It seems that all of the most interesting plants park KPI "Kyiv Polytechnic" already told. But ... In spring, making photos of the maple tree near CCA, which blossomed with reddish shoots, we noticed under the neighboring ginkgo biloba tree the land is dotted by tight bluish-brown pods with seeds-beans inside.It turns out that this is one more exotic, inherited from the former university agriculture unit – BUNDUCHI (Gymnocladus) dioecious plant (BUNDUCHI Canadian, soapberry, Kentucky coffee tree).
BUNDUCHI refers to the deciduous trees of the legume family. It reaches 30 meters in height, its crown - up to 8 m. The wood is hard, durable, with a pink core and a beautiful pattern. It has complex pinnate leaves up to 1 m, width - 40 cm. Flowers unisexual and bisexual, greenish, yellowish-white, lilac-purple, gathered in large panicles, with lemon flavor. Fruit - leathery pod up to 20 cm long, which houses up to five beans. Pod filled with a greenish gelatinous mass. The fruits ripen in autumn and then fall almost evenly throughout the year.
Experts confer plant many valuable properties, which are not yet fully understood. But there are some characteristics: bean contains alkaloid called cytisine, which is a poison. Milled raw fruit repels insects and cockroaches. Beans can be used to make a drink like a coffee (even with a foam).But the beans should be fried before at a temperature not lower than 260 ° C, freed from the skin and grinded. The gel inside a pod, soluble in water, can be used in cosmetics and as a cleaning agent, which do not dry or irritate the skin. They say that biology students even managed to wash in this solution, although it does not foam. When a higher concentration, the gel is used as an adhesive or a means for polishing furniture.
So, BUNDUCHI Canadian is an interesting and useful plant. And we have one more reason to remember with gratitude our predecessors, who collected Arboretum collection of KPI, proud of our park spaces and talk about them to others.