The forest always attracts people with its beauty. It served people as shelter, gave food, and protected them from dangers. Today, people no longer need to protect the forest. He comes under his roof to recharge himself with energy and stock up on vitamins, which are given in abundance by the riches of the forest. A plant with edible fruits can be found in any corner of the green area.
However, the forest can be fraught with many dangers. This refers not only to wild animals, but also to poisonous plants, which can be quite difficult to distinguish from medicinal or simply edible ones. It is important to know them in person in order to reduce the risk of error to a minimum. Forest berries are found in sufficient quantities in nature. A plant with edible fruits - the names and special characteristics of the most common berries in our latitudes are presented below - you need to be able to distinguish.
Blackberries - wild berries
A plant with edible fruits (there are wild and cultivated plantings) can often be confused with poisonous ones. However, the same cannot be said about blackberries. This shrub is known even to children thanks to its special fruits. Outwardly, they are very similar to raspberries, but they differ in color and are slightly larger in size. The color of blackberries is black, with a bluish coating that cannot be confused with other berries. Blackberries ripen between August and September.
The distribution area of this shrub is quite large. It prefers places on river banks, fields and water meadows, which are found in abundance throughout European Russia, Western Siberia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Fetal development[ | ]
As a rule, the fruit develops after fertilization, but in some angiosperms it can also form as a result of apomixis, that is, the development of the seed embryo without fertilization (parthenocarpic fruits).
The morphological basis of the fruit is the gynoecium, primarily the ovary. Other parts of the flower - the perianth, stamens and calyx - often quickly fade, but often change and, together with the gynoecium, also take part in the formation of the fruit, becoming succulent or, on the contrary, woody or filmy. The most profound changes occur in the ovary. Its walls grow due to increased cell division and an increase in their size. After pollination, there is a significant change in the direction of transport flows and a redistribution of nutrients towards developing fruits. In herbaceous plants (especially annuals), almost all synthesized organic substances are used by developing seeds and fruits, which leads to the depletion of other plant tissues. Many plants bear fruit only once in their entire life.
When ripening, the fruit goes through a number of stages, which are characterized by morphological, physiological and biochemical changes. Ripening begins when the fruit stops growing, chlorophyll and tannins decompose, and pigments accumulate in the vacuoles, which determine the color of the fruit characteristic of this species. In some plant species, such as potatoes, the fruits remain green even when ripe. Various plastic and energetic substances are concentrated in the walls of the fetus: proteins, starch, sugars, fatty oils, some vitamins and others. When ripening, the fruits of a number of plants undergo a climacteric rise in respiration[3][4]. A ripe fruit is characterized by a combination of characteristics unique to it.
A ripened fruit enters the last stage - death, during which new substances usually do not enter the fruit, cells do not divide or grow, and gradually the tissues of the fetus are destroyed and rot. In most flowering plants, the ripe fruit falls off and dies on the ground.
See also: Fruit ripening
The fruit carries a seed or seeds, which in some plants can be up to several thousand. This is its most important part, ensuring the reproduction of this species over a number of generations. However, by weight, seeds usually belong to a smaller part of the fruit. In nature and especially in culture, seedless fruits are found. As a result of long-term selection, seedless varieties of cultivated grapes ( Vitis vinifera
), banana (
Musa
) and other crops.
Mature seeds are attached to the pericarp in those places where the placenta was located in the ovary, or lie freely in the fetal cavity, or are tightly surrounded by a fleshy wall. The maximum number of seeds in a fruit is equal to the number of ovules, but usually less, since not all ovules reach maturity.
Dogwood
The berries of this plant, common in Russia, Crimea and the Caucasus, have long been famous for their beneficial properties. Therefore, in this case, the question does not arise which berries to avoid and which ones to eat. Forest thickets of dogwood (a plant with edible fruits of this berry also grows successfully in garden plots) especially delight those who during the season collect whole buckets of a unique product for fresh consumption and for packing for the winter. Its juicy fruits reach three centimeters in size and have a cylindrical pear-shaped or oval shape. These sweet and sour tart fruits of red, yellow or ruby color cannot be confused with any others. The ripening process of berries occurs from August to October. The astringent taste of fully ripe fruits is slightly reduced compared to unripe ones.
Examples of prickly pear fruits
Fig tree or fig - description of what the fruit looks like
Opuntia fruits used for food vary in appearance. So, for example, the small-haired plant species has red fruits, the Lindheimer prickly pear has purple fruits with a white top, and some other varieties have yellow-green fruits. The only thing that all these fruits have in common is their original exotic taste.
Taste qualities
The fruit of prickly pear is also called cactus fig. The pulp of the fruit is juicy and has a pleasant sweet and sour taste, which some associate with strawberries, others with kiwi, and still others with a pear. The surface of the plant is hard and covered with needles.
Prickly pear fruits are very refreshing
The exotic fruit can be found in grocery stores in many countries. A special grabber is usually placed in a tray with fruits, with the help of which the fruit is taken.
Important! If you take the fruit with your bare hands, you can cause significant harm to yourself - the needles will stick into the skin.
How to pull out needles
It is not recommended to touch the needles on the prickly pear fruit under any circumstances. Although they are small, they are very painful. If it happens that the thorns have dug into the skin of your hands, you will need to follow these steps:
- Carefully examine your hands to understand in which specific places the cactus left a mark.
- Carefully remove all the needles with tweezers.
- Clean your hands with an alcohol-containing solution
Important! Needles should be removed over the sink. This will make it easier to wash them off with water, and they won’t stick anywhere else.
How to eat fruit correctly
You should use rubber gloves to remove needles from the fruit. You should first soak the berries in cold water or rinse them under a high-pressure tap. Carrying out the described manipulations will wash away the smallest needles. After washing, the fruit should be dried thoroughly with a paper towel. In some countries, freezing prickly pears is practiced - after this, the needles are easily shaken off and washed off. You can also scorch the fruit over a fire, as is done with chicken carcasses, to remove any remaining plumage.
After this, all that remains is to peel the fruit.
To do this you will need:
- Cut off the ends of the fruit;
- Cut the berries lengthwise;
- Remove the skin from the pulp.
Benefits and harm to the body
Cactus fruits have a large number of beneficial properties:
- strengthen the immune system due to the high content of vitamin C;
- improve digestion due to the content of sufficient dietary fiber;
- strengthen bones and teeth, thanks to the rich calcium content;
- reduce weight;
- improve heart function.
Fruits cause virtually no harm. The only exceptions are the presence of allergic reactions and individual intolerance.
Cranberry
This low shrub with dark green leaves prefers to grow in swamps, so it can almost always be found in the forest or tundra zone of Russia. Cranberries - what are they? Forest. A plant with edible fruits, so beloved in the Russian outback, almost always grows only in the wild. When you come to the forest, you can safely eat cranberries, because it is not at all difficult to distinguish these healthy berries from other forest plants. First of all, these red berries are not hidden under the leaves, so it will be quite easy to notice and find them. The fruits ripen in September, but you don't have to rush to pick these berries. They have the ability to be preserved under the snow, and many connoisseurs claim that overwintered berries are much sweeter. Autumn berries are firmer, unlike those that can be found immediately after the snow melts. The only drawback of picking berries in the spring is that long-term storage is impossible.
Black elderberry
This plant was able to spread widely in our latitudes, namely throughout the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and also in the Caucasus. After all, it is in these regions that the fertile lands are ideal for this shrub. The ideal conditions for black elderberry are deciduous forests, although sometimes it can be found mixed with coniferous forests. You need to look for black elderberry bushes on the edges or in the undergrowth.
There are several varieties of elderberry, so it is important to know exactly what you can collect, which wild berries? A plant with edible elderberry fruits is not much different from those species that should be avoided. The main difference between the healthy black elderberry and its close relative, the red elderberry, is the color of the fruit. The berries of the poisonous plant have a rich red color, while the edible fruits are black with a purple tint, with juicy red-violet pulp.
Black elderberry berries are very small, but they are collected in large clusters. Their ripening period is August and September, but they remain on the branches until the leaves fall.
Structure of the fruit[ | ]
Structure of a peach fruit (diagram)
Various parts of the flower take part in the formation of the fruit, but primarily the ovary. The wall of the fruit, the pericarp or pericarp, is formed from the wall of the ovary. In the pericarp, three layers are usually distinguished: the outer - exocarp or epicarp, the middle - mesocarp and the inner - endocarp.
These three layers can be clearly distinguished: for example, in the cherry fruit there is a thin leathery outer layer - the exocarp, an edible juicy pulp of the fruit - the mesocarp, a hard stone of stony tissue surrounding the single seed - the endocarp. Often these layers of the pericarp differ only slightly, even during anatomical examination, which is associated with deformation and compression of cells during fetal ripening.
Seeds are formed from ovules.
Cowberry
Next to cloudberry berries you can often find other forest berries, a plant with edible fruits - lingonberries. This evergreen shrub with branched stems is small in size, but its thickets can stretch for several kilometers.
The fruits of this plant are small, round in shape and painted in a bright, rich red color. Like most forest plants, lingonberries ripen in August and September.
Most often, lingonberries can be found in spruce and pine forests, although they are also found in deciduous and even tundra. Its distribution area is almost the entire territory of Russia.
Turn
In the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus and Western Siberia, you can find other, unique forest fruits. A plant with edible fruits, its name is thorn, or blackthorn. Its dense, thorny, impenetrable thickets can be found in ravines, on forest edges, near rivers and along roads.
Blackthorn berries are quite small. They have a round shape and are classified as single-druped plants. The color of the fruit is dark blue, with a waxy coating. The tart-sour berries of sloe ripen quite late - in August and September, and they remain on the branches until spring. After the first frost, sloe berries lose their astringency. Blackthorn is highly prolific.
Shape and size[ | ]
Sunflower achene, on the left, cleared of husks.
Fruits, depending on the type, can have different shapes: spherical, pear-shaped, cylindrical, spiral, bead-shaped, lenticular, winged, and many others. Thus, each species is characterized by a special unique shape of its fruits. On top of that, the surface of the fruit can be smooth, warty, prickly, and so on[5].
Another important and at the same time extremely variable feature is the size of the fruit: from very large (for example, cowpea beans ( Vigna unguiculata
) from the Legume family can exceed one meter in length; pumpkin and watermelon can have very large fruits) to small and very small (less than one millimeter) fruits in herbaceous plants[5].
Blueberries - favorite forest berries
A plant with edible fruits, blueberries, are considered originally Russian. The fact is that almost all of the world's reserves of this healthy berry grow in Russia. Most often, this shrub can be found in the North and Far East, although it is sometimes found in the Baltic countries, Ukraine and the Caucasus. Blueberries are capable of forming continuous wastelands in which there is no room for a tree layer. Dark blue blueberries have a waxy coating. Very often this plant is confused with its close relative - blueberry. Their appearance - fruits and leaves - are indeed very similar, however, the taste of the fruits of these plants is significantly different.
One of the riches of our nature is forest berries. A plant with edible fruits can supplement your diet; you can enjoy tasty and healthy berries while hiking in the forest. They will help satisfy hunger and saturate the body with vitamins. Some plants - strawberries, raspberries, rose hips - are not named in the list, because they have been known to everyone since childhood, and they are often grown in personal plots.
