Dewberry in SPNA "Russian-German Switzerland"

 

In the hustle and bustle of the big city, when you're running around like a squirrel, trying to get everything done in a hurry, it's good to stop, let go of "everything" for a while and go for a walk.  This walk, not along the trails of an urbanized park, but along the paths of a wooded, hilly, shrubby natural area, where you can see a lot of interesting things. 

Such a corner is the area of the park "Russian-German Switzerland", the SPNA (specially protected natural area, status - natural monument), its paths stretch along the Kazanka River from the Millennium Bridge to the Novatorov railway station.

In the early 19th century, Karl Fuchs, a professor at Kazan University, led botanical and entomological excursions with his students. One of his students was Sergey Aksakov, the author of the fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower". In the USA known as a cartoon "The Beuaty and the Beast". Already an old man, Aksakov wrote an essay-memoir "Collecting Butterflies", in which he describes his student life, the passionate competition of student groups in collecting butterflies, his friendship with the Panayev brothers, and, of course, the butterflies themselves, their beauty. He ends his story with these words:

Nature, unnoticed by me, was reflected in my soul with its eternal beauties, and such impressions, brightly and harmoniously appearing later, - are a blessing, and the memory of them evokes a pleasant feeling from the depths of the human soul.

The name Russian-German Switzerland was created under the influence of the Panayev brothers, who agreed among themselves to call this hilly area "Kazan Switzerland", and one of the brothers wrote an article "Switzerland in Kazan" in the student manuscript journal "Arkadsky Shepherdesses".

Nowadays there are mainly ornithological excursions, as there are a lot of water and forest birds. The diversity of the plants is a sight to behold.

Today on my photo postcard I have placed a statement of the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu as a wish for everyone to find time for themselves, to disconnect from the hectic pace of life and to discover the beauty of nature in every blade of grass. Looking through the photos of plants taken in the park "Russian-German Switzerland", I decided that the beauty of the berries of the dewberry (Rubus caesius L.) will not leave you indifferent.

The bushes of this shrub can be found there along the paths and all summer long they delight with white flowers, which are difficult to distinguish from its close relative - the raspberry. However, in the fall, the black berries with a blue tinge (drupes) appear and cannot be confused with anything else. The color of the berries is determined by the abundance of anthocyanins, natural dyes, very useful for humans, I will tell more about them sometime at leisure.

What else can be said about dewberries? Probably the fact that it is a good nectar producer in the forest: bees collect 20 kilograms per hectare of dewberry bushes. Of course, this is more than modest in comparison with well-known nectar producers, but it is a good ratio for forest plants. And, of course, it is important to note that dewberry bushes in the forest are needed as habitat and food for many animals. The nectar, the berries, the leaves and shoots, even the thorns, all connect the different inhabitants of the SPNA by invisible threads.