Sukkulenten = Pflanzen.
‡ Folgendes hat anthroposofische Einschlüße ‡
[Wilhelm Pelikan]
For a long time, life continues to be held in closely in the spherical or
columnar form of the plant. Growth is slow. And that might be all there is to
it, in the cacti, if just this one pole were active in the plant, the pole
which finds expression in watery, swelling growth. But another pole is at work
as well, one which gathers its forces over an equally long period.
At first its gains on the plant form are limited to wholly peripheral
elements, to the warts and spines. Yet finally it has gathered sufficient
strength, and its hour has come.
From the innermost heart it suddenly calls for the flowering process
which bursts out abruptly, rapidly, and in great abundance. Often there is a
wait of many years; but
then the unexpected does happen. From the tips of warts, from the axils,
the flowers push out. They tend to be handsome, white, yellow, or, in most
cases, red.
They have long funnels, with plenty of nectar; the calyx tends to
continue straight on into the petals, without a dividing line. Above the
inferior ovary crowd numerous stamens. Bright, often rather loud, colours go
hand in hand with strong scents reminiscent of jasmine, orange flowers,
vanilla, gum benjamin, orchids, or violets. As one would expect with a
flowering process of such general vehemence, the individual flower is
shortlived, sometimes lasting only a few hours.
In the floral region, the watery element appears only in form of nectar.
In the fruit, it is allowed to swell out again; most of the fruits are berries
and juicy edible fruits.
Many are enjoyable to eat, and the Cactaceae are one of the major fruitproducing
families in the plant kingdom. In some species, the whole cactus may be eaten
like a fruit,
and is bottled with sugar. Flavour, sugar and acid make the stem into
something of a fruit.
The phenomenon of aqueous congestion, of succulence, normally represents
a passing phrase during two stages in the development of a plant. It is soon
overcome.
During germination, a plant is intensively taking up the watery element.
In many plants, the cotyledons and the piece of stem between them and the
radicle, the hypocotyl,
do swell up to a greater or lesser degree. Soon afterwards the plant
connects with the element of air, and in the leaf broadens out into a plane.
What otherwise might well
swell up into a sphere is taken up by the forces of the periphery and opens
out to infinity as a plane.
When plant growth is coming to an end, and once again moving from plane
to point, from leaf to seed (existence in leafform is now given up), the sphere
may develop,
as an intermediary form between plane and point. Around the developing
fruit flow the ripening forces of the periphery. The fluid principle may then
be drawn into the developing fruit, and in a juicy fruit swell mightily, into a
sphere or spherelike structure. Thus one phase of swelling growth comes at the
beginning, the other at the end
of sprouting, shooting growth; between them lies the stretching of the
stem, the unfolding of the leaf. In the cactus, the intermediate stage is
suppressed; in this plant,
pole immediately follows pole, and the leaf principle exists only as a
timeform, not as a spatial element. The green cactus sphere performs the
functions of the leaf in its
green cortical layer. It will go on for a long time, often for years,
behaving as a leaf and assimilating, although no actual leaves are allowed to
develop.
Succulent forms similar to cacti are found in quite a number of plant
families; for instance, the stonecrops, Mesembryanthemum species, Liliaceae,
Euphorbiaceae, species
of Fouqueria, Stapelia and certain Compositae (Kleinias). All are based
on congestion of etheric forces resulting in watery swelling tendencies. This
gives them great vitality,
so that they are able to hold their own even in extremely barren
country.
The bodies of cacti show little lignification. The woodforming process
has "turned soft" in these plants, and they produce plenty of
mucilage instead. The mucilaginous compounds derive from cellulose. They also
contain a considerable amount of plant acid which arises because exhalation is
held back. In the process of life, sugar is normally broken down in the process
of respiration into carbon dioxide and water. In the succulents, this process
of degradation comes to a halt halfway through, and plant acids such as malic,
tartaric, oxalic and citric acid are formed. This type of acid makes unripe
fruit taste sour. Ripening results not so much in an increase in sugar content,
but rather in
the combustion of fruit acids.
Speichern CO2 nachts um es tagsüber langSAM
abzugeben durch KLEINE Spaltöffnungen in dicke Blätter, worin Wasser gespeichert
ist. Der Photosynthese
findet im Stamm statt.
Haben Calciumeigenschaften.
Aloe.
Carica Brassicales.
Carpobrotus edulis = Mesembryanthemum crystallinum = sour. fig./= ice. plant = Eiskraut/= Sodapflanze versalzt Boden Salzverarbeiter. Caryophylales.
Chenopodiaceae Caryophylalles.
Citrullus Cucurbitales.
Commiphora Sapindales.
Conophytum = Blühende Steine Steine./= kleine Sukkulenten. Caryophylales./ahmen kleine Kiesel nach
Cucumis Cucurbitales.
Ceiba. pentandra
Dios.
Lentibularia o. Utricularia vulgaris Utricularia leben auf Wasseroberfläche
Insektivoren. Lamiales. ‡ Mondzeitaltergruppe ‡
Lewisia cotyledon = Ashwood/= Bitterwurz/= Porzellanblümchen
Überleben Trickster. Caryophylales. Sukkulenten.
Lithops = Lebende Steine./= kleine Sukkulenten Caryophylalles./ahmen kleine Kiesel nach.
Lophophora williamsii = Peyotle = Anh.
Mom-c. = bitter gourd/= bitter melon
Moringa Brassicales.
Moringa Brassicales.
Orchidaceae Asparagales.
Ornithogalum. = Doldigen Milchstern
Phyt.
Portulacceae Caryophylalles.
Sceletium o. Mesembryanthemum tortuosum = Kanna/= Kou- o.
kauwgoed/= Mittagsblume/= Channa
Stapelia gigantea Geruch der Blume entsteht durch Zersetzung von Eiweiß
durch Clostridium. botulinum. um Fliegen zur Bestäubung anzuziehen/= Carionflower./
Täuschungsgruppe. Gentianales.
Xanthorriza Brassicales.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum