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Opuntia Matudae
''Opuntia matudae'', or xoconostle, is a cactus native to Mexico. It is sometimes treated as a synonym of ''Opuntia hyptiacantha''. In 2019, a genetic study supported keeping the taxa distinct. Uses ''Opuntia matudae'' is the most commercially important species of cactus referred to as 'xoconostle'. ''Opuntia joconostle'' is also referred to as 'xoconostle'. The cactus fruit is consumed as a traditional medicine and food in Mexico. In contrast to the common fruit (''tunas'') from related ''Opuntia ficus-indica'', it is less sweet, the color is a bland greenish, and it is more used for traditional medicine than cuisine. Its taste is more acidic (due to citric acid). It has many green seeds in the central pit which is covered in red pigment from its antioxidant betalains. References Opuntia, matudae Cacti of Mexico Mexican cuisine Medicinal plants Plants described in 1981 {{Cactaceae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léia Scheinvar
Léia Akcelrad Lerner de Scheinvar is a Brazilian-Mexican botanist. She has dedicated her work to studying and protecting Mexico's cacti. Early life and education Scheinvar was born in Brazil on 30 September 1954. She received her doctorate in biology from the UNAM Faculty of Sciences in 1982. Career She is responsible for the ''Laboratorio de Cactáceas'' in the botanical garden of UNAM. References External links * La extinción de los cactus ' from ''México Desconocido'' Brazilian emigrants to Mexico 20th-century Brazilian botanists Mexican botanists Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Mexican women botanists Brazilian women botanists 1954 births Living people {{Brazil-botanist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico covers ,Mexico ''''. . making it the world's 13th-largest country by are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia Hyptiacantha
''Opuntia hyptiacantha'' is a species of plant that belongs to the family Cactaceae. They can be found in Mexico within Durango, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, and the State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ....Scheinvar, L., Olalde, G. y D. Sule. 2011. Especies silvestres de nopales mexicanos. Universidad Nacional. Autónoma de México. Instituto de Biología. Informe final SNIB-CONABIO, proyecto No. GE005. México D.F. Classification and description It is a tree species, 1.5–5 m high, open branching, sometimes with a canopy almost 2 m in diameter. Defined trunk, 200 x 20 cm, grayish to blackish, spiny, bark with scales in wavy longitudinal bands. Widely obovate cladodios, 22-35 x 15-25 x 1–3 cm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia Joconostle
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (''O. ficus-indica''). Description ''O. ficus-indica'' is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to with a crown of over in diameter and a trunk diameter of . Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia Ficus-indica
''Opuntia ficus-indica'', the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. ''O. ficus-indica'' is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. ''O. ficus-indica'', as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico. ''Opuntia'' species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of ''O. ficus-indica'' is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found. Names Most culinary references to the "prickly pear" refer to this species. The Spanish name ''tuna'' is also used for the fruit of this cactus and for ''Opuntia'' in general; according to A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betalains
Betalains are a class of red and yellow tyrosine-derived pigments found in plants of the order Caryophyllales, where they replace anthocyanin pigments. Betalains also occur in some higher order fungi. They are most often noticeable in the petals of flowers, but may color the fruits, leaves, stems, and roots of plants that contain them. They include pigments such as those found in beets. Description The name "betalain" comes from the Latin name of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''), from which betalains were first extracted. The deep red color of beets, bougainvillea, amaranth, and many cacti results from the presence of betalain pigments. The particular shades of red to purple are distinctive and unlike that of anthocyanin pigments found in most plants. There are two categories of betalains: * Betacyanins include the reddish to violet betalain pigments. Among the betacyanins present in plants include betanin, isobetanin, probetanin, and neobetanin. * Betaxanthins are those be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (''O. ficus-indica''). Description ''O. ficus-indica'' is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to with a crown of over in diameter and a trunk diameter of . Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cacti Of Mexico
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Cuisine
Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Olmec and Maya who domesticated maize, created the standard process of maize nixtamalization, and established their foodways. Successive waves of other Mesoamerican groups brought with them their own cooking methods. These included: the Teotihuacanos, Toltec, Huastec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi, Purépecha, Totonac, Mazatec, Mazahua, and Nahua. With the Mexica formation of the multi-ethnic Triple Alliance (Aztec Empire), culinary foodways became infused (Aztec cuisine). Today's food staples native to the land include corn (maize), turkey, beans, squash, amaranth, chia, avocados, tomatoes, tomatillos, cacao, vanilla, agave, spirulina, sweet potato, cactus, and chili pepper. Its history over the centuries has resulted in regional cuisines based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicinal Plants
Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects, fungi, diseases, and herbivorous mammals. The earliest historical records of herbs are found from the Sumerian civilization, where hundreds of medicinal plants including opium are listed on clay tablets, c. 3000 BC. The Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt, c. 1550 BC, describes over 850 plant medicines. The Greek physician Dioscorides, who worked in the Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in ''De materia medica'', c. 60 AD; this formed the basis of pharmacopoeias for some 1500 years. Drug research sometimes makes use of ethnobotany to search for pharmacologically active substances, and this approach has yielded hundreds of useful compounds. These include the common drugs asp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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