Ostrolistni beluš

Description

Ostrolisty asparagus is always green, playful, considerably carved perennial with bare, up to 2 m long, greyish, bent or pebbled, well branched, but often rare shoots. Young shoots, which are drained from the heavily developed underground roots, are greenish-brown to violet, from 0.5 to 1 cm thick, pointed and very gentle on top. After a few days, they grow in size and partly become thinner. Long shoots are not capable of independent growth in height, so they often lean on other plants or substrates. 

The leaves are tiny, scaly, leathery, rusty-green, and later brownish and almost imperceptible. It is a bluish and usually bicameral species, which means that we distinguish between male and female plants, bloom from April to July, sometimes until September. Flowers individually or in pairs grow out of the stem and are single-sex, have a yellowish-green to white floral dress, they are starred, hexagons and scented. The fruit is up to 8 mm thick black strawberry, containing 1-2 seeds.

Widespread:

Prevalence along the Adriatic Sea The Ostrolist Belus is one of the most frequent plants all over the Adriatic, and is found everywhere on the continent and islands. It is frequented by the northern Adriatic in Istria, the Slovenian coast and the Trieste coast. In warm places, many are still deep inside. In Slovenia, for example, it grows in the middle Soča valley along the slopes above the banks of the Soča River, all the way to the village of Plava, the northernmost location is at Ročinje.

Use in healing and culinary arts:

Young shoots of ostrich asparagus, t. i. wild asparagus, are edible, as long as they are soft and not greasy, and their gathering is extremely popular in the coastal areas with almost all the Adriatic. We only collect young, yet underexploited shoots, since the plant is later becoming very bitter and hard. From them we prepare a variety of fresh, cooked and roasted dishes, known as soups and risotto; in Dalmatia, a popular salad of wild asparagus is popular. The most famous dish is almost t. i. fritja with asparagus prepared as an egg asparagus with asparagus previously dressed on olive oil. It is especially popular in Slovenian and Croatian Istria, where in recent years there are more and more tourist and culinary events dedicated to the promotion of wild asparagus.

The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans have known the herbs, while in Europe they have been cultivated in northern Italy since the 16th century. Wild asparagus is distinguished from the cultivated by a stronger and more intense taste, which is given by a high content of aromatic substances and bitters. They do not have extremely high nutritional value because they contain little vitamins and minerals, but they can be digestible and apply to diet foods. The asparagus is attributed to several healing properties, as it is likely to promote kidney function and water secretion, have a beneficial effect on the heart, and sometimes they are believed to be an aphrodisiac.