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CULTURAL AND WILD PLANTS
Cactus. Legends, myths, symbolism, description, cultivation, methods of application
Directory / Cultivated and wild plants Content
Cactus, Cactaceae. Photos of the plant, basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism
Basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism Sort by: Cactus Family: Cactus (Cactaceae) Origin: Central and South America, as well as a number of islands in the Caribbean. Area: Cacti are found in a variety of climates, from arid deserts to rainforests. Chemical composition: As food products, cactus fruits are used, which are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Also, many species contain alkaloids, xanthophylls and other biologically active substances. Economic value: Cacti are grown as ornamental plants and are also used in medicine, cosmetology and the food industry. Juices, jams and sweets are produced from cactus fruits. Some species are also used in folk medicine as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic. Legends, myths, symbolism: In Mexican mythology, the cactus was associated with the sun god and symbolized vitality and endurance. The symbolic meaning of the cactus is associated with its ability to survive in difficult conditions. The plant symbolizes endurance, resilience, vitality and survival in any conditions. The cactus can also be associated with courage and strength, as it endures extreme temperatures and dry conditions. In general, the cactus symbolizes endurance, resilience, vitality and survival in any conditions, and is also associated with courage and strength.
Cactus, Cactaceae. Description, illustrations of the plant Cactus. Legends, myths, history
The legend of the Tarahumara Indian tribe, living in Mexico in the Chihuahua desert, says: "... a lonely man walked through the desert and was languishing from heat, thirst and fatigue. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from the earth. A man saw peyote and heard: "I am your god, take me and eat." The man took this non-thorny cactus, ate it and felt that his strength returned to him, and he safely reached his tribe ... ". Until now, Indians from various tribes believe that peyote is both a god and a message from God, and a means by which a person can communicate with God. A stone slab depicting a cult ceremony for taking peyote was found in northern Texas. This find is dated more than 1000 BC. Scientists believe that the established cult rite of peyote has existed for more than 3000 years. Author: Martyanova L.M. Cactus. Classification, synonyms, botanical description, nutritional value, cultivation
This plant is up to 3 m in height, spherical-oval in shape, covered with strong spines. From its fleshy pulp, Mexican confectioners make a delicacy called Dulce de visnaga by sugaring. He goes for compote. In the Antilles and Brazil, another cactus is used for food - Pereskia aculeata Plumer (P. undulata Engelm.) - a tree-like, branching plant. Its oval, young leaves are eaten as a salad or boiled like spinach. In Chile grows Opuntia subulata Engelm, which forms many fleshy segments ("leaves"). The broth-consomme is made from its young "leaves" (the dish resembles a soup made from bean blades). The edible fruits of Opuntia ficus indica. These are berries that are about the size of an orange. Author: Ipatiev A.N.
Opuntia, Opuntia. Methods of application, origin of the plant, range, botanical description, cultivation
Prickly pear (Opuntia) belongs to the Cactaceae family. The most widespread of this group of crops are fig prickly pear, or Indian prickly pear, or fig tree (Opuntia ficus indica Mill.) and large-spined prickly pear (Opuntia megacantha SD). In Chile it is called tuna, in Mexico it is called nopol, in Spain it is chomberi, in the USA it is called prickly pear, in France and North America it is barbaric fig tree. Fruit cacti are a kind of fruit crop of the tropics and southern subtropics. Opuntia is cultivated in Italy, on the island of Sicily, where industrial plantations of prickly pear occupy 10 thousand hectares of land, and the annual production of fruits reaches 100 thousand tons. It is also grown in Chile (about 790 hectares), where the annual production of fruits is 4500 tons, in Brazil, Madagascar, Mexico, Algeria, Tunisia, India and other countries. Prickly pear came from Mexico. The plant has succulent flattened oval-shaped shoots that branch and form a bush 2-4 m high. Prickly pear has no leaves. The flattened stems are sometimes mistaken for leaves. The stems are covered with thorns. The root system is superficial. The flowers form at the top of the stems and have yellow petals. The fruit is pear-shaped, up to 5,0-7,5 cm long, weighing 70-300 g, green, yellow or dark chestnut in color, with thorns, the flesh is sweet, whitish, translucent, with numerous large strong seeds, contains 13-14 % sugar. Prickly pear fruits are consumed mainly fresh, and are also used for the preparation of confectionery. The seeds contain 20% edible fat, similar in taste and properties to pork fat. It is used to flavor vegetable oils. Young flat juicy stems of smooth prickly pear are used as vegetables and livestock feed. Plants serve as raw materials for the production of pectins, glue, anti-corrosion agents, dyes for food. In North Africa, prickly pear is often planted as a hedge and also to protect soil from erosion on slopes. Plants are photophilous, drought-resistant, but for the formation of a good harvest, the presence of a sufficient amount of soil moisture is necessary. Optimum temperatures are within 25-30 °C; prickly pear can successfully grow at lower temperatures, but not below 6 ° C, it does not tolerate frost. Grows in all types of soil, but prefers light stony soils, not very deep, with good drainage. The optimal soil pH is neutral or slightly alkaline. To propagate prickly pear from 5-8-year-old healthy plants, biennial stems are cut off and kept in the sun for 20-30 days to heal the wound. The stems should have a typical shape and color for the variety, be of medium size - about 30 cm long and 20 cm wide, with good turgor. The stems are cut from the mother plant with a sharp knife in late spring - early summer (in Chile - November-December). Plantations are established at the beginning of summer, plant nutrition area is 4 x 4 m (625 plants per 1 ha). Each plant - 4 stems in one nest, therefore, 1 stems are placed per 2500 ha. The stems are planted to a depth of 20 cm, so a stem about 10 cm high rises above the ground. To speed up the fruiting period, in some cases, planting material is used, consisting of 2 or 3 fused stems. Stems in a nest or in a hedge are planted at a distance of no closer than 30 cm between them.
In Mexico and other countries, prickly pears are planted with stems immediately after they are cut from the mother plant, due to the fact that drying in the sun for up to 30 days leads to the formation of a large number of male plants that do not produce fruits. The number of stems when planting in the nest is reduced to 2. Opuntia is responsive to the use of organic and mineral (saltpeter, urea, superphosphate) fertilizers. They are introduced before planting and periodically fertilize the plants. In areas with precipitation over 500 mm per year, irrigation is usually not used. However, after planting the plants, they are watered 3-4 times for better rooting. Irrigation is also necessary during the period of fruit formation. Plants are pruned annually to maintain their height within 1,6-1,8 m, in addition, poorly placed, outdated, infertile shoots are removed. Bushes are annually rejuvenated, as shoots older than 2 years of age do not bear fruit well. So that the stems do not touch and do not interfere with each other's growth, they are cut off. Extra shoots are removed in a young state. To regulate the load of plants, thinning (removal of part) of flowers and fruits is used, 8-10 ovaries are left on the stem, in this case the fruits are formed quite large (150-200 g). This technique is used in extensive culture, when plant care is insufficient. Due to the multiple flowering of prickly pear during the year (usually twice), load regulation also leads to a large yield with simultaneous fruit ripening. With good care (irrigation, fertilizer, etc.), prickly pear does not show the periodicity of flowering and fruiting, the fruits are harvested many times throughout the summer, the yield reaches 20 t / ha. In Sicily, prickly pear blossoms in May-June, the fruits ripen in August-September. Due to the hot and dry summer, the fruits are formed small (70-100 g) and of poorer quality. Sicilian gardeners are forced to remove flowers with mittens or sticks. Almost 2 months after this operation, prickly pear blooms a second time, the fruiting period falls on October-November. The fruits are formed large (250-300 g), there are fewer seeds in them, the pulp is more juicy and tasty. When collecting and commercial processing of prickly pear fruits, care must be taken. The stems and fruits are covered with small and thin (thinner than a hair) spines. They can fly in the air, get into the eyes and nose. Harvesting is carried out early in the morning in mittens, when there is dew on the surface of the plants and there is still no wind. The fruits are placed on a flat, clean area, the thorns are swept over with branches or panicles. The fruits are packed in 20 kg boxes lined with straw or leaves. They are sent for sale or stored at low temperatures for 4-5 months. The fruits are consumed fresh, they are used to prepare jams and other products with sugar. Edible fruits give some types of cacti Cereus, Hylocereus, Lemaireocereus. Their fruits are larger than those of prickly pear and better in taste. On the surface of the fruit there are bunches of small spines that are easily removed from mature fruits. Better quality fruits are produced by other types of cacti Hylocereus undatus Brit, et Rose, Lemaireocereus griceus Brit, et Rose, Lemaireocereus queretarensis Brit, et Rose, growing wild and in cultivation in Mexico. These species are propagated and cultivated in much the same way as prickly pear. Authors: Baranov V.D., Ustimenko G.V.
Cactus. Interesting plant facts
The great priest and leader of the Aztecs called to himself all the elders of the tribe. He said: "Finally, we have come to a country beloved by the gods. Our women and children are tired of long wanderings. We must find a place here, in this country, to put our houses forever. Houses in which we will live and die, in which children of our children will be born. Each of you will immediately go in search of this place. Let your feet not know fatigue and let your eyes not lose vigilance! Remember: this place is where the eagle that caught the snake sits on the sacred cactus ... " So an ancient legend tells the story of the birth of the city of Mexico City - the capital of Mexico: its state emblem depicts an eagle with a snake in its beak, sitting on a prickly cactus. This amazing, unlike anything plant is mentioned in many legends of the peoples of Central and South America. Naming it, the Indians reverently add the word "sacred" - cacti are so unusual, mysterious, they serve man so long and so well: they give food and drink, material for clothing and housing, cure many diseases, miraculously relieve even the most severe pain. The main country of cacti is the Mexican Highlands - a giant bowl surrounded by mountains, filled with the heat of the subtropical sun for most of the year and devoid of rain. Rocks, gravel, yellow sand and dry, wind-worn brown soil... How many adaptations does a plant need to survive here! And all cacti - and there are many different types of them - have a magnificent set of such devices. And small, and large, and round like hedgehogs, and those that look like thick green pillars - all of them, even in the driest time, are filled to capacity with water. Animals, in order to quench their thirst, would smash and gnaw these plants-reservoirs, and who knows, then at least a small number of them would be preserved! Yes, it is not so easy to approach the cacti: they bristled with sharp and long spikes, strong, like bone. It is hard to imagine that this formidable weapon is transformed leaves. The duties of the leaves are performed by the cactus body itself. The glossy dense skin of its thick stem, like the skin of a leaf, is penetrated by stomata, and, like in a leaf, green grains of chlorophyll lie under it. And the wasters of moisture that this plant does not need at all - tender leaves - have turned into hard thorns-defenders. The largest cacti look like giant multi-arm candelabra candlesticks. They rise above the dry hills to the height of a three- or even five-story building and store up to six tons of water - two tank trucks! How does a plant manage to collect such wealth here? After all, even underground in these places it is not easy to get moisture: it lies too deep, the sintered, cemented soil is too hard, there is too much rubble in it. No, the cactus is not looking for water there. Its shallow, but long roots stretched in breadth in all directions for twenty, thirty meters. In dry, rainless seasons, each cactus root seems to hide, freeze, and its tip even completely withers. But with thunder, with lightning comes the time of rains - winter or summer, the time of rapid, waterfall downpours, and look: the roots of the cactus have risen! Quickly, faster than the tail of a lizard, their withered tips grow, and the plant begins to eagerly, tirelessly suck in fresh water until it completely fills its spacious containers. And then - burn the earth and sky with fire under the merciless Mexican sun! The cactus is no longer afraid: during the day, in order not to give a drop of his savings, he will tightly close his stomata. Only at night will he open them slightly, taking in the necessary carbon dioxide with the air. In this way, and by some other tricks that are not yet entirely clear to science, the plant manages to preserve the wealth accumulated in the rains for an unusually long time. Moreover, new studies have shown that during periods of particularly severe droughts, the cactus is able to produce, synthesize water for itself from the hydrogen and oxygen of the air surrounding it. Amazing, isn't it! Listening to our story, the cactus would have interrupted him at this point with something like this exclamation: “By all my thorns, it’s true: thanks to my frugality, I never know what thirst is. But because of the same frugality, I am subjected to another, and perhaps no less severe test ... from which, however, I also come out with honor! Indeed, by closing the stomata for a day, the cactus deprives itself of the opportunity to evaporate moisture from the surface of the stem, and hence to cool. And in those places the air temperature in June, for example, can exceed 37 degrees! Then the emerald skin of cacti heats up to 52 degrees! Most of the plants would have died even with less heat, and the prickly heat-loving one is quite adapted to this - it seems as if he does not feel the murderous fire. ... A horse is trotting fast. The rider in the wide-brimmed sombrero looks around, evidently looking for something. But now, without slowing down, he turned sharply to the side and reined in his horse on a gentle hill. He jumped to the ground - only the spurs tinkled. He pulled out a knife and deftly cut off the top of a cactus as thick as a barrel. In the opened pulp, the handle knocked out a recess. It soon filled with clear juice. The man scooped up the sour liquid in handfuls and drank, scooped and drank. Having quenched his thirst, he jumped into the saddle and galloped on ... Where is he heading? Home? From home? Or maybe he is in a hurry to a cherished place where he hopes to see a rare sight: the extraordinary beauty of the cactus flower "Queen of the Night", blooming in the light of the stars. The Mexicans have a belief: whoever is lucky enough to look at the night cactus flower will have all his wishes come true. And the man wants it so much! Author: Margolin Ya.A.
Cactus, Cactaceae. Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology
Ethnoscience:
Cosmetology:
Attention! Before use, consult with a specialist!
Cactus, Cactaceae. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing
The cactus family (Cactaceae) includes over 2 species of plants that can be grown as houseplants or garden decorations. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing cacti: Cultivation:
Workpiece:
Storage:
Cacti can be interesting and unusual plants for the home and garden. Growing, harvesting and keeping cacti may require some special skills and knowledge, but with the right care they can be healthy and beautiful.
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