Cactus
One of the species cacti - prickly pear - is depicted on the coat of arms of Mexico. According to legend, the Aztecs, tired of wandering through the mountains, once stopped on the shore of Lake Texcoco. On a small island, they saw a prince sitting on a prickly pear, tearing a snake. They considered it a good omen and in the vicinity of this place they founded the city of Tenochtitlan( "the place of the sacred prickly pear").Now here is the capital of Mexico, Mexico City.
Succulents are true children of deserts, but not only, they are often found in the mountains. These are plants, all adaptations of which are aimed at counteracting the unfavorable conditions of hot, poor in moisture and nutrient-rich places. Succulents include perennial plants capable of storing water reserves in leaves or stems( the name succulent comes from the Latin succus - "juice");their water-saving tissues are fleshy, juicy, above-ground organs are covered with thick skin( containing a large amount of special wax-like substance - kutin), stomata through which water evaporates, very few, in short, all their structure and even biochemical processes are arranged so as to save as much as possibleextracted water. The most visible are external adaptations to special conditions in cacti.
The different origin of succulents causes a difference in the conditions of their maintenance. Nevertheless, the basic common features of all succulents remain: they do not need frequent watering( many withstand almost complete drying of the soil), and in a certain period( different in different species), watering should be completely eliminated, the water used for irrigation should be softand have a weakly acid reaction, all are light-loving, need a loose substrate with a high content of coarse-grained sand and gravel with an obligatory thick drainage layer. The combination of dampness and cold for them is disastrous.
Cacti are natives of the desert regions of northwestern Mexico and the southwest of the United States. But for quite some time now they have become a familiar element of European Mediterranean landscapes. It is believed that the first copies of prickly freaks appeared in the Old World thanks to the Spanish conquerors of the American continent in the late 17th century. Very quickly, the plants spread all over the Mediterranean coast. In Russia, cacti appeared as an outlandish curiosity under Peter I in the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden on the Aptekarsky Island.
For most Europeans, cacti still remain only the original element of phytodesign or the subject of prestigious hobbies. But the Mexican Indians probably could say: "The cactus is our everything!" Until now, as in ancient times, cactus juice is used to quench thirst by travelers, farmers and pastoralists. And of course, cacti are a good feed for cattle.
Cacti were planted near the dwelling to protect themselves from evil spirits and create strong hedges and fences. Of wood of some kinds of cacti make elegant ornaments, souvenirs. They also go for the manufacture of paper, ropes, door and window frames. Cacti are a beautiful ornamental plant. At the beginning of the XIX century, in many countries, the cochineal cactus( nopalea koshenolenosnaya) was widespread, on which the cochineal aphid multiplied. From dried insects received a persistent scarlet dye for fabrics, as well as a food dye for butter and cheese.
Where cacti have always been "indigenous people", they were eaten, and these traditions are still preserved. Eat their stems, fruits and seeds. Some fruits have a taste and aroma of melon, pineapple, strawberries. .. The most common culinary raw material is, perhaps, the prickly pear. Its juicy fruits are eaten raw or cooked with jam, marmalade, candied fruit;still not ripe fruit stew with meat, flattened stems bake. Fresh young shoots of many prickly pears are laid( after removing the spines) in salads. And in those countries where the cactus appeared as a transatlantic guest, its gastronomic qualities were assessed;now it is a familiar dish in the menu of Italian restaurants and the usual goods in the eastern bazaars.
As home plants, we should be especially grateful to the cacti for their unique ability: they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen at night, while most other plants saturate the air with oxygen only in the daytime.
In ancient Greece the word "cactus" was used to refer to any prickly plant. Only in the 13th century, Carl Linnaeus distinguished in his classification of the vegetable world a separate genus Cactus and used the Greek word for its name.
The family of cacti include plants with woolly hillocks-areoles on the stem, on which are placed needles, flowers and fruits. This family, in turn, is divided into three subfamilies: ostrich, perekovskie and cactus( in our country the last subfamily is called Cereus).The plants of each of these botanical communities have a very characteristic, expressive appearance.
Opuntum differ with articulate juicy stems and very small leaves without leaves. These leaves appear on the young segments and most species soon fall off. Seeds are mostly large, with a thick, lignified, hard as a stone shell. A distinctive feature of this subfamily is the presence on the areoles of glochidia. These are small, very thin setae with small notches, they can be easily detached when touched, they pierce the skin. For their removal, the American Indians have used molten wax since time immemorial. In the frozen state, it is easily separated from the skin along with the glochidia.
The peculiarity of perovski - leathery leaves, sitting on the petioles. The stems of these plants are lignified, without pronounced succulent signs( ability to retain, store moisture).The seeds are large, brilliantly black.
The subfamily of cacti combines plants with typical succulent, often articulate stems of various shapes: round, columnar, ribbed, papillate, etc. Leaves and glochidia are absent in these plants. Spines( if they exist) are located on areolas in a strictly defined order and quantity for each species. The shell of the seeds is firm, but brittle.
In nature, about 3 thousand species of cacti are found. The world's smallest cacti blossom-dii are placed in a teaspoon, the largest - Garnegiea gigantea and Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis - reach a height of 20 meters!
In tropical America, the famous cactus of the Selenycere-UC meets in the wild state( popular names are the queen of the night, the serpent cactus).It is found in all the major botanical gardens of both hemispheres, from the pre-revolutionary times settled in the conservatory of the Botanical Garden
Petersburg. The name of the queen of the night is due to the fact that she discovers flowers only once a year at 9-10 o'clock in the evening, in order to close them forever at 2-3 o'clock in the morning. With the help of air roots, this plant climbs on rocks and walls, where it branches briskly, giving rather thin, often curved lateral branches with 4-8 longitudinal ribs. Flowers - with a strong smell of vanilla, have a length of 18-25 cm and, opening, reach a diameter of 15-27 cm;outside they are brownish-yellow, and inside - light yellow and white. The petals surround a bundle of filamentous anthers. The fins of the stems are covered with bundles of 6-8 long( up to 2 mm) spines, located about 2 cm apart.
With all the diversity of cacti combines one very important feature. Cacti, like aloe and other succulents, are champions in the accumulation of moisture and the ability to slowly expend it. The water content in the stem can reach 90-95%.These plants have learned to extract moisture from winter fogs or even drop out in the morning abundant dew. Famous for their large size can-delyabrovye cacti( they are called "Candles of Arizona") for 300 years of life thus produce up to 10 tons of water. Some giant globular echinocactuses weigh 1-2 tons. Once exhausted by the passage through the desert, the travelers quenched their thirst for their juicy flesh. Cactus spines are their leaves. The role of leaves absorbing carbon dioxide, perform stems. The stems are covered with thick and dense skin with a small number of stomata, which are almost always closed. Under the skin and green layer is a colorless tissue with large cells, filled with water and mucus.
Roots are widespread in the surface layer of the earth, quickly suck water during rains. With the onset of dry weather wither, but the thicker roots remain alive, since they are covered with a waterproof stopper.
Healing properties of cacti
Modern scientists are still only studying the healing properties of cacti, and traditional healers have been treating them for many centuries.
Mexican Indians dried the stems of the "spaying tree"( as they called one of the prickly pears), ground into powder and sprinkled them with wounds. The fleshy roots of the prickly pear came into play - they were treated with fractures of bones. From the powder of the prickly pear stems with the addition of bird feathers( apparently for strength), a mass was mixed with the sticky juice of a special plant, which was used instead of gypsum to fix the broken bones. Cutted along and boiled water "cake" prickly pears were used for poultices for skin diseases and pain in the muscles and joints. Traditionally, cactus was treated with intestinal and catarrhal diseases, pneumonia and tuberculosis, snakebites and scorpions, and stopped bleeding.
During the archaeological excavations in the settlements of the ancient Incas, several skulls were discovered that bore traces of a complex operation - trepanation of the skull. Parts of the cranial boxes were replaced by gold plates, which were overgrown with bone tissue. This means that after the surgical intervention the patients lived for many more years. How could ancient surgeons have performed such a complex multi-hour operation without having modern means of anesthesia? Most likely, anesthesia was carried out with the help of juice of special cacti-peyotles, we can still talk about them.
Juice of the cactus selenicereus cactus large-flowered( grandiflorus) was used in the treatment of rheumatism - they rubbed the sore spot. German homeopaths in our time in large quantities use this tsereus for the production of medicinal tincture. It is even specially grown for this purpose in greenhouses - homeopathic tincture is made only from freshly picked stems and flowers. Homeopathic remedy Cactus is very popular in Germany - it is used with weakness of the heart muscle, neuroses of the heart, a feeling of pressure in the heart and stenocardia. There is information about its use in digestive disorders with flatulence and pain in the stomach and intestines, as well as in painful menstruation.
In some countries, cacti preparations are recommended not only by folk healers and homeopaths, but also by representatives of official medicine. Means from these plants are included, for example, in the state pharmacopoeia of Great Britain. And yet, the healing properties of cacti have not been studied and are not really explained. For example, it remains a mystery why the juice of the prickly pear( Opuntia vulgaris) shows an astringent effect in intestinal disorders. It is noticed that the fresh juice of some cacti relieves fatigue, gives strength, strengthens and tones up, improves metabolism, but what exactly do the biologically active substances provide for this effect? British pharmacologists point out the antihemorrhagic( hemostatic) effect of the preparations of the prickly pear, and also recommends them for the treatment of adenoma( proliferation) of the prostate gland. Opuntia is able to reduce the level of lipids( fats) in the blood and even the sugar content, which makes it possible to use it in the treatment of diabetes. Mucous juice of some species of prickly pears helps with liver diseases, and the extract from the prickly pear roots has diuretic properties. Israeli scientists have established that the biologically active substances of the flowers of prickly pear are anti-inflammatory and anti-edematic, they are effective for urinary incontinence, frequent urination, inflammation of the urinary system. In doing so, they also activate the immune and hormonal systems. The fruits of many kinds of prickly pears also have a diuretic effect.
In the official medicine today, cacti are also used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, neuralgic pain. For example, alcohol or water extract of petals and stems of selenicereus( a drug called "golden drops") treat hypotension and other diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
Separately, we should talk about the cactus " peyotl "( scientific name Lofophora Williams, Lophophora mlliamsii), which recently became a subject of active study for many researchers. In fact, its properties have been familiar to Indians since time immemorial. Priests and sorcerers used his hallucinogenic and narcotic effect for various rituals and religious ceremonies. This plant contains a special substance - the alkaloid mescaline, which can cause visual and auditory hallucinations. It was discovered in the late XIX century by chemist Arthur Heffner, but is still being studied. In the United States, an entire research institute is working on this, named after Heffner, although it is not financed by the state but by private individuals and funds. In the Lofofore at the moment, there are no fewer than 70 species of alkaloids! The attention of psychiatrists and psychotherapists still attracts mescaline - as a possible means for the treatment of mental disorders: such as, for example, various obsessive conditions( obsessions), depression, all kinds of phobias( fears) and irresistible drives, including alcohol and drugs.
In connection with the spread of drug addiction in the US, Lofofor Williams is forbidden to grow, buy and sell. In our country, such a decision was adopted several years ago. And yet, the lophophore will someday be "rehabilitated."She can become an assistant not only to psychiatrists, but also neuropathologists. It is established that the preparations of lophophora reduce the threshold of excitability of the peripheral nervous system and, on the contrary, activate the central nervous system.
In addition to psychotropic effects, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and toning properties were found. Biologically active substances of this cactus stimulate the regeneration of tissues. In connection with this, lophophore can be used, according to some sources, to treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, to increase the intensity of tissue granulation and healing of various inflammations and wounds, to relax smooth muscle.