Luffa Covered, Or Luffa Laxative

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Video: Luffa Covered, Or Luffa Laxative

Video: Luffa Covered, Or Luffa Laxative
Video: Dinner 2024, April
Luffa Covered, Or Luffa Laxative
Luffa Covered, Or Luffa Laxative
Anonim
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Luffa covered (lat. Luffa operculata), or Luffa laxative - American liana from the genus Luffa (Latin Luffa), ranked in the Pumpkin family (Latin Cucurbitaceae). Unlike many species of the genus that settled on the lands of Southeast Asia, Luffa found shelter in Central and South America. The plant-based drops are widely used in America and Europe for the treatment of rhinitis and rhinosinusitis. As modern studies of American scientists have shown, the use of such drugs in doses that are used today can lead to unpleasant consequences for the mucous membrane of the respiratory system.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus of plants with the name "Luffa" is based on the Arabic name of one of the species of the genus growing in Egypt.

In the specific Latin epithet "operculata", the Google translator gives out the word "cover" in Russian. Most likely, the Latin word is multifaceted, and therefore it is sometimes interpreted as the word "cover", or rather, "small cover", which is quite consonant with the word "cover". After all, both the "cover" and the "cover" perform related functions, covering or covering any object. Hence the specific epithet of the Russian version of the name - “covered”. The reason for this epithet was the structure of the fruit, which, when the seeds are fully ripe, opens a small part of its bottom so that the seeds can find freedom.

Description

Luffa covered is a herbaceous climbing plant, the ribbed stem of which, during the one-year stay of the plant on the planet, manages to grow several meters in length. With its rough surface and special antennae, the stem clings to the support that has turned up in its path in order to provide its foliage with chlorophyll, having won a place for them under the sun's rays.

The stems are covered with beautiful carved leaves, sitting on petioles and having from three to five blades masterfully carved by nature, which together give the leaf plate a heart-shaped shape.

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Bell-shaped flowers, typical of plants of the genus Luffa, with a bright yellow corolla of five petals, protected by a pubescent calyx formed by five green sepals, are born in the leaf axils. The nature of the flowers does not change either: male flowers like to create companies, and therefore form racemose inflorescences, and female flowers are completely self-sufficient, and therefore grow alone.

The small size of the covered Luffa fruit makes it look more like a small pumpkin than a cucumber, as happens with the long fruits of other species of the genus. With a fruit length of up to ten centimeters and a width of up to five centimeters, their shape becomes ovoid. The surface of the fruit is armed with sparse sharp thorns and covered with hard hairs. Not every insect or animal dares to approach such a fruit.

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The pulp of the fruit, in which the seeds ripen, as they ripen, turns into a fibrous dry sponge, from which it is easier for ripe black seeds to pour out through the opening "lid" of the ruffy shell of the fruit.

Use of fruits on the farm

The pulp of the fruit, which has given up all its nutrients, turns into a natural household fibrous sponge, which is suitable both for bath procedures and for cleaning kitchen utensils.

In addition, such a natural sponge can serve as a filter or for other household purposes.

Healing abilities

Luffa covered up serves as a raw material from which medicinal drops or powders are prepared for the treatment of respiratory diseases such as rhinitis (popularly called the word "runny nose") and rhinosinusitis (a more complex disease), widely used in America and European countries.

However, studies conducted by American scientists on the effect of such drugs on the mucous membranes of the respiratory organs of frogs have shown that their use for treating humans is not as harmless as previously thought. Those doses that are recommended today for the treatment of people can contribute to significant structural changes in the epithelium of the respiratory mucosa.

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