Hazelnut, bloody, floating flyer, chilli and water chestnut - these are all the names of one plant, in Latin it sounds like Trapa natans.
To date, about 30 species of nuts are known, all of them are assigned to the same family, but are completely different in their appearance and size. The plants that grow in Siberia have only 6 horns, and between them about 6 centimeters of distance. And the species of chillim called Maksimovich has very tiny flowers, and the fruits have no horns at all.
Botanical Description
This is an annual plant from the Rogulnikov family, with a thin and branched root. As a rule, the root has a feathery-branched color.
The stem of the plant is also long and thin, creeping at the base. The leaves of the nut are located under water, opposite, and on the surface are at the top of the stem and assembled into a single outlet.
The leaves are green and have a rhombus-like shape with large teeth along the edges. By autumn, when the cold begins, the leaves turn orange or red.
The flowers consist of 4 small petals and can be pink or white. Always located on the surface of the plant. The flowering of water hazel begins in July, the fruits appear by autumn.
The fruits have curved and hard outgrowths, very similar to horns. The fruit itself is a brown-black drupe with an internal white seed that can be eaten. Seed can give life to a new plant even after 50 years of storage. In late autumn, the fruits of the plant fall, deeply attaching their outgrowths to the bottom. And by the spring they are already beginning to sprout, and everything starts all over again.
The plant enters other water bodies thanks to artiodactyl animals, the root of which clings to the hair and, once again in the water, begins to multiply.
Places of growth
Due to the prevalence of the plant around the world, it is quite difficult to establish where it first appeared and which territory is original for it. In the annals of China, Chilim is mentioned 3 thousand years ago.
Floating water chestnuts prefer ponds with stagnant water or a very small stream, where the water warms up as much as possible. It is found in Russia in the southern European part, in Siberia and the Far East. Most often, the plant can be found in reservoirs of the Kaliningrad region and in the Danube river basin. There are large plantations of this plant in the rivers and lakes of Central Asia and the North Caucasus.
In the East (China, Japan and China), the plant is grown for food purposes. In southern Africa can be found in almost every body of water.
Archaeological excavations confirm that our ancient ancestors used chillim. It was especially popular among ancient Russian people. It was found in large numbers during excavations, in all likelihood, it was eaten raw and fried, added to flour and dried. In some regions, water nut replaced potatoes with people and was a real help when a lean year came. Chillim seeds and residues were found in layers that date from the Tertiary period.
Security status
To date, this water culture is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, although a few decades ago, the fruits were sold in the markets. Already at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the plant was considered endangered, so many do not even know what water chestnut looks like. Chile is guarded locally by a number of countries:
- Ukraine;
- Belarus;
- Poland;
- Lithuania;
- Latvia.
The plant is also listed in the Berne Convention.
The value of water chestnut
The nutritional value of a water nut is only its kernel, whose calorie content is 185 kcal per 100 grams. A high calorific value is achieved due to the presence of a huge amount of starch, the level of which ranges from 47 to 56%. About 15-18% in the seed of water, 10-12% of nitrogenous substances, a little fiber, up to 1.5%, ash up to 25%, a very small percentage of fatty oil, about 0.60%.
Properties and Benefits
Chilim or water chestnut, despite the fact that it is considered endangered, is well known in our country. First of all, the fruit of this plant allows you to get rid of dysentery.
Hindus prefer to cook flour from a damn nut, from which they then bake cakes. The most important thing in this recipe is that the fruits are ground by hand, and the finished products are similar to bakery products from wheat.
Use in medicine
But not only is a plant used for cooking, it has been widely used in folk medicine. Chilim is used for cooking or in raw form in the presence of a number of diseases:
- atherosclerosis;
- gastrointestinal pathology;
- poisoning;
- general intoxication.
Official medicine has also recognized this plant, it is used to make the drug Trapazid, which is used to treat atherosclerosis.
Hindus and Chinese use water nut seeds as a tonic and diaphoretic.
And in Japan and Tibet, even propaganda is being carried out among men so that they use the fruits of the plant as a prophylactic and therapeutic agent for impotence, with renal pathologies.
Among all the peoples who use chillim, it is known that it has pronounced antiviral properties and contributes to an increase in immune forces.
But not only the fruits are used for medicinal purposes, the tincture of flowers and leaves is drunk to restore strength after any illness. And in order to get rid of eye diseases, they drink freshly squeezed juice from chillim leaves.
With purulent sore throat, gargle with juice. In nature, juice can be used to lubricate the bites of mosquitoes and other insects, or use fresh leaves that should be applied to the bites.
Contraindications
Despite the fact that water chestnut has been well studied and described, nevertheless, like any other plant, it should be used in limited quantities, in no case should the recommended dosage be exceeded. Although, in addition to individual intolerance, the flywort has no other contraindications, and it is not even classified as a poisonous plant.
Do not use a plant if there is an individual intolerance.
Billet
Collection and preparation for storage in our country are carried out in September, during the period when the rot of the stem begins, and the plant itself changes color.
Fresh leaves are used to make the juice, and it can be prepared when the chilli blooms.
If fruits are collected, then they should be stored only in a dry room, previously spread out in a thin layer. The nuts themselves can be stored unpeeled, but then they will have to be placed in a cellar or refrigerator. After cleaning, the fruits of chilim in a couple of days lose all their taste.
Cooking Application
Hazelnut - a plant for ponds and for food. Most often in the restaurant menu or in recipes there is such an ingredient as water chestnut, so this is chili. It is added to salads, boiled and baked, fried and added to sauces. There is even a recipe for making a croissant dessert. This sweet dish can be cooked even at home - boil milk, add chilli fruit and sugar, boil until the nut softens, then chop with a knife or blender and let the dish cool for 30 minutes.
Cosmetology and watermelon Chilim
Photos of girls from the covers of glossy magazines are often admired, of course, that they are processed by computer programs, but all the same, constant and thorough care is carried out for the skin. Few people know that it is chillim that is often added to cosmetics, since it has tonic properties. Flygun juice can be used pointwise to combat rashes, ideal for oily skin care.
Beautiful decoration for the pond
A photo of a water nut in natural and artificial ponds always looks effective. If possible, this plant must be planted in its pond. The main thing is that the pond is not freezing.
To breed chillim, nuts are thrown to the bottom, which should be covered with fertile soil. For the winter, nuts can be hidden in the refrigerator, previously placed in a container of water. With the beginning of spring, chilim will already begin to rise on its own, even in the refrigerator.
For breeding in the pond, they use a Japanese or horticultural species, Siberian, Manchu and Russian are also suitable.
Growing rules
Large open mollusks should not be present in the open water body in which the flycatcher will grow, as they will quickly absorb the young shoots of chilim. The optimum temperature of the reservoir for plant growth is +25 degrees.
Water should be stagnant and fresh, constantly illuminated by the rays of the sun. The pond should not be shallow, since the height of the stem can reach 4 meters. If you plan to use the nut for medicinal purposes, then you should not plant it in aquariums, as there will be no harvest.
However, the flyer does not like dirt, the bottom of the pond will have to be cleaned well. It is recommended to cover the bottom with sand, silt and oily clay, but the substrate should not be taken from the first lake that has come across. The flywort will not grow on soil that has impurities.
