Pueraria Nodule

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Pueraria nodule (lat. Pueraria Tuberosa) - one of the liana-like plants of the genus Pueraria (lat. Pueraria) of the legume family (lat. Fabaceae). The plant is distinguished not only by its fast-growing woody stem, but also by large underground tubers of the root system, rich in starch, water and sweetish in taste. The popularity of tubers among people has become a tragedy for the plant, which is slowly but surely disappearing from the Earth, and therefore needs protection.

What's in your name

If the Latin name of the genus "Pueraria" does not characterize either the external or internal properties of plants, but only preserves the memory of the Swiss botanist with the same name - Marc Nicolas Puerari (1766 - 1845), then the specific epithet "Tuberosa" indicates the shape of the root system, on the filamentous roots of which large tubers of the most diverse, sometimes bizarre, form are formed.

But the popularity of the tuber of Pueraria nodule deserved not for its simple or bizarre forms, but for its internal rich content of substances useful for the human body.

All species of the genus "Pueraria" differ from each other in very subtle morphological features, which can only be recognized by specialists. Therefore, the plants of the genus have a common name, which is most often called completely different species. This name -

Kudzu

Description

The main part of Pueraria nodule is its roots, on which rather large tubers are formed, reaching a length or width of 25 centimeters. The shape of the tubers loves to surprise amateurs, taking either the spherical image familiar to other tuber-vegetable crops (turnip, beetroot, radish …), then becoming like an old handmade clay pot. Inside the tuber there is a white starchy mass that is slightly sweet in taste.

The roots bring to the world a woody, lumpy stem, which, like other species of the genus, grows rapidly, rising to a height of 20 meters, if it encounters a suitable stable support in the form of powerful tall trees on the way, or spreads along the surface of the earth, simultaneously covering the soil with its own large leaves from weather surprises.

Large compound leaves are arranged on the stem in the next order and are formed by three simple ovoid leaves. The leaves have a round base, uneven sides and numerous veins. Lateral veins, starting from the main median vein, fan out to the edge of the leaf plate, dividing the surface of the plate into almost even, parallel stripes and imparting a certain decorative charm to the seemingly simple leaves. The size of the leaves reaches 18 centimeters in length and 16 centimeters in width.

Flowers characteristic of plants of the Legume family, about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, are bisexual. The petals are blue or blue-violet.

The fruit is a linear bean pod 2 to 5 centimeters long. The pod can contain from 3 to 6 seeds, which are separated from each other by tightly tightened pod tissues. The surface of the pod valves is covered with reddish-brown hairs, silky or bristly.

Pueraria root nodule is native to Southeast Asia (Pakistan, India, Nepal).

Usage

Tubers of the described species are very highly valued by pharmaceutical and Ayurvedic companies, who are ready to pay up to 100 thousand rupees for a red tuber weighing about 10 kilograms (today it is about 130 thousand rubles). This attitude towards tubers is associated with the gradual disappearance of plants in the wild. Moreover, illegal tuber hunters do not even always dig up tubers, but draw out their contents with syringes, leaving the plants without nutrients, thereby dooming them to death.

The healing abilities of the plant tubers are equated to the "elixir of youth". Preparations from them have a rejuvenating effect on the human body, having a beneficial effect on the circulatory system, lowering blood pressure, regulating the amount of sugar in the blood.

Although tubers were used by Chinese doctors as early as 5 centuries BC, today, when the world has become so open and cramped, and diseases are more insidious, interest in the healing abilities of tubers has become especially high.