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Aloe Vera Plant and Cactus Plant
The Aloe Vera is a semi-tropical plant that belongs to the lily
family. It is a succulent plant. It is a semi tropical plant and is
generally found in the continent of Africa. It is native to
northern Africa. The Aloe Vera plant has lanceote leaves which are
fleshy and thick and has a serrated margin and are green to grey
green in color. The plant is stem-less or very short stemmed and it
spreads by offsets and root sprouts.
The lower
leaf parts of the Aloe Vera plant are used for medicinal purposes.
The edible part of the plant is the leaves and seeds. The Aloe Vera
liquid is a yellow–orange color and they can be seen when the
leaves are cut from the apex. It lives in warm, dry climates and in
very harsh conditions of growth. The leaves of the Aloe Vera plant
contain the water that enables it to survive in harsh conditions.
The liquid is used in a solution which when drunk can have an
effect like a drug. The great general Alexander the Great used
extract from the Aloe
Vera plant to cure the wounds of soldiers. There are references
in the Bible to the uses of Aloe Vera. It can be used to
cure
stomach ailments and it can be used a skin moisturizer in skin care
products. The plant was brought from Africa to other climates in
the 19th century. Today it is available in many countries and farms
have been set up to cultivate Aloe Vera plants. The Aloe Vera plant
looks like a cactus.
The desert plants adapt to the extremes of heat and aridity by
using both physical and behavioral mechanisms. The cactus plants
are plants which adapt to the dry conditions of desert atmosphere,
arid and semi arid areas. They grow in extreme climates and the
different parts of cactus
plants are adapted to the environment.
Their
leaves usually are adapted into thorns. It stops the undue escape
of water in the extreme heat. The stems are usually woody and are
changed into green succulent structures which contain the
chlorophyll needed for growth and sustenance. Most cactus
plants are
dicotyledonous plants and are flowering plants belonging to the
family Cacataceae.
Botanists
say there are abut 1650 species of cactus plants. The leaves are
reduced to bring down the surface area of the
leaves and thereby reducing the loss of water. They have cushion
like structures or areoles and from these structures arise the
spines in almost all species. The different types of cacti are the
button-like peyote, prickly pear and the upright barrel cacti.
The flowers on cactus plants are often solitary. They are
often large and colorful. Cactus plants are widely used as
ornamental plants and cultivated too for this reason. Some
species are cultivated as food and the barrel cacti are a source of
water for people in an emergency. Many cacti plants are beautiful
to look at.
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