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Humanity uses in agriculture quite a few of the plant species available on Earth, but even among them there are truly amazing ones, such as, for example, jida.

This plant is also called Pshat, Loch tree, Jida, its history has been lost for centuries, and the distribution area is quite large, but it has never been grown on an industrial scale.

“I have known Jida since childhood, this is one of the most beautiful trees that grow in our places,” Shohrat, a resident of the Gubadag district, Dashoguz province, says. “Jida has unusual smell. The shrub looks beautiful due to its dense lush crown that shimmers in wind, as the leaves have a pleasant silver color, and a cloud of narrow light leaves wraps the tree up from the ground to the crown.”

“Jida tree has small red fruits that look like small dates and are ripen in autumn. They have a dense glossy red-brown or dark orange skin. The fruit is a fleshy drupe with sweet taste containing a single olive-like seed. The berries are very nutritious and very rich in vitamins,” Shohrat continues.

As the gardener said, since ancient times, jida was cultivated in the northern region of Turkmenistan as a food plant: the fruits are used for making sweets - “Idjan”, “Talhan”, desserts, and drinks; berries can be used as dried fruits also.

Jeda tree is a shrub or small fine tree that is most often used by landscape designers to decorate the site. Almost any conditions are suitable for its cultivation, as the plant is unpretentious, it can grow even in poor soil.

Jida berries can be bought along with sunflower seeds, kurt (dry sour-milk product) and apricot kernel. Fresh fruits are poorly stored, that is why the berries are often sold as dry fruits.

Along other properties, berries, flowers, leaves of jida tree have valuable medical features and are used in folk medicine. The flesh is eatable, it tastes like cherry, it contains carbohydrates, vegetable protein, vitamins, organic acids, phytocyanins, antioxidants. While its leaves and flowers have catechins, tannins and many other active substances. Often, berries are used for making compotes and jams.

Jida tree wood is useful also. The wood serves as a material for the production of furniture and all kinds of carpentry. Various musical instruments can be made of wood. A gum extracted from waste is used in printing offices and textile industry.

Myahri YAGMUROVA