Cacti are amazing plants that can withstand very high temperatures. They live quietly in the heart of arid deserts. The uniqueness of cacti lies in the fact that they absorb moisture not from the ground, but absorb it from the air.
Instructions
Step 1
Cacti are flowering succulent, that is, having special tissues for storing water, perennial plants. They appeared about 35 million years ago in South America. There are more than 2,000 species of cacti, among them there are dwarfs less than a centimeter in height and giants reaching several tens of meters. In shape, cacti can resemble an ear, column, barrel, starfish, snake, pumpkin.
Step 2
Many cacti bloom, and their flowers can compete with the beauty of the usual decorative flowers. Cactus flowers can be of almost any color. There are cacti whose flowers emit a special smell that attracts midges: when they sit on a flower, they stick and are eaten by the cactus. Some cacti bloom very profusely, for example, the maximum recorded number of flowers blooming at the same time is 690 pieces.
Step 3
Cacti survive at a temperature of 60 ° C due to the fact that their tissues accumulate water, a small-sized cactus can contain several liters of water, but the water is not in a liquid state, but in the form of a syrup, and this syrup can also be drunk by a person. therefore, a traveler left without water in the desert may well be rescued by a cactus.
Step 4
In South America, where the largest number of cacti grows, they are actively used by humans as food, medicine, building materials, and dyes. The Indians even used cactus needles for medicinal purposes, sewing up wounds with them. In Mexico, instead of a Christmas tree, a cactus is decorated for the new year.
Step 5
Some cacti contain hallucinatory alkaloids. Such cacti were an important part of the religious and cultural life of the Indians.
Step 6
Cacti were brought to Europe immediately after the discovery of America. Europeans began to use them for decorative purposes, since these unpretentious plants were very different from their usual flowers and shrubs.
