to the top of the plant along the stem, the smaller and rarer they are.
- Flowers. The plant blooms in early summer with small flowers with 4 petals (in diameter they do not exceed 18-40 mm), which are collected in loose elongated inflorescences - brushes. In European wild radish, flowers are predominantly white or yellowish. In the eastern wild radish, lilac or almost purple flowers bloom.
- Seeds... After flowering, elongated seed pods are formed on the plant, resembling miniature pods - they reach 3-9 cm in length and 3-6 mm in width. Each box ends with a “sharp beak”. Inside the seed box is divided into several segments-segments in which the seeds are located.
The pods are initially green or purple, but as they mature, they become tan or grayish. When ripe, the pod opens easily and splits into 3-10 segments. Each segment contains one seed.
The seeds of wild radish have an almost regular rounded shape, and are red or yellowish-brown in color. They are no more than 4 mm in diameter. In one season, a plant can produce 150-300 seeds. The pods that fall into the ground germinate only after a year, since they need to undergo stratification in natural conditions. If seeds dropped from the joints fell into the soil, they germinate very quickly, but provided that they are in the ground at a depth of 1-4 cm.
Origin
Radish has been known since time immemorial. Attitude to this root crop was twofold. The ancient Egyptians considered it an "unclean" vegetable because it was included in the diet of the slaves who took part in the construction of the pyramids.
The ancient Greeks, on the contrary, appreciated this root crop and presented it as a gift to God - Apollo at the Delphic Games, and also cast it in gold. In addition, ancient Greek healers attributed the root crop to drugs and prescribed it to patients.
Wild radish is known in the western part of the country as field radish, in the eastern regions as coastal. In addition, it has many popular names:
- throat;
- chicken doze;
- field mustard;
- jaundice;
- jaundice;
- boiling grass;
- redeshnik;
- mushroom;
- ferocious;
- rape;
- field horseradish;
- borboro.
Taxonomy and area
The type of wild or field (coastal) radish is:
- to the family - Radish;
- family - cabbage (cruciferous);
- class - dicotyledons;
- department - flowering, angiosperms;
- kingdom - Plants.
Radish grows in the European part of the former USSR, in the non-black earth forest belt. The weed is found in Africa and Asia, as well as in European countries. Favorite growing places are meadow thickets, roadsides and abandoned areas.
Growing features
The plant is quite unpretentious, but with the targeted cultivation of wild radish for medicinal purposes, some features are taken into account.
Basic landing rules
When planting wild radish, adhere to the following rules:
- Preceding cultures. Do not plant a radish after crops of the same family - Cruciferous: radish, cabbage, daikon and other representatives. This is due to the possible presence of a cruciform flea beetle at the planting site, which affects plants of this family.
- Soil composition. To get a good harvest, they introduce humus of 2-3 years old and dilute it by a quarter with wood ash.
- Disembarkation time. Field radish consistently yields 2 crops per season. The first harvest does not have good keeping quality. This quality is distinguished by the autumn harvest. The second landing is carried out in the first decade of June, in the southern regions - at the end of June.
Features of agricultural technology
When conducting agricultural activities adhere to the following rules:
- Place and method of landing. Culture loves well-lit places. Seeds during planting are planted in the soil by 2-3 cm.
- Thinning and loosening. After the first shoots have appeared, the soil is loosened, and the shoots are thinned out at a distance of 5-6 cm. When the gatherings become stronger, a second thinning is carried out already at a distance of 15 cm.
- Top dressing. When 3-4 leaves appear, the first top dressing is performed. They use exclusively mineral top dressing. The next feeding is carried out one month after the first. As a top dressing, dilute in 10 l of water:
- urea - 20 g;
- superphosphate - 60 g;
- potassium chloride - 15 g.
- Watering. Wild radish is demanding on the watering regime. Even a short stay in dry soil negatively affects the quality of the crop. Watering is carried out regularly, depending on weather conditions, preventing the soil from drying out.
Features of growth and reproduction
The germination depth of wild radish seeds is 2-5 cm. Temperature fluctuations, especially at the interval of 12 ° C, promote their germination after a dormant period, which lasts an average of 6 to 8 months. They retain their viability in the land for up to 10 years. To germinate, it is enough to warm the soil to 2-4 ° C of heat after wintering.
Radish propagates only by seeds. They usually spread close to the mother plant. Experts explain the spread of weed over a greater distance by the fact that the grain of cereals - wheat, oats, rye was contaminated with weed grass seed.
Wild radish seeds usually ripen by the time of the harvest. When mowing cereals, part of the pod segments falls into the ground, thereby clogging the soil, and part of it ends up in the crop and clogs the grain.
Economic value and application
Wild radish is a weed plant that infests all spring crops - cereals, legumes, cereals and forage grasses. It drowns out all seedlings, since it draws a large amount of nutrients from the soil, and also, due to its rapid growth, shades crops. Due to the lack of sunlight, cereals grow poorly and lag behind in growth and development.
When harvesting, it is very difficult to separate the weedy pods of the radish, since the segments of the radish pods are almost the same in size as the grain of the bread. On farms, grain is cleaned from litter as follows - the grain is immersed in water and at the same time stirred. Radish pods are lighter than cereal grains, so they easily float to the surface of the water.
Wild radish is a dangerous plant for livestock. If it grows on pastures, it can cause poisoning and even death of the animal.
However, wild radish is considered a medicinal plant, due to its beneficial properties. Oil is extracted from the seeds of wild radish, and rarely, but the plant is used as a honey plant. Toxic substances from the radish evaporate only when the tops are completely dry, therefore, spices are often made from it.
Useful properties and harm
The composition of the culture includes a large number of vitamins, essential oils, trace elements and minerals. The juice contains an impressive amount of phosphorus, calcium, sodium, as well as iodine and iron. Other beneficial properties of wild radish include:
- strong antibacterial and bactericidal effect, which makes it a good remedy for the treatment of various skin diseases;
- decoction of seeds helps with rheumatism, urolithiasis and restores the gastrointestinal tract;
- radish absorbs and removes harmful substances from the digestive tract.
However, mustard oils containing toxins form in the tops and inflorescences during flowering. In the root, poisonous substances are always there, regardless of the phases of development, so it should never be eaten. Ingestion of green parts or inflorescences, even in small doses, into the body causes severe poisoning.
At the first sign of poisoning, you must immediately call an ambulance and rinse the stomach.
The main signs of wild radish poisoning:
- discoloration of urine, it becomes more saturated;
- disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, which manifest as nausea, colic and vomiting;
- an inflammatory process occurs in the kidneys, and the liver degenerates, collapses;
- toxins cause disruptions in the work of the heart, and with a high concentration of them, cardiac muscle arrest may occur;
- all symptoms are accompanied by physical weakness.
When preparing and using medicines based on parts of the wild radish plant, it is necessary to know the exact dosages and the technology for making decoctions and infusions.
How to get rid of the weed?
Farms that suffer from the invasion of wild radish carry out the following activities to destroy it:
- Weed seedlings are destroyed at the “white thread” stage - this stage begins in early spring, when rare shoots appear on the surface of the soil, but seeds already germinate en masse in the ground. It is enough to loosen the soil to a depth of 5 cm with a hoe or rake to destroy most of the weeds.
- Dig the ground in the autumn.
- Sowing of winter and row crops alternate.
- Use herbicides approved for use.
- If the area of the site is small, then the weeds are removed by hand.
Wild radish causes great harm to agriculture, so they are constantly fighting against it.
Wild radish is a weed plant that is not devoid of useful properties. Specially wild radish is rarely grown, often, on the contrary, they try to get rid of it, since it prevents many crops, especially cereals, from growing. When using wild radish for medicinal purposes, the recipe is strictly observed in order to avoid possible poisoning.