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Castle forest park
Today's forest park was created over the centuries from a part of an ancient field, which Count Humprecht Jan Czernin had established around his newly built hunting castle and summer family residence, originally named after him Humprechtsberg. However, he did not have the land for his purpose in the beginning and did not acquire it until 1666 with the purchase of the large Březan manor of the Hubryk family, he acquired something by buying it from the townspeople of Sobotka and exchanging it from farmers from Vesec and Nepřívec. Part of the land of the Hubrykov court was included in the field and the rest was transformed into a new Humprecht manor. The original mixed forest became part of the field, which was also the only one that could provide the necessary shelter to farmed fallow deer so soon after the establishment of the field - newly planted stands would not be able to do so. In 1670, a professional wall was built, 2 feet high and 5 to 5 cubits thick, with 7 chapels in it, one of which was larger and higher. After a few years, large stables for horses (one for 50, the other for 12 horses) and a house for a gardener were built in the field, where there was still a roundel in the field wall. However, nothing of these buildings has survived to this day, except for the slight remnants of the professional wall.
Count Humprecht apparently wanted to elevate the Czech hunting of the time according to the model of Western countries, and his Humprecht branch, in which he bred up to 100 fallow deer, really became famous (Bohuslav Balvín also mentioned it in his work). But this period of fame lasted only a short time. Count Humprecht did not live to be old and died in the spring of 1682, just one year after the castle was repaired and rebuilt after it burned down. His descendants then rarely visited Humprecht, and after the death of his son Heřman Jakub in 1710, during the patronage reign of Markéta Černínová, the Černín estates began to be farmed poorly. Herman's son František Josef later took over the inheritance, which was not only very burdened with debts, but also, as Josef Pekař writes in the Book of Bones, “the farm was neglected, the granaries and cellars were empty, no castle could be inhabited, there were no horses in stables. But he only realized the seriousness of the situation after a few years. He then tried to save the entire inherited property with a "big diet", ie by reducing large court expenses, but without success. However, the actual bankruptcy did not occur until after his death. The Kostecký estate was bought in 1738 by Václav Kazimír Netolický, but even the Netolič family did not use Humprecht for its original purpose. The dismantling of the enclosure wall for building materials in the 19th century only confirmed the earlier de facto demise of the original meaning of the field.
What can you find in the park?
Forest anemone
Forest anemone is a plant from the buttercup family. Anemone is one of the first messengers of spring, it is a perennial herb, no more than 30 centimeters high. It is characterized by a creeping rhizome and, at the end of the stem, usually one white flower with the most common six petals. It grows in deciduous forests, where there is plenty of light, high humidity and a thick layer of humus.
The freshly picked plant is poisonous. It contains many substances such as glycosides, saponins, sometimes alkaloids are also mentioned. The main toxic component is protoanemonine, which has a bacteriostatic effect on streptococci and staphylococci, it also has a fungicidal effect.
The signs of poisoning are similar to those of buttercup poisoning, ie vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, kidney inflammation. It is stated that ingestion of 30 plants is fatal for an adult. However, other contact with poisonous juice is more likely than ingestion. When transmitted to the eyes, for example when collecting flowers, it causes irritation of the conjunctiva, inflammation may also occur. Splashing the skin with juice causes inflammation or blistering that is poorly healed.
Liverwort
These are perennial herbs with an underground rhizome. The stems are leafless and grow from the axils of the basal membranes. Ground leaves are present and fully develop only after flowering, they are arranged in the ground rosette. The leaves are simple, the blades are conspicuously trilobal, entire or variously toothed. The flowers are solitary, mostly blue in color, rarely pink or white. Below the flower is a leaf-like formation that mimics a triangular calyx. The petals are most often 5-10, but these are in fact after petalized (imitating the crown) calyx, when the petals are missing. There are many sticks. Pollination takes place using insects (entomogamy). The gyneceum is apocarpian, there are many pistils. The fruit is nažka, which is hairy and ends with a beak. The base is based on meat. The legs are arranged in co-formulas. They are spread by ants (myrmecochory). [1]
Violet
Violet is a genus of annual to perennial herbs. The leaves are petiolate. The flowers are sometimes divided into chasmogamous (with colored crowns, pollinated by insects) and kleistogamous (stunted, greenish, with autogamy) or not distinguished. The calyx leaves are shield-shaped, their front part is linearly triangular, the back part behind the place of growth forms a calyx pendant. The lower crown leaf protrudes in the spur. The fruit is a capsule. The seeds often have a flesh that is used for myrmecochoria (seeds propagated by ants).
Spring peas
Spring pea (Lathyrus vernus) is a 15 to 40 cm tall perennial herb also known as spring lecha.
It usually blooms from April to May with a typical purple flower. The fruit are pods. The color of the flower depends on the acid content of the flower and changes very noticeably with the age of the flowers. In the bud, the cell juice is acidic and its color is therefore red, in the blooming flower the juice is neutral, which results in a red-violet and blue color. Finally, after flowering, the flower is as alkaline as soap and its color changes to turquoise.
The plant has a short, branched and thick rhizome, from which grow 20–40 cm high, grooved, non-winged stems, consisting of 5–8 cells, at the bottom with scales (stunted stipules), at the top with 3-6 even-scaled leaves, 3 pairs of egg leaves. The flowers are 13–18 mm long and fold 3–5 to a poor cluster.
It occurs with a few exceptions almost throughout Europe, western Siberia, the Caucasus and Asia Minor, in forests, especially in beeches with rich undergrowth, mostly on calcareous soils.
Lung medical
Pulmonaria officinalis is a medicinal plant from the borage family. It grows in groves and floodplain forests. It was also a typical plant of medieval gardens and is currently grown as a hunting ground mainly in rural gardens.
The use of the herb in the treatment of lung diseases and the similarity of its spotted leaves to the "spotted" lungs gave the lung its name. In modern scientific medicine, the lung is not used, but it is used in homeopathy for bronchitis and in folk medicine. Decoction of the lungs cures bronchitis, heals and regenerates the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and digestive system, increases blood clotting, and has a mild diuretic and astringent effect. The beneficial effect is attributed to the combination of saponins, which facilitate coughing, the soothing and protective effect of mucus and the anti-inflammatory and disinfectant effect of tannins. Externally in the form of poultices (preferably fresh herb), mash or a stronger decoction, it is used to wash away festering wounds or bleeding hemorrhoids, where an anti-inflammatory and astringent effect is applied. Due to the presence of alkaloids in the drug, the lung should not be used for more than 3 weeks and should not be given to young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. In England, young leaves are a popular ingredient in various spring salads and are also added to soups.