The well-known Central Asian deserts of Karakum, Muyunkum or the African Sahara Desert are associated with sand dunes, monitor lizards, snakes, scorpions, phalanxes and, of course, camels. The camel, a proven means of transportation in the deserts, feeds on camel thorn. This is the main pasture plant of deserts, semi-deserts and arid steppes.
The camel, this powerful and capricious animal, surprises with its ability to extract small leaves of a plant with its tongue, deftly bypassing large strong thorns, and at the same time eat to your fill and even store fat in reserve in humps. And all thanks to these nondescript, at first glance, half-naked shrubs.
Camel thorn surprises with its ability to exist in a desert climate on gravel or sandy soil, not covered with soil. It is especially surprising where the plant takes water from. At the same time, it still manages to bloom magnificently and bear fruit in the form of pods. It turns out that camel thorn roots can penetrate deep into the ground.(more than three meters) and feed the unpretentious plant with underground water. And this water, obtained with such difficulty, the camel thorn spends not only on the formation of a bush 1 m high, covered with small leaves and large thorns, but also on cheerful flowering under the scorching sun from May to September.
Its flowers, like moths, "sit down" right on the thorns - immediately 3-5-8 pinkish-scarlet flowers, similar in shape to pea or bean flowers. And this is understandable: camel thorn is a relative of all legumes, it is from their family. By autumn, the plant produces a crop of seeds from the pods. And the thorn can treat you with sweet “manna” - the sugary juice that stands out from the leaves freezes with grains that look like semolina. From one bush, if desired, you can collect up to 2-4 g of such a treat.
Chemical analyzes have shown that camel thorn, which was used in folk medicine, contains useful substances such as saponins, carotene, flavonoids, sugars, vitamins C, K and group B, coloring and tannins, ursolic acid, essential oils, alkaloids in small amounts.
Tasty and fragrant medicinal honey from camel thorn flowers. Camel thorn is good not only for bees and a camel, the photo of which is posted in the article. People have also found use for the plant: for the treatment of many diseases, leaves with a prickly stem, flowers, fruits, and even a woody stem along with the root are used. Infusion and decoction of crushed stems andThe leaves of the thorn are used as a bile and diuretic. Substances contained in the decoction of the plant turn out to be detrimental to such dangerous microbes and bacteria as streptococci and staphylococci, disinteria bacillus. The antiseptic properties of the desert plant are used in the treatment of skin pustular lesions, eczema, festering wounds and ulcers in the form of washings, compresses. Gargle with a decoction of the throat with sore throats, with stomatitis, rinse the mouth. Baths and washings for hemorrhoids can be healing. Decoctions of camel's thorn help with colitis, gastric ulcer, various liver diseases, and dysentery. "Manna" is given for uncontrollable dry cough and as an antipyretic, diaphoretic in cases of colds. "Manna" is given to children as a mild laxative.
That's all in a nutshell about this modest, but such a generous desert plant - camel thorn.
