Caragana arborescens
Encyclopedia
Caragana arborescens, or Caragana or Siberian peashrub, is a species of legume
Faboideae
Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. One acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....

. It is a perennial shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 growing to heights of 12 feet or more. Typically, it has a moderate to fast growth rate, being able to grow one to three feet during the first year after trimming. The plant is native to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

 and parts of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and neighboring Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

 and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. It is commonly grown throughout the northern hemisphere as a landscaping plant and ornamental
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

.

Caragana has pod fruits which contain many seeds. These ripen in July and if left, will fall off the shrub and the seeds will grow to become a new plant very near the parent shrub. The leaves of the caragana vary from light green to dark green and are alternate and compound with many small leaflets. Somewhat showy, small, fragrant, yellow flowers bloom in May or June.

The plant has a number of uses for humans. It was taken to the United States by settlers emigrating from the area of the world where the plant is native The original settlers brought the caragana pods and shrubs as a food source while travelling west.

Uses

  • Windbreak
    Windbreak
    A windbreak or shelterbelt is a plantation usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted around the edges of fields on farms. If designed properly, windbreaks around a...

    s - The caragana is recommended for planting in the outer rows of multi-row plantings. It can be used to neutralize soil to prepare for further planting. A legume, the caragana fixes nitrogen
    Nitrogen fixation
    Nitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...

    . It is suitable for planting in single-row field windbreaks where a dense, short barrier is desired.

  • Wildlife habitat - The caragana is used for nesting by several songbirds
    Passerine
    A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

    . The seeds are occasionally eaten by a few songbirds. The plant is not a preferred food for browsing animals, but its fragrant flowers attract many pollen-consuming animals.

  • Erosion control
    Erosion
    Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

     - The caragans has an extensive root system that can be used to assist with erosion control.

  • Ornamental
    Ornamental plant
    Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

     - The caragana, with its small fragrant flowers and attractive compound leaflets, is used alongside lilac
    Lilac
    Syringa is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering woody plants in the olive family , native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in temperate areas elsewhere....

    s to create a 'compare and contrast' appearance.

  • Bee plants
    Bee
    Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

     - The caragana has a fragrant flower that naturally will attract bees. The honey
    Honey
    Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

     created has a pleasant taste, slightly 'fruity'.

  • Cultivated food source - The caragana has a slightly bitter tasting 'pea', usually 3-4 to a pod, that is edible. They should be cooked before eaten. There have been no verified cases of poisoning from consuming the caragana pea. Additionally, the yellow flowers which have a taste like peas, can be used in salads to add colour and some flavour.

  • Bonsai Trees
    Bonsai
    is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...

     - make delightful bonsai medium to large size and have year round interest, from bark to stems to flowers and fruit pods.

Culture

This plant is marginally adapted to a climate with warm summers and is a winter-hardy, drought-tolerant, long-lived, medium to tall shrub. It can grow well on a wide range of soils; however, it does not perform well on very dry, sandy soils or wet soils. During the summer months of extremely dry years this species may drop its leaves and not grow.

It is common practice to trim the shrub back to the root, with 6 to 12 inches remaining aboveground, when the shrub is desired to appear more like a bush than a tree. The shrub will adapt well to this trimming if adequate water and nitrogen-rich fertilizer is supplied, and will regrow about 4 feet per year until reaching the desired height.

In some areas of the United States this plant is considered to be an invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

.

There are no known serious disease problems. Grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...

s can defoliate this species during some years but it recovers well from the attacks. There are no known burrowing animals that feed on this plant's root system.

External links

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