Bison

The Latin scientific name comes from the Greek words Greek. ἱερός - “holy, sent down by the gods, pleasing to the gods, sacred, divine” and Greek. χλοάζω - “green, green”; given in connection with the pleasant smell of all parts of plants.

In English-speaking countries, bison is called English. sweetgrass - "sweet grass", and in relation to the species odorous bison - English. holy grass , which means "sacred grass".

The Russian name of the genus is given by the appearance of the southern bison ( Hierochloe australis ). This plant species is a favorite bison food (cf. Polish .ubrówka, turówka ^[4] ), mainly living in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in the territory of modern Poland and Belarus .

Russian names for Dahl : "Rasten. Hierochloa borealis, gorse, mustard, chapolot, captain, bitter plane, flat, variegated wheatgrass, tomn (n?) Moth, cramming. ” ^[5]

Scented bison (1) and southern bison (2). Botanical illustration from the book of Johann Georg Sturm Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen , 1796. Artist Jacob Sturm

The rhizome is long creeping.

Stem with hollow internodes and thickened nodes , ascending or erect, glabrous, smooth, 30-70 cm high.

Leaves are alternate, linear (0.2-1.2 cm wide), flat, pointed, whole-edge, glabrous, smooth, with a long webbed tongue; basal - long, stem - shorter. The abaxial side is green and the adaxial side is gray-green. The beginning of the growing season is March.

The flowers are golden brown, in shiny egg-shaped spikelets 4–6 mm long with a strongly shortened axis, collected in an oblong, sprawling panicle inflorescence up to 10–12 cm long. The apical flower is bisexual, and two almost opposite lateral flowers are staminate. There are two stamens in a bisexual flower, three in stamens. Spikelet scales are equal to spikelets or slightly shorter than them, almost entirely webbed; the lower floral scales of the stamen flowers noticeably differ in shape and color from the lower floral scales of the bisexual flower, without spine or with a short but often articulated bent spine. It blooms in April and June.

The fruit is an elongated caryopsis of a dark brown color. The seeds are very small. The fruits ripen in August.

Propagated by seeds and vegetatively .

There are about 30 closely related species in the genus, which are found in extratropical zones of Europe , in Asia and America (in the north up to the tundra ) and in the highlands of the tropics .

It grows in flood meadows and solonetzic meadows , forest glades and edges , bushes , along river banks and in the mountains.

In Russia and neighboring countries, 8 species. In Russia, it is distributed in the European part , in the Caucasus , in Western Siberia and in the Far East . Fragrant bison (Hierochloe odorata), growing in meadows, clearings, in shrubs, sometimes as a weed, is widespread.

The plant is winter-hardy, relatively demanding on conditions of moisture, nutrition and aeration . Prefers sandy soil .

The grass contains alkaloids , ascorbic , ferulic , melilic , coumaric acids , coumarin glucoside (up to 0.2%), which gives the plant a specific aroma and slightly astringent taste. There are alkaloids in the stems and roots. Umbelliferon , a derivative of coumarin, was found in leaves and inflorescences.

Fragrant notch is used in the distillery industry for the preparation of aromatic tinctures (“ notch ” and others) and in the confectionery industry to obtain food essences , as a spice and flavoring for spicy and pickled herring . The plant is added to pickles , smoked by smoking and snuff , soft drinks .

In folk medicine, an aqueous infusion and a tincture of herbs on vodka are used to stimulate appetite and improve digestion in chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract ^[6] , fever , and are also used as an antiseptic and anti-tuberculosis drug.

The bison have a well-developed root system. This allows you to use it to strengthen railway embankments and ravine slopes.

As a feed, due to the presence of coumarin, bison is eaten poorly by livestock , but a small admixture in hay improves appetite and increases milk production in cows.

Some species can be used to arrange lawns , to create dry bouquets ^[7] .

Fresh leaves were used by American settlers as incense .

Taxonomic position

The genus Zubrovka, as well as the genera Foxtail and Oats , which are close to it, belong to the tribe Oats ( Aveneae ), belonging to the subfamily Bluegrass ( Pooideae ) of the Zlaki family , or Bluegrass ( Poaceae ).

Taxonomy

Taxonomy scheme (according to APG II System ):

According to the database of The Plant List , the genus includes 33 species ^[8] :

• Tsvelev N. N. Grains of the USSR / ed. ed. An. A. Fedorov . - L .: Nauka , 1976.- S. 346.- 788 p. - 2900 copies.
• Zubrovka // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. Retrieved October 8, 2009
• Zubrovka // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. Retrieved January 30, 2009

• Jubon on the Jepson Manual Treatment website Checked January 30, 2009
• Cramming on the USDA NRCS Website Checked January 30, 2009