Thursday, August 4, 2022

Buckthorn leaves look just like Aronia Chokeberry leaves!! How to tell the difference? The arrangement of the stem branches!

 To distinguish between aronia and buckthorn, you may need to examine the plant. Look at the leaf arrangement –aronia leaves are always in alternate arrangement (never paired), whereas buckthorn leaves are essentially opposite.

 Wow I just planted four of these bushes - with my nephew's help - new Aronia berry bushes!! They are native and can spread wild - and the berries are extremely medicinal. I used to juice them. Europeans traditionally did not like them since the berries are too bitter or astringent - but you just mix in honey! 

Due to its antioxidant properties, aronia berries may improve heart health ( 21 , 22 ). In particular, they may help people with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions — including high cholesterol and triglyceride levels — that increases your likelihood of heart disease and diabetes

 The only species of Aronia native to Minnesota, black chokeberry is quite small in size and lacks thorns. The natural color from the berry is used in the food industry and is also made into jellies and fruit drinks.

 https://bwsr.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/2018-12/May%202016%20Featured%20Plant%20Black%20Chokeberry.pdf

There are three species that we know of so far, all native to North America:

  • Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) is a small to medium-sized shrub with dark purple-black fruit.
  • Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is a large shrub with red fruit.
  • Purple chokeberry (Aronia prunifolia) is a natural hybrid of red and black chokeberry.

 OK so I must have black - but so far the berries look red!! haha. I asked the lady about this - and by the way she grows Shiitake on the logs also!!

Researchers believe that aronia berries may have protective effects on the liver, as well as helping to reduce symptoms and damage associated with stomach ...

Sep 17, 2020Aronia berries may reduce cancer cell growth in people with certain types of cancer. One study showed that aronia berry extract was effective in ...

 https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalgram/issues/101/table-of-contents/hg101-herbpro-chokeberry/

Black chokeberries have a higher content of phenolic constituents than most other black berries, including anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, and phenolic acids.8 These constituents are thought to be responsible for positive outcomes in the few pilot studies that have been conducted on chokeberries. One in vitro trial on porcine coronary artery rings compared chokeberry, bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus, Ericaceae), and elderberry (Sambucus nigra, Adoxaceae) to examine their potential vasoactive and vasoprotective properties in coronary arteries. The anthocyanin-rich extract from chokeberry (Artemis International, Ft. Wayne, IN) and bilberry (Artemis International), but not elderberry, “produced dose-dependent relaxation of coronary arteries, with the chokeberry extracts exhibiting the highest potency.”21

On July 13, 2022, the District Court of Haizhu District, one of the urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou. Guangdong province, sentenced a woman called Zhang Chunhe to four years of detention for “using a xie jiao to undermine the implementation of the law.” This is a standard formula derived from Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code indicating that a defendant is active, in any capacity, in one of the banned religious movements listed as “xie jiao,” or groups spreading “heterodox teachings.”

Zhang is a practitioner of Falun Gong and these decisions are part of a regular routine. What is less common about Zhang is her resilience, and the CCP’s symmetric persistence in persecuting her.

Zhang was born in 1959 in Guangzhou. She became an accountant and worked at Zengcheng Plastic Bag Factory before becoming Chief Financial Officer of Zengcheng Wuxie Company. She was a model employee, as attested by her rapid career, but in the eyes of the CCP she had a problem. In 1994, she had become a practitioner of Falun Gong.

In 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong started in China, the authorities falsely claimed that she was a drug addict. She was taken to a drug rehabilitation center, where she was indoctrinated with the aim of persuading her to abandon Falun Gong.

After her release, she continued practicing Falun Gong, and in 2002 was arrested again and sentenced to one year of “reeducation through labor” in a labor camp in Guangzhou. She was not reeducated, however. She returned to her work and quietly practiced Falun Gong,

In 2008, she was arrested in the purge prior to the Beijing Olympics, and in 2009 was sentenced to three years of prison by the Zengcheng District Court and to “legal education,” despite the fact that she suffered form a large fibroid tumor. After her release she reported that she had been tortured, systematically deprived of sleep for 150 days and kept handcuffed and shackled in a dark room during the days. Her husband was also persuaded by the CCP to divorce her.

She returned home and started again practicing Falun Gong. Although she kept a low profile, on April 10, 2021, she was arrested again. On May 17, 2021, her arrest was formalized, and on August 1 she was committed to trial. Now, she has been sentenced to another four years.

While her resilience is admirable, it should be noted that Zhang has never been accused of any crime other than believing in and practicing Falun Gong. This proves, once again, that all kind of active involvement in a group labeled as “xie jiao” is enough for Chinese courts to conclude that the defendant “used a xie jiao to undermine the implementation of the law.”

 https://bitterwinter.org/zhang-chunhe-falun-gong-practitioner-sentenced/

 

 

 

 

 

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