Exploring Plants with Alfia

  In the downtown of Kazan, between Nekrasova and Chapova streets, there is a small park called "Hermitage Garden". Before the Revolution, this area was private and passed from one owner to another. The exact date when it became a park is not known. The park was organized as a central park of the city in the 20 th century due to its convenient location and its beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, the non-central parts of the park are now in a semi-abandoned state. The variety of trees is still great: Norway maple, linden, birch, aspen, poplar, hawthorn, larch. However, these are all old trees and there are very few young trees. There are a lot of box elders in the park. Box elder or ash-leaved maple ( Acer negundo L.) is native to North America. In the 17 th century, the seeds of this species of maple were planted in parks and squares in Europe, and at the end of the 18 th century - in Russia as a rapidly growing ornamental tree. However, in the 20 th century the box elde...

  The hero of today's postcard is the snowberry (Symphoricarpos Dill. ex Juss.), a member of the family. Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). The genus name is derived from the ancient Greek words συμφορεῖν (sampforhein), meaning "to bear together", and καρπός (karpos), meaning "fruit". In fact, the fruits on the branches form tightly packed clusters.  The white fruits on its branches are very conspicuous and decorate parks throughout the winter. The snowberry is native to North America, where it grows in mixed forests and its fruits are eaten by quail, pheasants and grouse. In Europe birds usually do not eat them, although it is noted that European greenfinches and bullfinches sometimes eat snowberry seeds. In any case, not too eagerly, as the berries are preserved on the bush until spring. The berries are poisonous and contain isoquinoline alkaloids. This is a very broad class of alkaloids, each subgroup of alkaloids of this class is characterized by its act...