Plants Are Guardians

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

The topic "guardianship", which is painful for the Russian community, is very easily and simply solved by many representatives of the flora of our planet. Plants do not need a bunch of all kinds of information and someone else's permission for this. Adult plants, without unnecessary fuss and external excitement, take young seedlings under their care, even if these seedlings belong to a completely different species of plants. Moreover, unlike people, they do not expect honors and gratitude for their work, but simply support life on Earth, often paying for the guardianship with their own lives

Birch - the guardian of the Spruce

The Russian white birch birch, one of the first to appear on the lands devastated by fire, has already been described on our website in the article “Birch - Spruce Nurse” (https://www.asienda.ru/dekorativnye-derevya/bereza-elovaya-nyanka/). The fast-growing tree not only tightens the wounds of the Earth, but also takes care of the young growth of the Spruce, protecting the tender young needles from the scorching sun. When the Fir trees get stronger and outgrow their guardians, the light-loving Birches die, and the place of the recent ashes turns into a fragrant green spruce forest.

Guardian plants living in deserts

The photo shows a single Opuntia growing in the courtyard of a residential building in the Egyptian city of Hurghada. In the wild, Mexico is famous for the greatest variety of plant species of the Opuntia genus. According to the legend created by the Mexican Indians of the Aztecs tribe, the modern megalopolis of Mexico City stands on the place where Opuntia grew, which provided a place for a meal for an eagle, who satisfied his hunger by eating a snake. Today this picture can be seen on the Mexican coat of arms.

In the hottest and most extensive desert in North America, known as "Sonora" and "Gila", part of which belongs to the territory of Mexico, and part to the territory of the United States of America, some types of Opuntia grow in close-knit families, creating living thorny hedges in the shade which are sheltered by less protected species of cacti and euphorbia. Not only does the shade of the powerful thickets of Opuntia allow them to retain precious moisture in their leaves, the thorny guardians do not allow herbivores to eat undersized plants.

Cecropia thyroid and ants

In nature, stories happen when plants take care of insects. In the American tropics, a relative of our stinging Nettle grows - Thyroid Cecropia. Although the hollow trunk and finger-lobed spectacular leaves of the fast-growing tree, which is Thyroid Cecropia, are covered with protective bristles that do not dispose to hospitality for all kinds of lovers of devouring plant leaves, Cecropia additionally decided to take custody of ants.

The tree graciously harbors ants belonging to the species "Pheidole tenuinodis Mayr". The ants drill a hole in the hollow trunk where there is enough room for their fertile families. Cecropia's hospitality manifests itself not only in providing the ants with a "roof over their heads", but also in providing insects with delicious treats. For this, the tree forms special outgrowths at the base of the long petioles of its picturesque leaves, which, as they are eaten by ants, are replenished with Cecropia.

Ants respond to such touching care of Cecropia with friendly rows of defenders that appear at the moment of danger. Such an "army" will not let those who like to eat green food, of which there are a great many in the tropics, to the lush crown of leaves. In addition, as scientists suggest, ants are a source of nitrogen for the plant. True, the process of such an exchange is incomprehensible to people until the end. Scientists who like to doubt everything are more skeptical about the protective function of ants, believing that even without such protectors, Cecropia trees can undoubtedly survive. However, botanists' observations indicate that individuals guarding the ants exhibit much more lush deciduous crowns.

We would have such ants, who boldly stand up to protect the vegetable tops from leaf-gnawing earthly creatures, instead of those scurrying around the garden beds, pulling their "milk cows" - the gluttonous aphids, along the cultural plantings:).