One of the most salt-tolerant land plants is European salt, from the family of hamsters). It grows on the seacoasts and salt marshes with a salt concentration in the ground waters of up to 6%. And its seeds sprout even in 10% salt solution.

Cereals are widespread, they are found even at the extreme boundaries of vegetation distribution - in Antarctica and on the islands.

The green algae Dunaliella saline can exist in salt lakes with a salt concentration of 285 g / l.

In the class of dicotyledons, the largest family is complex flowers. It includes about 900 genera, including from 13 to 20 thousand species. Like cereals, complex flowers are widespread everywhere - from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the plains to the highlands.

The northernmost point on Earth, where a flowering plant is found - the Alpine Yaskolka from the family of ancients - is Lockwood Island, which is located at a latitude of 83 degrees 24 minutes north. Higher to the north, only mosses and lichens can be found.

The southernmost border of the distribution of flowering plants lies between 64 and 66 degrees south latitude on the Antarctic continent and the islands adjacent to it. Here, in the moxo-lichen deserts of Antarctica, there are two species of flowering plants - the thick-leaved cocklebur, from the guid family, and the grass pike antarctic.

The highest growth rate is possessed by one of the bambuk's relatives - the edible leafy grass, which is found in the wild in the south of China. The daily increase in the runs of this plant reaches 40 centimeters or 1.7 centimeters per hour. In just a few months the foliar grows to a height of 30 meters, reaching 50 centimeters in diameter.

There are plants that are common on all continents of the Earth. They got the name of the cosmopolitan. The five most widespread plants include: shepherd's bag, from the cruciferous family; crimson, or bird highlander, from the buckwheat family; annual bluegrass; cormorant or stellate middle, from the carnation family; dioecious nettle, the nettle family.

Sedges are a very large genus. At present, according to the estimates of sedge specialists, there are from 1.5 to 2 thousand species.

Blueberries and cranberries from the lingonberry family growing on sphagnum bogs (according to other views, from the heather family) are able to tolerate very high soil acidity - a pH of about 3.5.

Some cultivated plants can grow in a wide range of soil acidity. Thus, rye and sorghum are most indifferent to soil acidity and survive in the pH range from 4.5 to 8.0. Cakes and carrots do not tolerate very acidic soils, but calmly tolerate pH fluctuations from 5.0 to 8.5.

One of the thickest trees the world considers the African baobab, from the bombax family. The diameter of the trunk of the largest of the described baobabs was about 9 meters.

The longest tree on Earth is the liana-shaped palma rattan, a family of palm trees. Ee total length, according to various sources, reaches from 150 to 300 meters. It is interesting that the diameter of the trunk at the base does not exceed a few centimeters at the otang. Rattan stems stretch from tree to tree, holding on to plant-props with the help of strong thorns located on the middle veins of large feathery leaves.

The total length of all roots of a four-month-old winter rye plant is more than 619 kilometers.

The tedigera raffia palm tree growing in Brazil has the largest leaves in the world. With a 4–5-meter petiole, its first leaf blade reaches a length of more than 20 meters and a width of about 12 meters.

The largest castings with a solid plate have an Amazonian water lily - the Amazonian Victoria, from the family of water lilies. Their diameter reaches 2 meters, and the maximum "load capacity" with a uniform load can be 80 kilograms.

One of the largest leaf buds (shortened future runs) is a cabbage head. The weight of a head of cabbage can reach over 43 kilograms.

The smallest flowering plant on Earth, found in the freshwater tropics, is wolfia rootless. The tiny wolfia leaf has a diameter of 0.5–2 millimeters. In this case, the plant is able to form rather large aggregates, tightening the surface of the water with a continuous film, like an ordinary duckweed.

The wolffia infantile and her relative have duckweed and the smallest flowers. Their diameter does not exceed 0.5 millimeters.

The largest inflorescences are possessed by the Umbelliferae Corypha Palma, which grows in South-East Asia and in the East of Sri Lanka. The height of its inflorescence reaches 6 meters, and the number of flowers in an inflorescence is half a million.

The record for the duration of flowering was set by the pungent palm tree, or kitul. This tree, growing in Southwestern Asia, blooms once in a lifetime, after which it dies. One bloom lasts continuously for several years.

At an altitude of 6218 meters above the sea level, a squat plant, bryophyte, from the family of carnivores, rises up into the mountains. Slightly lower, at an altitude of 6096 meters, in the Himalayas, several species of edelweiss from the Asteraceae family grow.

Cultivated plants also rise high in the mountains. In Central Asia, the border of agriculture reaches 5 thousand meters above sea level. In Tibet, only barley grows at this height.

The largest fruits in the world grow on a herbaceous plant of common pumpkin - they can weigh over 92 kilograms.

About 45 species of flowering plants are so original that separate families were established for them - with a single genus and one species. Most of these plants are inhabitants of tropics and subtropics. And in the temperate zone there are adoxa muskusnaya and umbelliferae bush - the only representatives of the families, respectively, of adoksovs and susakovs.

The very large tubers (modified underground shoots) are formed by the Asiatic yam plant from the Dioscorean family. Tubers of cultivated yam can reach a mass of 50 kilograms. They are eaten baked or cooked, and taste like potatoes.

The leaves of Pebo Stevia, from the Asteraceae family, native to South America, contain steve glycosides and rebodin, which are 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Most of the protein in seeds - 61% - contains the leguminous plant lupins. However, along with white, lupine seeds contain poisonous alkaloids, which does not allow their use in human nutrition.

The Cuban tree is echinomene bristly, from the legume family) has the lightest wood in the world. Its density is only 0.044 g / cm3, which is 23 times less than the density of water and 3 times lighter than the wood of the famous balsa tree.

The largest flower in the world is found in a parasitic plant of tropical forests of west Sumatra, described in 1821 - Arnold's puffs, from the Rafflesia family. Currently, its maximum dimensions are estimated at 45 cm in diameter with a mass of 7 kilograms.

Record holderAccording to the area occupied by the crown, the Indian banyan tree, or Bengal ficus, from the mulberry family is considered. This ficus forms on the lateral branches a large number aerial roots, which, reaching the ground, nestle and turn into false trees. As a result, the huge crown of the tree is kept on the root supports. The most famous of the Banyans grows in the botanical garden of the city of Kolkata. In 1929, when the measurements were made, the circumference of its crown exceeded 300 meters (slightly less than 100 meters in diameter), and the number of "trunks" - aerial roots - reached 600 pieces.

The largest condiments are typical for a bread tree from the mulberry family, more precisely - one of its types, jackfruit. The mass of one fruit is about 40 kilograms, the length is about 90 centimeters, and the width is up to 50 centimeters.

The largest pollen grains - their diameter is 250 microns - are common pumpkin. And the smallest pollen is formed in the anthers of forget-me-nots - 2–5 microns. Interestingly, both plants are insect pollinated. In mite plants, the diameter of pollen grains is, on average, 20–50 microns.

The tallest tree on Earth at the present time is considered to be the evergreen sequoia. The highest living sexta grows in the state of Califopnia. Its height in 1964 was 110 m 33 cm. The tree has its own name "Howard Libby". Close in size to the sequoia evergreen and sequoia dendron, or mammoth tree. However, these plants belong to gymnosperms (order of cypress), and the tallest flowering plants on Earth are Australian eucalyptus. The tallest eucalyptus trees that exist today are two trees belonging to the species of the common eucalyptus. One of them is 99.4 meters high and the other 98.1 meters.

The most "heat-resistant" land plant is the camel thorn, from the legume family). It will take the temperature up to +70 degrees Celsius.

Shoots of trees of the genera birch, birch family, poplar, willow family) and - from birch - larch differ in large cold resistance ... They are able to withstand cooling down to –196 degrees Celsius. black currant, from the gooseberry family, are able to withstand cooling down to –253 degrees C, without losing the ability to root after thawing. However, this is the potential cold tolerance of plants, established under laboratory conditions. At the pole of the same cold in the northern depths of birch and larch, the temperature drops to –71 degrees C.

The most large aquatic plant is the brown water macrocystis. Its maximum length, according to various sources, ranges from 70 to 300 meters.

The brown seaweed Podrigeca kelp is also a typical dive into the water column. In the Adriatic Sea, it was raised from a depth of about 200 meters.

And here is the blue-green alga filamentous occillation lives well and differs in the water of hot springs, the temperature in which reaches +85.2 degrees C.

The growth rate of the fruiting body of the common mushroom is twice as high as the growth rate of the shoots of the foliar, reaching 5 millimeters per minute.

The most dense wood, which is 1.5 times heavier than water, has a piratiner, from the mulberry family), growing in Guyana. Almost the same dense wood is possessed by the guaiac, or bakout tree, from the parifolia family. Its density is 1.42 grams per cubic centimeter.

The least blooming plant is a rare raymondia puja found in the Andes, which blooms at the age of at least 150 years. It dies soon after flowering.

The largest fruits and vegetables grown by humans:

head cabbage - 51.8 kilograms; cauliflower - 23.9 kilograms; tomatoes - 1.9 kilograms; pumpkin - 171.4; mushroom umbrella - 190 centimeters (around the circumference of the cap); lemon - 2.65 kilograms; pineapple - 7.5 kilograms; melon - 40.8 kilograms.

The most ascetic plant. Velvichia - grows in southern Africa, in the Namibian desert. The leaves of this plant are twisted like a turban around themselves. Since it almost never rains in Namibia, Velvichia uses its leaves to absorb moisture ... from the fogs coming from the Atlantic, and then drop it on to the roots.

Buttercups. According to the people, this herb has a harsh character - hence the name. This flower - the highest mountainous in Europe - is found at an altitude of 4,300 meters above sea level. Buttercups Ranunculus lobatus were found at an altitude of 6,400 meters above sea level.

The largest cactus in the world, the saguaro, grows in Mexico and the state of Arizona. It easily reaches a height of 15 meters and weighs from 6 to 10 tons. There are 3500 stamens in the saguaro flower, which are so large that small birds sometimes build nests there.

The arctic willow is the northernmost tree (shrub) in the world, its branches can reach 5 meters in length, but they never rise higher than 10 centimeters. from the earth. Thus, the willow is protected from the icy wind and grows under a blanket of snow throughout the winter.

The most smelly plant in the world is amorphophallus. It grows in rainforests and smells like rotting fish. The entire island of Sumatra literally smelled of this scent.

The most dangerous stinging plant is the New Zealand nettle tree. It can kill a dog and even a horse by injecting a mixture of strong poisons under the skin. The fine, stinging hairs on the leaves contain histamine and formic acid.

Velvichia mirabilis has only two leaves, although its age can reach 100 years. Its leaves grow 5-8 centimeters per year, and the largest leaves were 8.2 x 2 meters.

Deepest roots - The longest roots are found in a wild ficus plant from South Africa. They reached 120 meters.

The first astronaut plant - the first plant that bloomed and gave seeds in space in the absence of gravity - was Arabidopsis. Its life cycle is only 40 days; a copy of Arabidopsis was grown in 1982 aboard the Soviet space station Salyut-7

The most ancient plant that gives seeds - The ancestors of gingko, or maidenhair, grew on the territory of present-day China over 180 million years ago. Then the earth was in the Jurassic period, and it was inhabited by dinosaurs. The gingko tree that has survived to this day looks almost the same as its prehistoric ancestors.

Most and least nutritious fruit - The most nutritious fruit in the world is the avocado. It contains 208 calories per 100 grams of edible weight. And the least nutritious vegetable, cucumber, contains only 15 kilocalories. The Ceratonia plant always gives extremely identical seeds, which weigh 0.2 g. In ancient times, they were used by jewelers as weighed portions, and now this measure is called a carat.

The thickest tree on Earth is the baobab. Its average height is about 18-25 m, and the trunk circumference at this height is more than 10 meters. There are even examples with a circumference of 50 m in girth! The life span of the baobab ranges from a millennium to 5.5 thousand years.

The oldest plant on Earth is seaweed. They have been around for about 1 billion years.

Lovelaces in India often use the unique keppel tree. Keppel belongs to the Annon family. Its fruits are extremely fragrant: it is worth trying them and a person begins to smell like a violet all over, the fruits of the keppel tree have contraceptive properties.

The most dangerous stinging plant that even a horse can kill is ohngaonga or novozeland nettle tree. It injects a mass of strong poisons under the skin of its victim, among which there is formic acid and histamine.

In the forests of Brazil, in the valley of the Amozonca River, a tree grows, which the Brazilians call "sorveira" - a pacifier. The scientific name of sorveira is useful callophore. The sap of this tree has White color and is similar in consistency to coconut milk. Sorveira sap (milk) is collected in the same way as we have birch or maple sap, through an incision in the bark of a tree.

Another type of "milk tree" also grows in South America - this galactodendron , the sap of this tree tastier than juice"Sorveyrs". But that's not all, there is also a "cow tree" growing there, in the local language - "palo de vaca", botanists call this tree brosium from the family of tukaceae ... Milk of "cow tree" has a thick consistency and taste, when stored on top of tree milk, foam appears, but you cannot consume much of such milk, it has a very high content of wax, which is not processed by the human gastrointestinal tract.

In the rainforests of Brazil and India, there is a tree whose sap can be used in place of diesel fuel. It is called that: diesel tree or kerosene, in Latin - Copaifera langsdorffii, from the legume family. From a tree, you can get about 50 liters of motor fuel per year.

It turns out that the name borsch was originally applied exclusively to the Siberian hogweed plant, from the umbrella family. Many Siberian hogweed grew along the railroad tracks. Immigrants from the European part of the country collected these plants when trains stopped at stations and cooked soup from them, often hogweed was the main or only ingredient in the soup. Later the name borsch was assigned to the class of a certain first course.

Finally, the most - the most interesting information about plants obtained on the Internet

The most watery cells have incense pine roots - 90.2%; fruits of watermelon and cucumber - 92.1%; inner lettuce leaves - 94.8%.

The groundnuts (peanuts) have the most anhydrous cells. The water content in its cage is 5.2%.

The longest cells are plant fibers of abaca (textile banana). Manila hemp - a fiber obtained from the leaves of this plant - consists of dead cells up to 3.5 meters in length.

Most large diameter have vascular cells of clematis vines - 0.7 millimeters. They are visible to the naked eye.

The strongest fiber cells are in Chinese nettle (ramie white). The tensile strength of the fibers of this plant is 91-99 kilograms per millimeter.

Desert plants have deepest roots Root system the bush, or mesquite, reaches a depth of more than 50 meters at a camel thorn - 20 meters.

The fastest growing tree is the crescent albition from Malaysia. It grows at a rate of 10.74 meters per year. One specimen of this tree reached a height of 30.48 meters in 64 months.

The slowest growing edible tree is from Mexico. During the year, this 9.9 cm tall tree has grown by only 0.76 millimeters. He is already 120 years old.

The most big number leaves on the shoots have a cypress - 45-50 million scaly leaves. A large oak tree grows on average about 250 thousand leaves.

The largest amount of water evaporated was found in the leaves of eucalyptus trees. During the year, one plant is able to transport up to 14 tons of water through the leaf stomata.

The most large fruits cultivated plants. A peach weighing 411 grams and 30.4 centimeters in circumference was picked in August 1984. from a 26-year-old peach tree grown in London; pineapple weighing 7 kilograms 960 grams was grown in the Philippines in November 1984; a cucumber weighing 30 kilograms was grown by Eileen Chappel from Queensland (Australia) in April 1989. Asparagus, 122 centimeters long and weighing 6 kilograms 480 grams, was grown by French vegetable growers. Zucchini 107 centimeters long was grown in a greenhouse in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The largest yields. V. Gorelov from the Kemerovo region in 1989 harvested a record crop of potatoes on his plot: from one hundred square meters, he collected 1400 kilograms of tubers (500 bushes) of the varieties "blue-eyed" and "galaka santa". The grapes of the record harvest were harvested at the Institute of Viticulture near Tashkent: the Bayan Shirey variety produced 106 tons per hectare, under production conditions this variety gives an average of 57.8 tons per hectare; a record crop of barley - 12,200 kilograms per hectare - was harvested in August 1989 by farmers from Chernside (Great Britain) on a field of 21.29 hectares.

The largest vineyard - with an area of ​​840 thousand hectares - is located on the coast Mediterranean Sea between the Rhone and the Pyrenees.

The deepest are the chestnut-brown coralline algae found in the Bahamas (San Salvador Island) at a depth of 269 meters. Sea water at this depth absorbs 99.9% of the sunlight.

Chlorella is considered the most productive algae. Its cells use 7-12% of solar energy in the process of photosynthesis, while flowering plants use only 1-2%. Chlorella multiplies so quickly that up to 55 grams of dry matter is formed in 1 liter of culture liquid.

The largest living spore plant is considered to be the tree ferns from New Zealand, belonging to the genus Cyatea. Some representatives reach a height of 24 meters and have leaves more than 5 meters long. Alsophila excels from the Norfolk Islands reaches a more modest size - 18.28 m. The largest representatives of spore plants were the ancient scaly lepidodendrons, which were extinct more than 300 million years ago (Carboniferous period). The height of individual specimens reached more than 40 meters with a trunk thickness of more than 2 meters in diameter.

The smallest fern is considered to be hecystorteris pumila, found in Central America, and azolla cariliniana.

The most harmful weed among aquatic plants is the salvinia fern, found in Africa. It was discovered in the Kariba reservoir in May 1959. For 11 months, it literally "strangled" the reservoir, spreading over an area of ​​199 square kilometers. And by 1963, the weed already occupied 1002 square kilometers of the reservoir surface.

The largest forested area in the world is the vast coniferous forests (taiga) of the Eurasian part of Russia (between 55 degrees north latitude and the Arctic Circle). The total taiga area reaches 1,100 million hectares, which is 28% of all forest reserves in the world. The main forest-forming species of the Siberian and Far Eastern taiga is Siberian larch.

The tallest coniferous tree found on the territory of our country is the Caucasian fir, reaching a height of 75 meters with a trunk diameter of over 1.5 meters.

The most massive tree on Earth is the giant sequoiadendron. The needles of the tree are bluish-green, red-brown bark in places reaches a thickness of 61 centimeters. The height of individual trees is up to 80 meters with a trunk girth of up to 20 meters.

Estimated weight is over 2000 tons. The giant sequoiadendron seed weighs only 4.7 milligrams.

The largest bacteria are spirochetes: their length is from 30 to 500 microns.

The smallest bacteria are micrococci and diphtheria bacteria, which are 0.2 microns long.

The fastest among bacteria is the rod-shaped Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, which moves with the help of a flagellum that rotates at a speed of 100 revolutions per second. In 1 second, this bacterium travels a distance 50 times its length.

The most hardy bacteria are considered micrococcus radiodurans, which can withstand radiation of 6.5 million roentgens, which is 10,000 times the dose that is fatal to humans.

The most poisonous mushroom is a pale toadstool.

What is the importance of crucifers in nature and human life, you will learn from this article.

Cruciferous meaning

Plants of the cruciferous family are characterized by a similar structure of the fruit and the flower. The flower is made up of calyxes and 4 sepals. The corolla has 4 free petals, which are located crosswise, 6 stamens and a pistil. The fruit is formed in the pistil. Cruciferous flowers form a raceme inflorescence. The fruit is either a shortened pod or a long pod. The leaves are arranged alternately, and the stipules are completely absent. Most of the plants are herbaceous.

The value of the cruciferous family is determined by their specific features and structure. Some plants contain substances with a pungent taste and strong aroma (horseradish, radish, mustard). Others contain sulfur, oils, vitamins (cabbage). Representatives of the cruciferous family are used as oilseeds, vegetables, medicinal, melliferous, spicy and ornamental plants. There are also weeds among them, with which there is a constant fight.

The value of crucifers in human life

The economic value of crucifers in human life is very great. Most of them are vegetable plants. Cabbage plays an important role - cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, broccoli. A person also eats other cruciferous vegetables: radishes, turnips, rutabagas and radishes. It makes a delicious seasoning from horseradish roots. Oil is produced from mustard seeds, and what remains after pressing is ground into powder for table mustard and mustard plasters.

Medicinal value of representatives of the cruciferous family

The use of mustard is very popular in medicine. First of all, mustard plasters are made from it for sciatica, gout and rheumatism. Mustard alcohol is effective for rheumatism, sprains, muscle pains, dislocations. Mustard compresses are especially popular for bronchial catarrh. We already wrote that seasoning is made from mustard. And it’s not in vain. The seasoning also has a healing effect. It promotes digestion and helps the body absorb fatty foods. It is especially useful for the elderly, as mustard powder improves metabolism. One more medicinal plant among crucifers, it is a shepherd's purse. She is a blood purifier. Tea from a shepherd's purse and horsetail is drunk for rheumatism, cough and gout. In addition, this plant helps with diseases of the biliary system and liver. They rinse the throat with his broth and wash the wounds. Shepherd's purse herb is effective for sugar ailment.

Interesting facts about cabbage

• Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is a species of the genus Cabbage (Brassica) of the Cabbage family (Cruciferous). It is a biennial plant, an agricultural crop.
• It is believed that the word "cabbage" comes from the ancient Greek and Roman "kaputum" (head), which emphasizes the peculiar shape of this vegetable, according to another version from the Celtic "cap", which also means "head" in translation.
• There are several about the origin of cabbage legends .
• Until now, the wild relative of the cabbage has not been established, as well as the place where the cabbage was grown for the first time. For the right to be called the homeland of this vegetable, there are disputes between Georgians, Greeks, Italians and Georgians.
• Archaeological excavations indicate that people began to use cabbage since the Stone and Bronze Ages.
• Scientists believe that the main merit in the domestication of cabbage belongs to the ancient Iberians who lived in the Iberian Peninsula (today it is Spain). Even the ancient Iberian name of kapustyai is known - "aschi". About 2.5 thousand years ago, it spread to Egypt, where it was considered the first plant among vegetable crops and was grown as a vegetable and treatment plant, and to Ancient Greece.
• Macro Porcius Cato (III-II centuries BC), Pliny (I century BC), Columella (I century BC) wrote about the cultivation of cabbage in their treatises.
• Cabbage has long been known in Russia: in 1073, in the "Izbornik Svyatoslav" - the oldest reference book of Kievan Rus - describes the storage and use of white cabbage as an everyday familiar food product.
• In "Domostroy" detailed guidelines for the use, cultivation and storage of cabbage were set out, and in Russian medical books there were placed many medicinal recipes for various diseases with its use.
• Long-standing traditions and extensive experience in cabbage growing allowed the famous Russian gardener E.A. Grachev at the Vienna Agricultural Exhibition in 1875 to receive an honorary medal "For Progress" for cabbage varieties. Heads of cabbage with high density, whiteness and great taste reached 70 cm in diameter.
• Today, due to its resistance to cold weather, cabbage is the main crop. open ground in Russia, especially in the northern and middle parts, where it occupies up to 50% of the area of ​​all vegetables.
• According to Charles Darwin, all varieties cabbage descended from one wild species. This speaks of the amazing properties of cabbage for the formation of new varieties.
• There are about 100 types of cabbage around the world, they all belong to three varieties: cabbage, cauliflower and deciduous. The most common are Red, Peking, Broccoli, Colored, Savoy, Brussels and Kohlrabi.
• On the island of Jersey in the English Channel off the coast of France there is a cabbage called "Jersey", it grows up to 3-4 m high. The leaves of this cabbage are edible, although the locals use more "wooden" stems, which are used to make canes and details of furniture.
• Cabbage is 91% water.
• A head of cabbage is a huge wintering bud, bearing the seed pods the next year after germination.
• Culinary experts call cabbage "the queen of vegetables" because you can cook a lot cabbage dishes .
• Cabbage was a favorite food everywhere. It was consumed both fresh and salted.

  

• V different countries cheerfully celebrate Cabbage holidays and festivals .
• There are also Cabbage museums .
• "Cabbage" was also called one of the types of round dance, common in different regions... It is formed like this: a guy starts a song and forms a chain of players, taking one or the other by the hand.
• In France, Louis XIV donated the nobility to his gardener La Cantigny and invented the corresponding coat of arms. The king loved cabbage so much that on the field of this coat of arms he ordered to depict three heads of cabbage with two crossing shovels.
• In Russia, with the beginning of cabbage harvesting, girls' festivities and gatherings began. They were called skits (cabbages) and continued until the end of cabbage felling (in some provinces, 2-3 weeks). Cabbage women (cabbage cleaners) went from door to door and congratulated the owners on the “cabbage” as on a great holiday. When harvesting cabbage, they sang special "cabbage" songs.
• The so-called "skits" - funny performances - used to be staged in theaters for loved ones, as well as at student parties. They were usually organized during Lent, therefore the name "skits" came from a common dish - pies with cabbage.
• The leader in the cultivation of plants of the cabbage family is China - 31.759 million tons.
• In Japan, cabbage was appreciated not only as a vegetable, but also as an ornamental plant, having developed varieties with different colors of inner leaves, and at the end of the season, when there are few flowering plants in the gardens, ornamental cabbage is an indispensable plant for decorating flower beds.

  
  

• The collection of the Museum of the Imperial Palace in Taipei exhibited "Jadeite Cabbage" ("Jadeite Cabbage with Insects") - an ancient figurine made from a single piece of jadeite, which is shaped like a head of a Chinese cabbage with locusts and a green grasshopper hiding in its leaves.

  

• In China, cabbage is considered a symbol of wealth.

  

• According to New Jersey law, cabbage can be sold on all days of the week except Sunday.
• A series of experiments on growing vegetables on the moon are planned in the United States. The first mini-greenhouses will plant Brussels sprouts and cabbage. This choice is explained by their growth rate and nutritional value. Biologists hope to fit the entire growth cycle into one lunar night (28 Earth days).

Useful qualities of cabbage



Interesting Sauerkraut Facts



Cabbage Records

• In 1873, at the Vienna Vegetable Exhibition, the vegetable grower Efim Grachev from St. Petersburg showed the audience a head of cabbage incomprehensible at that time - with a diameter of 71 cm.
• In 1987, a head of cabbage with a diameter of 1 meter and a weight of more than 12 kg was grown in France.
• John Evans of Palmer, Alaska, USA, is famous for growing giant vegetables and holds seven world records for giant vegetables. In 1998, he managed to grow cabbage weighing 34.4 kg. He raised the biggest cauliflower which weighed 14.1 kg and the giant broccoli weighed 15.8 kg.
• According to the National Tourism Organization of Korea, South Korea has hosted an annual kimchi sauerkraut festival. To ferment it, it took almost 60 thousand cabbage heads and more than two thousand workers. Moreover, this was enough not only to celebrate the holiday, but also to set a cabbage record. Spicy food was distributed to thirteen thousand poor families.
• The largest cabbage pie in Russia was baked in Georgievsk on National Unity Day in 2015. Moreover, any citizen could take part in the cooking process. The result is a cake 58.9 meters long and weighing 665 kilograms.
• In Veliky Novgorod in 2015, a world record was set for the preparation of sauerkraut. 10 chefs of one of the restaurants fermented 2 tons of cabbage according to a traditional Russian recipe, which also includes carrots and salt. For 12 hours, the cooks and everyone who wanted to help shredded cabbage, grated carrots and mixed them in a tub, rubbing them with salt. In 10 days, when the cabbage is completely fermented, the representatives of the Guinness Book will record a record, and the dish will be distributed to everyone.

Overview of Crucifers

Cruciferous (Lat. Cruciferae) or Cabbage (Lat. Brassicaceae), a family of free-petalled dicotyledonous plants. Herbs, less often shrubs and shrubs. Over 3 thousand species (about 350 genera), mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. Cruciferous plants include vegetables (cabbage, radish), oilseeds (rape, rapeseed) and weeds (shepherd's purse, yarutka), as well as melliferous, medicinal, dyeing and ornamental plants. Horseradish (Armoracia), genus perennial plants family of cruciferous (cabbage). Three species, in Europe, the Caucasus and Siberia.

Horseradish ordinary, or village (A. rusticana), - vegetable crop... The plant is 50-150 cm high, with a fleshy white rhizome ("root") and large leaves. The flowers are white, small, collected in a racemose inflorescence. It is cultivated as an annual and biennial plant in Western Europe, Asia and America. In Russia - from the 16th century everywhere. Leaves and roots are rich in vitamin C and mustard essential oil giving the horseradish a pungent taste. Horseradish roots emit phytoncides. The roots are grated and used as a hot seasoning. In folk medicine, horseradish is an antiscorbutic and anti-cold remedy. Gruel from the roots is used for rubbing with radiculitis, an aqueous infusion is used for gargling with sore throat. In connection with the diuretic effect, it is used for dropsy, gout. Leaves are a spice for pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms. Rape, an annual herb of the cabbage genus of the cruciferous family. Winter and spring (kolza). Grown in India, China, Canada, etc. for the production of edible and industrial oil (in seeds 33-50%), for feed for farm animals. Honey plant. Gray jaundice Erysimum canescens L. is a herbaceous biennial plant 30-50 cm high, with branched stems. Leaves are alternate, narrow, linear-lanceolate.

Botanical description. Cruciferous - annual and perennial grasses, rarely subshrubs or shrubs. The leaves are arranged alternately in most, without stipules. All parts of the majority are covered with hairs, between which are especially characteristic stellate and bifold; the same plant often contains hairs of several forms. Since they are filled with air, they give the entire plant, if there are many of them, a gray-haired appearance. Flowers are small or even small, collected in clusters ending both the main stem and branches. At first, these brushes often look like korimbs. The number of sepals and petals is 4. Petals rarely grow. The colors are yellow and white, less often pink or other colors. There are 6 stamens, of which 2 are short and 4 are long, sitting in pairs. Gynoecium consists of two accrete carpels, whole. The ovary is two-celled, contains ovules in each nest, located at the seams. The fruit is in the form of a pod or pod, depending on the size. As it ripens, it bursts at the seams, its flaps fall off, but there remains a frame formed by seams and a thin partition stretched over this frame. The seeds, in varying numbers, sit at the seams on both sides of the frame. They are protein-free and with a crooked oily bud. Their peel is rather thick; when moistened in water, it becomes sticky. Cruciferous fruits are most susceptible to deviations and changes, although these changes do not affect the main essential feature of the fruit, which is that it is 2-nested, that its seeds are located at the seams and that the seeds themselves are without protein and with a crooked embryo. Cruciferous plants contain more or less pungent juices and a significant amount of sulfur. Therefore, when decaying, they release hydrogen sulphide, which produces bad smell... Many of them, such as levkoi and zheltofioli, are known in horticulture, many are important garden plants that provide abundant and healthy food.
The main genera of the cruciferous family:
Wasabi
Mustard (Sinapis)
Jaundice (Erysimum)
Zherukha (Nasturtium)
Gold-grass (Chrysochamela)
Ikotnik (Berteroa)
Katran (Crambe)
Cabbage (Brassica)
Levkoy (Matthiola)
Lunaria
Radish (Raphanus)
Ginger (Camelina)
Shepherd's bag (Capsella)
Horseradish (Armoracia)

Healing properties and use in traditional medicine. Mustard. Mustard is very popular in folk medicine. In the first place are mustard plasters - from rheumatism, sciatica and gout. Then comes mustard alcohol for rubbing in for muscle pains, sprains, dislocations and, of course, for rheumatism. Mustard compresses are also very popular for bronchial catarrh. For children, they are made a little softer by adding about 20% pork fat to the mustard gruel. Use as a condiment. There is a well-known saying: "The one who does not know how to use spices grabs the mustard." It was thought so before, but today they think differently. New research has shown that mustard is one of the most health-promoting spices. It excellently promotes digestion, helps to assimilate fatty foods, which do not lie in the stomach "like lead", but is very quickly processed by it and then finally digested in the intestines. In older people, mustard, by stimulating digestion, significantly improves metabolism. Mustard improves health. When young children have no appetite, they often grab mustard. There is no need to stop them. They instinctively choose what will help them. Edible mustard is produced according to various recipes (soft, sweet, spicy, pungent) from mustard seeds, which must undergo enzymatic cleavage to form mustard-oil allyl.
Shepherd's purse is recommended as a blood purifier for the spring treatment. Together with horsetail herb, this tea is given for coughs, rheumatism and gout. ethnoscience uses a shepherd's bag and for ailments of the liver and biliary system. As an external product - for rinsing and rinsing - it has gained a strong position as a remedy for oral infections and for treating poorly healing wounds. Traditional medicine recommends the use of shepherd's purse herb in the form of tea and for sugar sickness.

Family cruciferous
The family includes up to 380 genera and about 3200 species. All cruciferous plants share a similar flower structure. These are 4 petals arranged in a cross, and six stamens differing in length, of which four are long and two are short.
The cruciferous species are spread across the globe extremely unevenly. They are mainly concentrated in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, and in the tropics there are only single genera. The family is rich in cultivated plants. Currently, there are a huge number of varieties of radish, radish, salads, and finally cabbage. But on this page of the book
You will get to know the wild cruciferous species. In the Trans-Baikal Territory, the family is not numerous, most of the species grow only in the north, in the highlands.

Shepherd's bag
One of the most common, well-known weeds. Shepherd's purse is an annual plant with a simple stem, a basal rosette of oblong-lanceolate leaves and small white inconspicuous flowers, collected in a dense raceme. Triangular fruits, ripening in place of flowers, are very similar to the shepherd's bag, which gave the name to the genus of the plant. The inflorescence of a shepherd's purse grows with its tip, therefore, if you look closely, at the same time you can see formed fruits in the lower part of the inflorescence, flowers in the middle, and small buds in the upper part. This plant has a pronounced medicinal properties, is often used as a mild diuretic and hemostatic.
Burachok

If we consider this plant in comparison with roses, lilies, tulips, then, of course, its decorativeness is not worth talking about. Squat perennial plant, the stem of which is lignified in the lower part. Simple leaves. Small yellow flowers common to crucifers. But how does the spring steppe transform when these seemingly invisible plants bloom? The eye is pleased with the "yellow flower beds", as if by the hands of a caring gardener planted among the lifeless mountain slopes.
At this time from all sides on bright color inflorescences flies, bees, bumblebees flock to the beetroot. Borachka flowers have very interesting feature... You know that after pollination, the perianth falls off in most plants, and the flower loses its attractiveness. Have
the majority, but not in the burachk. His flower petals with already set fruits do not fall off, but, on the contrary, begin to increase in size, thereby attracting insects to the rest of the blossoming flowers.
But this is not the end of the burachka's surprises. Try looking at the entire plant through a magnifying glass. What do we see? It turns out that all of it is covered with hairs, and not simple ones, but an amazing star-shaped one. These stars are superimposed on each other Burachok, creating a pattern of unique beauty.

Borodinia Tilinga
Are there any protected cruciferous plants? It turns out there is. It’s not just rare. This plant is endemic, that is, it is found in a very limited area. Imagine that this species grows only in the north of the Trans-Baikal Territory - on the Kodar and Udokan ridges, as well as in the Far East and has not been found anywhere else in the world. It is no coincidence that Tiling's beard is listed in the Red Book of the RSFSR, the Red Book of the USSR and the Red Book of the Chita Region.
The plant is not tall, only 10-20 cm. But even with this size, it stands out well among the rocky placers covered with lichens. Definitely a decorative look. Borodinia Tilinga is a perennial, its age i gives out a stem, the branches of which are covered with the remnants of petioles of old leaves. With the small size of the plant itself, the leaves look impressive, they have one leaf blade can be up to 9 cm long, moreover, the petiole is equal to it or even slightly longer. The flowers are ordinary, yellow, but the fruits, towering above the rosette of leaves, look impressive, they are slightly curved, reticulate, often reddish. The seeds inside the pods are also brightly colored, they can be red or grayish.

IT IS INTERESTING!
A shepherd's purse with a large number of fruits in the inflorescence loses its medicinal properties. The image of the valuable root vegetable of the radish can be seen even on the boulders of the Cheops pyramid.
According to one of the ancient Greek legends, the Thracian king, offended by the god Dionysus, wept in large tears, which, falling to the ground, turned into heads of cabbage, and those around them shouted “kaput” (head) in amazement. It is believed that this is where the name "cabbage" originated.

DID YOU KNOW?
Shepherd's bag has been bred as a vegetable in China for over 100 years.
The leaves and the shoot in general are so tough that you can easily cut yourself with them.
Cabbage accounts for more than a quarter of all the vegetables consumed by humans. They call her the number one vegetable.