The famous desert "life-saving tree" is also a green "oxygen pump"

In the boundless Gobi Desert, you can occasionally find a touch of fresh green sprouting from the yellow sand. Although it is not as fruitful as fruit trees, nor as bright and fragrant as summer flowers, it is the "life-saving tree" in the desert - the cactus.

Cactus is a good water storage plant. Scientists have found that when a cactus is pulled out and weighed, it weighs 37.5 kg. When it is thrown into a corner and weighed again after 6 years, it weighs 26.5 kg. In other words, in these six years, without "drinking" a sip of water, the cactus has only consumed 11 kg. If it were any other green plant, it would have become a specimen. Cactus is also a model of water conservation. In the desert, a 15-20 meter tall cactus can store more than two tons of water.

The cactus, also a member of the cactus family, is a plant with spherical stems, thorns, and flowers that all have high ornamental value. Its pocket-sized watermelon-like body has accordion-like vertical ridges, and the pale yellow thorns on the ridges are arranged like flowers, coldly and arrogantly rooted in the endless sea of ​​sand!

Data picture: Golden Amber Cactus

Cactus is a general term for spherical succulent plants of the Cactaceae family. Its ridges are covered with clusters of radiating yellow thorns of varying lengths. The leaves are small and often hidden in the thorns. The flowers are trumpet-shaped and grow on both sides of the sphere, often light red or pink. Cactus can be big or small, with the small ones being only the size of a button and the large ones weighing up to 10 tons and being nearly 20 meters tall.

Cactus is a well-known "oxygen pump". Most plants perform photosynthesis during the day, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen; while cactus opens its respiratory pores at night, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. It is a natural, low-cost, easy-to-care-for green "oxygen pump" that plays an important role in improving air quality and environmental quality. Don't underestimate cactus. Placing a cactus indoors, especially a hydroponic cactus, can purify the air.

Cactus likes hot and dry climates, which is the key to its standing out from other plants and being called the "drought-resistant champion" in the plant world. Plants in nature mainly transpire through leaves, but in order to retain precious water in the body, cactus has abandoned leaves as "pumps", reducing water loss caused by transpiration; at the same time, its dense and shiny thorns, or "mutated leaves", will reflect most of the sunlight, adding another barrier to prevent water loss and protecting the cactus from external damage, so that it can live calmly in the Gobi Desert with high temperature, drought and little rain.

Cactus also has certain economic value. Xinshi Town, Deqing County, Zhejiang Province vigorously develops characteristic planting industry and encourages farmers to build cactus plant production and research and development bases and leisure tourism bases. At the bases, they use a combination of online and offline sales models to sell products domestically and abroad, promote farmers' income and wealth, and help rural revitalization.

With its unique shape, strong vitality and diverse value, cactus has become a widely popular plant, and it has also made a positive contribution to my country's green ecology.

Review expert: Yang Rurong, associate researcher at the Institute of Geography and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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