Lumbago, or Pulsatilla - do not disturb sleep

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Still in our gardens lumbago, or pulsatilla (Pulsatilla), or dream grass It is not found as often as it deserves, both for its beauty, and early flowering, and touching fluffy fruits, and for the true Russian origin of many species. In Russia, in Altai, according to some scholars, there is a center of speciation of the genus cross.

Aksakov in his book “The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson” wrote: “All ramps were covered with snowy tulips called sleep". I remember such huge "sleepy glades" as I saw 35 years ago. Where are they now? Melted like a dream! And now I can admire only a few bushes of the common lumbago with lilac and red flowers, alone, without my many brothers who meet spring on my alpine hill.

A few sunny days are enough for them to open their large bell flowers, breaking out from under the cover of last year's leaves. From unpredictable spring weather, the stems, buds and luxurious sparkling flowers of sleep-grass are reliably protected by thick gentle down. And even drooping buds grabbed by strong spring frosts will certainly rise and come to life - true primroses!

Planting and growing lumbago

Backachells grow well in open sunny places, on sandy, but rich, loose, fairly moist, but necessarily drained soil. When planting between plants withstand a distance of 30-50 cm.

In dry times, plants are watered and mulched with humus or peat. In winter, lumbago (especially seedlings of the first year of life), despite their high winter hardiness, in the event of snowless frosts, it is still better to cover with lapnik. In addition, plants need protection from winter moisture. Young plants can be attacked by slugs and snails. In one place, the lumbago grows well and blooms for 6-10 years. A wonderful companion in the garden can be the spring Adonis (Adonis vernalis).

Backbones are propagated by seeds that retain viability for three years, which is best sown in spring in well-warmed (optimal germination temperature 20-25 ° C) soil or in winter. Lumbago seeds with a long tuft. Soaked in moist soil, the crest curls like a little corkscrew, and draws a seed into the soil. With spring sowing, seedlings appear after 3-4 weeks. Shoots must be obscured. Seedlings bloom in the second or third year.

Plants derived from seeds do not always repeat the color of the original variety. An adult plant does not tolerate transplanting very well, but if you still decide to transplant it, you need to do this at the end of August, trying to save as much soil as possible so as not to damage the fragile roots. Due to the fact that the lumbago is so poorly taken root and so rare, you should not transfer it to the garden from the edge of the forest, where you can still see it among the pines. Lumbago is also propagated by root cuttings in early spring.

The plant is excellent in cut. But picking flowers in nature is simply a criminal activity. "Decapitation" of flowers weakens the plant, leads to premature aging, deprives it of the ability to plant seeds, and therefore, give life to a new generation. In this situation, the plant increases its population only due to growth, and it proceeds very slowly, and besides, its genetic renewal does not occur, which contributes to the rapid degeneration.

Gender Description

The name of the genus comes from the Latin word ‘pulsare’ - to hesitate, move, as the flowers sway from the slightest blow of the wind. And they are called lumbago, apparently because in spring stems with buds, like arrows, penetrate the ground. "Sleep-grass" - inclined, as if dozing a flower. In addition, the plant has a sedative effect: it calms, and in high doses it is a sleeping pill. ("Sleep-grass, sleep-grass, sleep-grass, beat me with sleep, beat me ..." A. A. Buzni).

She fell asleep from the sleep-grass laid under her head, Brünnhilde from the Scandinavian epic "Edda", during the all-night service and lazy monks, in whom the devil threw flowers lumbered ("Pechersky Paterik"). And the hunters had occasion to meet bears in the forest, who had become tipsy either from spring, or, as they consider, from this spring flower. Used the flower and in fortune telling. On the night of the full moon they put him under a pillow, and if in a dream they saw a girl or a young man - to a good happy year, and if something unpleasant is seen, wait for grief.

People attributed to the chamber and miraculous properties. For example, in an old herbalist it was said: “Whoever carries this grass with him, the devil runs away from that person, keep good in the house, and build mansions - put it at an angle, you will live in harmony”.

Lumbago, sleep-grass, pulsatilla (Pulsatilla) is a deciduous plant (sometimes some leaves are preserved after winter) from the ranunculaceae family (Ranunculaceae), growing mainly in Europe, Siberia, the Caucasus and only 2 species - in America. The genus includes about 30-45 (according to various sources) species of herbaceous perennials.

These are low, from 3 to 45 cm tall plants with a long brittle, vertical or oblique-vertical thick rhizome and thin, fragile, roots extending far to the sides, having a well-defined main root. Upright, significantly lengthening when bearing stems covered with hairs. Basal, collected in a rosette, petiolate, palmate or pinnately dissected, covered with a silver fluff, similar to fern leaves grow from buds located on the rhizome, simultaneously with or after flowering. The number of leaves is increasing every year.

An adult plant can reach a diameter of 50 cm and have up to 200 leaves. Lumbago blooms in spring or early summer, solitary, bell-shaped or cupped, usually 6-lobed, drooping, large, 2-8 cm in diameter, purple, purple, golden yellow or white, with a silver or golden exquisite pubescence of flowers. The flowers are framed by leaflets of a wrapper, forming a bell-shaped whorl.

When the flower fades, the peduncle is greatly lengthened and a beautiful fluffy multi-root fruit is formed. Individual nuts are provided with rather long awns (stylodes), usually densely pubescent, cast in the exact color in which the tepals are painted. Before the fruits, thanks to their spines, begin to fly apart and screw into the ground, the fluffy, cirrus-silky, plume-like puff will serve as a wonderful decoration for the plant.

Lumbago species

Recently, some species of lumbago, as well as liverworts, have been identified as a subspecies of the genus Anemone and are synonymous. On sale, you can sometimes find lumbago under the name of anemones, usually with the same species name.

And here they are, the most famous types of lumbago: all without exception are “handsome”, all, alas, from our Red Book, but so far they are rarely found in Russia:

Backache spring (Pulsatilla vernalis, syn. Anemone vernalis) - bush height and width at the time of flowering 7-15 cm, later grows to 30-40 cm in height. The stem, wrapper leaves and leaves are densely pubescent with protruding bronze-golden hairs. Wintering, almost leathery, ternary or pinnately dissected, bright green leaves 6-12 cm long, consisting of 3-5 deep-toothed leaves, are collected in a basal rosette. During flowering, the leaves are already well developed.

Blossoms in April-May, 20-25 days, white, silky bell-shaped flowers outside up to 6 cm in diameter, with a barely noticeable purple tint inside and light purple or pink - outside. The bells hanging at the beginning of flowering are then straightened. Under natural conditions, selects dry slopes. Despite its relatively wide distribution in the wild (this is not about us, it is rare in the European part of Russia), it is rather difficult in culture.

The plant strongly dislikes alkali, preferring peat, humus, sand or a substrate made up of complex parts, including pine needles. Therefore, the spring chamber is usually short-lived, but it is easy to propagate by seeds. Planted in open sunny places.

Backache yellowing (Pulsatilla flavescens, syn. Anemone flavescens) - a plant about 20 cm high and wide, with triple dark green outside and lighter underneath leaves, which is closely related to open lumbago. Blooms in April-May with cup-shaped, large, sulfur-yellow or ivory flowers up to 8 cm in diameter.

The opened flowers gradually “build up” yellowness in the color of the inside and acquire a bluish tint from the outside. With the right landing site, the plant shows the wonders of durability and winter hardiness. Prefers neutral or slightly acidic soil. On the territory of Russia, it is most often found in the Ural Mountains. The distribution area is from the Volga in the west to the Lena in the east.

Backache Chinese (Pulsatilla chinensis, syn. Anemone chinensis) - a plant that forms small bumps, consisting of several rosettes. Stems 10-15 cm tall during flowering by the time of fruiting become twice as high. Blossoms in April-May with lilac-purple, drooping flowers. The plant does not like wet winters and springs. In nature, grows in dry meadows and rocky hills. It withstands frosts down to -20 ° С. Distribution area - Northern China and Eastern Siberia.

Backache Kostycheva (Pulsatilla kostyczewi) - a rare Altai endemic, found at an altitude of 3 thousand meters above sea level. It blooms in March-April, sometimes a second time - in September.

Backache meadow (Pulsatilla pratensis, syn. Anemone pratensis) - a plant 15-30 cm high. Blossoms in April-May 25-30 days. It is found in nature in pine forests, on open sandy hills, on dry sunny hills. Distributed in the European part of Russia.

Lumbago ordinary (Pulsatilla vulgaris, syn. Anemone pulsatilla) - a bush 10-30 cm tall and up to 20 cm in diameter, with a vertical rhizome and thinly dissected, cirrus, bright green leaves 8-20 cm long, consisting of 7-9 cirrus dissected leaves with linear or linear-lanceolate lobes, which can be up to 40. Leaves appear during flowering. Young leaves are also very pubescent, but after flowering become almost bare.

By the time of fruiting, silky pubescent stems extend up to a height of 30 cm. Blooms in April-May with semi-clinking light purple, pale purple, less often white, silky pubescent bell flowers 4-9 cm in diameter, with numerous yellow anthers. The flower is surrounded by leaves of the wrapper, covered with silver-white pubescence.

There are several forms. The form 'alba ’ - with pure white flowers; the form 'rubra ’ - with red; "atoepa"- with large red-violet; ‘atrosanquinea ’ - with black and red. Popular varieties: ‘Mrs. Van der Elst ’ - with large pink flowers; ‘Rodde Klokke ’ (the name of this Scandinavian variety can often be found in another spelling - ‘Red clock ’) - with dark red; ‘White Swen ’ - with white. Good drainage and calcareous soil are the key to successful cultivation. Distribution area - Europe, Siberia.

Open chamber (Pulsatilla patens, syn. Anemone patens) - a bush 15-20 cm high (occasionally higher) and about 10 cm in diameter with a powerful vertical dark brown rhizome and erect stems, densely pubescent with protruding soft hairs. It has long teles, round-heart-shaped, roughly pubescent, 3-7 - palmately dissected, green leaves up to 12 cm long. Each leaflet is divided into 15-80 linear or linear-lanceolate segments.

The flowers are 5-8 cm in diameter, initially bell-shaped (resembling a tulip), then open almost to a star-shaped shape, non-wading, blue-violet, lilac, less often yellowish or yellowish-white, with 6 "petals", 3-5 cm long, outside covered with protruding hairs. It blooms in early spring, in April-May, before the appearance of rosette leaves. Prefers to grow in open areas and calcareous soils. The multi-root fruits, equipped with a pinnate-fibrous awn (2.5-4.5 cm long), ripen in May-June. On the territory of Russia it is found in the European part and Western Siberia. In the east comes to the Irtysh.