The Latin name is cruciferae (brassicaceae).
Class dicotyledonous.
Description. The cruciferous family received its main name due to the cross-shaped petals of the flowers of the plants belonging to it. Another name appeared relatively recently in honor of its most famous representative - cabbage. Over 3 thousand species include vegetable plants (cabbage, turnip, radish, horseradish), oilseeds (rapeseed, camelina, rapeseed), forage (turnips, rutabaga), melliferous (rape), medicinal (mustard), ornamental (levy grass) and dyeing plants, as well as weeds (jarutka, shepherd's purse).
The life forms of representatives of the family are characterized by relatively little diversity and range from herbs to subshrubs or shrubs. Most brassicas are annual or perennial herbs. Subshrubs with a lignified lower part of the stem are rarely found, and shrubs are represented by only single species, mainly growing on the African mainland and the islands of the Macronesian archipelago, for example, the shrub katran (crambe fruticosa), which reaches a height of up to 2 m.
The main feature of all groups of plants in the family is the similar structure of their flower and fruit. cruciferous flower consists of a calyx with four sepals, a corolla, which is four free petals arranged crosswise, six stamens (2 short and 4 long, sitting in pairs) and one pistil, in which the fruit is formed. In most cases, cabbage flowers are small or very small, collected in racemes that end the main stem of the plant or its branches. Their main colors are yellow and white, less often lilac or pink. Cruciferous flower formula: CH2+2L4T2+4P1 or K4C4A2+4G1.
The leaves of most members of the family are whole or dissected, lyre-shaped and devoid of stipules. They are located alternately, and the lower ones often form a basal rosette and differ from the upper ones in smaller size and shape. Typically, the leaves are covered with glandular hairs, which is why cruciferous plants have a distinctive, pungent odor. The root system is taproot, the shoot is closed, the stem is branching, straight, about 20 - 30 cm high.
Cruciferous fruit 2-locular and is represented by a long pod or a short pod (field grass, shepherd's purse), less often a nut (woad tincture and oriental woad). After ripening, it bursts in half, the flaps fall off, but what remains is a frame formed by seams and a thin partition stretched over it. Seeds in varying quantities are located on both sides of the frame at the seams. They are rich in oils, have no protein, and have a fairly thick skin that becomes sticky when wet.
Spreading. Plants of the cruciferous family are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Their main number is concentrated in the temperate zone of the planet's northern hemisphere. In the tropics they are less common and are represented by single species confined to mountainous areas. Brassicas have the ability to successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Some of them have taken root in the highlands, reaching plant boundaries at an altitude of 4500-5700 m above sea level, where, along with lichens, they are the founders of the vegetation cover. Other cruciferous plants grow along sea coasts, move north, reaching the Arctic regions, and are also inhabitants of steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. In addition, the family is widely represented in forests, wetlands, and even in water.
Reproduction. Representatives of the cruciferous family are mainly adapted to cross-pollination, which in extreme cases (extreme heat, heavy rain or lack of insects) is replaced by self-pollination. Their main pollinators are bees, bumblebees and flies. Some plants, such as matthiola and hesperis, are pollinated by butterflies at night. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species and the brightest flowers, while plants with small, inconspicuous flowers are visited mainly by flies. Among the cabbages there are also purely self-pollinating species that are never visited by insects, for example the Australian stenopetalum.
Cruciferous seeds are spread in quite a variety of ways. In most species, the fruits are winged or bubble-like swollen, or the seeds are edged with a wing, so they are easily carried by the wind. There are also a number of plants whose fruits have hook-shaped outgrowths, with which they cling to the fur of animals and move with them. In rare cases, the plant itself scatters the seeds. Thus, in cardamine hirsuta, the pod valves open with enormous force, due to which the seeds scatter over a considerable distance in different directions.
Vegetable, fodder, oilseed and honey crops of the cruciferous family have the widest economic importance, but the main role, of course, belongs to cabbage, in which vitamin “C” is not destroyed during storage, both fresh and salted. Many types of cabbages are successfully used in medicine (shepherd's purse, mustard, camelina), and lefty is the most striking decorative representative of the family. Some weeds (shepherd's purse, jarutka, hickory) are a serious headache for agricultural workers, since their destruction requires a special treatment regime.
Family Cruciferous (Brassicaceae) covers approximately 3,200 species belonging to 380 genera in the flora of the globe.
52. Brassica family. Life forms. Bioecological characteristics. Economic importance.
In Russia, the diversity of cruciferous plants is quite large and amounts to 466 species from 96 genera.
In general, the range of the family covers almost the entire globe (Cosmopolitan family), but in distribution it clearly gravitates to the temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species and genus diversity is concentrated in the Mediterranean and Iranian-Turanian regions (Foreign Asia), which allows us to speak of them as regions of formation and formation of this family.
Cruciferous plants are mainly herbaceous plants, among which there are perennials, biennials, and annuals.
There are significantly fewer subshrubs, and there are only a few species of shrubs. Among cruciferous plants, monocarpic plants are widely represented, i.e. species that bloom and bear fruit only once in their life and die off after the seeds ripen. Cruciferous plants are one of the few families in which biennials are quite widely represented, i.e. species that in the first year develop only a vegetative rosette in the above-ground sphere, which then overwinters; a peduncle with flowers and then with fruits develops in the second year of life; After fruiting the plant dies.
Another touch to the biological “face” of the family is the ability of a number of species to develop in the most extreme habitats. Some representatives of the genus Krupka (Draba) are found on the most extreme outposts of the land of the islands of the Arctic Ocean.
In the highlands, cruciferous plants reach an altitude of 5700 m above sea level. An optional biological feature of many cruciferous plants is the ability for reserve self-pollination, which is realized in cases where for some reason (mainly due to the climatic conditions of the current year) there are no pollinating insects.
Among the signs of the vegetative sphere, one should note simple alternate leaves of varying degrees of dissection, without stipules. In the vegetative organs of cruciferous plants there are special cells (idioblasts) containing myrosin.
In seeds and vegetative organs, accumulation of glycosides and caustic essential oils, alkaloids and fatty oils is also characteristic. Very important taxonomic information is the nature of the pubescence of the vegetative (as well as generative) organs. The range of cruciferous hair types is unusually wide; the main types are simple, glandular, branched, forked (Malpighian), stellate.
The general plan of the flower structure within the family is quite uniform; the differences lie mainly in the size and color of the corolla petals.
The flowers are actinomorphic, bisexual, with a double perianth, two-membered, six-circular.
The calyx is formed by four free sepals, arranged in two circles and pressed tightly against the petals during flowering.
In a number of species, swellings or depressions for nectar are formed at the base of the sepals.
The corolla consists of four separate, usually yellow or white, less often purple or pink petals. The petals usually have long nails and are arranged in one circle (apparently they arose as a result of the splitting of two petal primordia). In some species the petals vary slightly in size, and then the corolla is slightly zygomorphic.
The androecium of most cruciferous plants consists of six stamens arranged in two circles: two short stamens form the outer circle, and four longer ones are located in the inner circle.
Nectaries are often located at the base of the stamens.
The gynoecium is syncarpous, formed by two fused carpels with a longitudinal septum. Ovary superior; the stigma is sessile or on a style, capitate or bilobed.
Thus, the general plan of the structure of a cruciferous flower can be written by the formula:
*K2+2C4A2+(2*2)G(2)
The flowers do not have bracts or bracts and are collected, as a rule, in simple and complex racemes; True, at the beginning of flowering the inflorescence has a corymbose shape and only then, after flowering, it greatly lengthens, takes on the shape of a brush.
The main type of fruit is a pod.
Sometimes it has a spout - the upper part of the ovary, devoid of ovules. The pod opens with two doors. In this case, a frame of fused edges of the carpels with a false septum stretched over it, carrying seeds, remains on the stalk. A number of cruciferous plants have indehiscent fruits that fall off entirely, or fruits that are segmented and break transversely into single-seeded segments.
Pods whose length does not exceed the width or exceeds it by no more than three times are called pods.
They can also open with two valves or be indehiscent nut-shaped (Sverbiga - Bunias) or articulated (Katran - Crambe).
Cruciferous fruits carry a large amount of taxonomic information and are extremely important in their identification.
Many cruciferous vegetables have long been widely used by humans. Among the useful plants, representatives of the genus Brassica stand out: a large number of forms of cabbage (forms of Brassica oleracea), turnips and turnips (Brassica rapa), rapeseed (Brassica napus var.
napus), rutabaga (Brassica napus var. napobrassica), Sarepta mustard (Brassica juncea). Species of the genus Raphanus play a noticeable role in human life: vegetable radish (Raphanus sativus var.
sativus), radish (Raphanus sativus var. radicula) and the noxious weed wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum). Watercress (Lepidium sativum) and horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) have long been cultivated by humans. In addition to vegetable and forage plants, the family also contains oilseeds - mustard, rapeseed, camelina (Camelina sativa), ornamental plants - matthiola (Matthiola), night violet (Hesperis matronalis), dye plants - woad (Isatis tinctoria).
In addition to the mentioned wild radish, there are quite a lot of weeds among cruciferous crops - common cress (Barbarea vulgaris), field grass (Thlaspi arvense), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), etc.
Many cruciferous plants play a noticeable and sometimes significant role in the vegetation cover of many regions.
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CRUCIFA, brassicas (Cruciferae, Brassicaceae), family of dicotyledonous flowering plants. Herbs, subshrubs, rarely shrubs. The leaves are alternate, sometimes in a basal rosette. The flowers are 4-membered, have a cruciform structure (hence the name), usually white or yellow, often collected in side-flowering inflorescences (tassel, spike, scutellum, panicle), less often solitary; the androecium is usually represented by 2 external short stamens and 4 internal long ones, the gynoecium is formed by 2, rarely 4 carpels, the ovary is superior.
The fruit is a pod or pod.
Family Cruciferae
330 genera and up to 3,500 species, distributed from polar latitudes to the tropics, with the greatest diversity in temperate latitudes, and occupying almost all ecological niches. In Russia, cruciferous plants have more than 100 genera and about 480 species. Representatives of the cruciferous family are of great economic importance. Among them are the most important food and forage plants - cabbage, radish, radish, turnip, mustard, rapeseed, horseradish, watercress, rutabaga and many others.
Cruciferous plants also include medicinal (for example, jaundice, shepherd's purse), dyeing (woad), and ornamental (levy, noctule, alyssum) plants. Almost all representatives of cruciferous plants are good honey plants. Among the cruciferous crops there are many weeds (for example, bedbugs, rapeseed, and jarutka). 20 species of cruciferous plants in Russia are protected.
TO cruciferous family(Cruciferae) are herbaceous plants with alternate leaves, without stipules. Flowers in racemes are regular, free-leaved and free-petaled. Four sepals alternate with four petals arranged crosswise. There are six stamens, of which four are longer and the outer two are shorter. There is one pistil with a two-locular ovary, separated by a false septum. There are nectaries at the base of the pistil. The fruit is a pod, or silique, multi-seeded, splitting into two valves or disintegrating into bleached segments. Rarely the fruit is a single-seeded nut. Cruciferous seeds without endosperm, with a bent embryo, are rich in oil. When identifying plants, it is important to have a fruit, in addition to other organs. The family contains many weeds and cultivated oilseeds. Over 2000 species of cruciferous vegetables are known.
Capsicums
Cabbage(Brassica oleracea) (Fig. 1) is a biennial plant that develops a fleshy stem and succulent leaves in the first year. In the second year, cabbage heads are planted in deeply cultivated fertilized areas to obtain seeds. Its stems reach 60-120 cm. The upper leaves of cabbage are sessile, oblong, toothed, the lower leaves are petiolate, lyre-shaped. The leaves are covered with a waxy coating, they are bare and shiny. Light yellow flowers sit in elongated sparse racemes. The sepals, like the stamens, are erect. The pods are elongated, erect, knobby, the seeds are spherical, brownish, smooth. The valves of the fruit have one midrib. Cabbage is one of the most important vegetable plants.
Fig.1. Cruciferous.
I - varieties of cabbage: 1 - white cabbage; 2 - Savoy; 3 - color; 4 - Brussels; 5 - kohlrabi; 6 - sheet. II - cabbage structure: 1 - head of cabbage in section; 2 - flowering shoot; 3 - flower; 4 - petal; 5 - stamens and pistil; 6, 7 - pods.
Cabbage has many varieties and varieties that differ sharply from each other, due to the purposes and methods of cultivation. In addition to numerous varieties of white and red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. саpitata), there are varieties (varietas (varietas) are designated by Latin letters - var.): Savoy cabbage (var. sabauda) with curly leaves folded into a loose head of cabbage; Brussels sprouts (var. gemmifera) with a large number of small heads sitting around the stem; kohlrabi (var. gongyloides) with a strongly thickened fleshy tuberous stem; cauliflower (var. cauliflora) with a mass of white underdeveloped fleshy flowers sitting on fleshy juicy stalks surrounded by green leaves; kale (var. acephala), used as livestock feed.
Of the other cruciferous plants, the following are cultivated.
Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapifera) is cultivated as a vegetable plant and as a forage plant (turnip, or fodder turnip). The plant is biennial.
Rutabaga (Brassica napus var. esculenta) is a forage and vegetable biennial plant. The root crop has a wrinkled surface.
Rapeseed (Brassica napus var. oleifera) is an annual plant with a thin root. Its seeds contain from 35 to 55% fatty oil. There are spring and winter rapeseed. This plant is also found in the wild as a weed; it is a close relative of rutabaga.
Cultivated from vegetable plants garden radish(Raphanus sativus), found in two varieties: radish (R. sativus var. niger) and radish (R. sativus var. radicola).
White mustard (Sinapis alba), black mustard (S. nigra) and Sarepta mustard(S. junceae). In addition to oil, cake is obtained from it (for table mustard). White mustard is used as a good honey plant.
Among cruciferous plants there are many weeds.
Wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis) (Fig. 2, I) is a weed common in spring crops in the black soil zone, although it is also found in more northern regions. This plant is an annual, up to 30-60 cm high, with stems and leaves covered with stiff hairs. The lower leaves are mostly lyre-shaped, with ears at the base, the upper and middle leaves are ovate, serrated. Yellow flowers are collected in apical and axillary racemes, the sepals are bent at right angles. Pods with a falling, conical, sharp nose at the edges, shorter than the fruit. Fruit valves with three straight veins, opening; The seeds are black, smooth, some fall into the grain, and some fall off. Seeds remain viable for up to seven years, and can remain in the soil for up to ten years without losing their germination.
Fig.2. Cruciferous.
I - wild mustard. II - wild radish: 1 - flowering shoot and leaf; 2 - flower; 3 - stamens and pistil; 4 - fractional pod. III - common colza. IV - camelina sativum. V - shepherd's purse. VI - field grass: 1 - shoot; 2 - pod.
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) (Fig. 2, II) is an annual weed 30-40 cm high, very common in spring crops. The stem is erect, branched, covered with sparse and stiff hairs. The leaves are lyre-shaped, unequally toothed. The flowers are typical cross-shaped, the petals are light yellow, with dark yellow or purple veins, the calyx is pressed against the petals. The fruits are clearly swollen, falling apart into separate segments when ripe, with a spout at the top. Honey plant.
Cruciferous leguminous weeds also include various types of cress (Barbarea), cruciferous grass (Sisymbrium), cardamine (Cardamine), arabis (Arabis), jaundice (Erysimum), etc. Of these, biennial and perennial weeds are especially common in crops - common cress (Barbarea vulgaris); plant with a pleasant smell, honey-bearing. Ornamental cruciferous plants with aroma include gillyflower (Mathliola), lacfiol (Cheiranthus), noctule (Hesperis), which are also found in the wild.
Capsicum cruciferous
Camelina sativa (Fig. 2, IV) is an annual or biennial, 30-100 cm high, found as a weed in spring and winter crops. Winter forms produce rosettes of leaves in the fall, and stems grow in the spring. Spring forms begin their development in spring. The stems are straight, the leaves on the stem are arrow-shaped, sessile. The inflorescence is a raceme. The flowers are golden yellow. The pods are pear-shaped, with a wide septum, the valves are convex, ending in shoots at the top. The seeds are small, red. In spring crops the variety Camelina sativa var. glabrata Camelina is common in the south and is sometimes cultivated as an oilseed plant. It is found as a weed in flax crops (C. sativa var. Iinicola).
Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa pastoris) (Fig. 2, V) is an annual or biennial small plant that grows everywhere in weedy places, on roads and fields. When it develops as a biennial, it has a rosette of pinnately divided petiolate leaves with triangular toothed lobes, and on the stem there are small sessile notched-toothed leaves. The inflorescence is a raceme, the flowers are small, white, the plant is bare or with hairs. The fruits are obverse heart-shaped pods, triangular in shape, flattened on the seam side, perpendicular to the septum, and therefore the septum is narrower than the pod.
Field grass (Thlaspi arvense) (Fig. 2, VI) grows in the same place as the shepherd's purse. Stem leaves are oblong, sessile, toothed, arrow-shaped at the base, rosette leaves are petiolate, obovate. The stem is grooved. The plant is glabrous, yellowish-green. The raceme at the top bears small white cross-shaped flowers, which below turn into pods, oval-round, with wing-shaped appendages. The septum in the pod is narrower than the fruit, since the fruit is flattened perpendicular to the septum. There are 6-7 seeds in the nest.
Everywhere along the roads, along ditches it is found gray-green hiccup(Berteroa incana), which also has pod fruits. Spreading in crops, it causes harm.
Cruciferous legumes also include horseradish (Cochlearia armoracia), beetroot (Lepidium) and semolina (Draba). The fruits are elliptical, with convex valves. The septum of the fruit is equal to the width of the pod, since the fruit is flattened parallel to the septum (like a camelina).
Nut-bearing cruciferous vegetables
Sverbiga eastern(Bunias orientalis) is found along roads and in fallow fields. A large biennial cruciferous plant with a branched stem, angularly divided leaves, a triangular upper lobe and a spear-shaped base. The upper leaves are narrowed and lanceolate. The plant is rough, with yellow aromatic honey-bearing flowers and spherical, unequal, bilocular and biseeded fruits.
Woad dyeing(Isatis tinctoria) is found wild in the southern part of the former USSR; it is cultivated for producing blue dye.
The Latin name is cruciferae (brassicaceae).
Class dicotyledonous.
Description. The cruciferous family received its main name due to the cross-shaped petals of the flowers of the plants belonging to it. Another name appeared relatively recently in honor of its most famous representative - cabbage. Over 3 thousand species include vegetable plants (cabbage, turnip, radish, horseradish), oilseeds (rapeseed, camelina, rapeseed), forage (turnips, rutabaga), melliferous (rape), medicinal (mustard), ornamental (levy grass) and dyeing plants, as well as weeds (jarutka, shepherd's purse).
The life forms of representatives of the family are characterized by relatively little diversity and range from herbs to subshrubs or shrubs. Most brassicas are annual or perennial herbs. Subshrubs with a lignified lower part of the stem are rarely found, and shrubs are represented by only single species, mainly growing on the African mainland and the islands of the Macronesian archipelago, for example, the shrub katran (crambe fruticosa), which reaches a height of up to 2 m.
The main feature of all groups of plants in the family is the similar structure of their flower and fruit. cruciferous flower consists of a calyx with four sepals, a corolla, which is four free petals arranged crosswise, six stamens (2 short and 4 long, sitting in pairs) and one pistil, in which the fruit is formed. In most cases, cabbage flowers are small or very small, collected in racemes that end the main stem of the plant or its branches. Their main color is yellow and white, less often - lilac or pink. Cruciferous flower formula: H 2+2 L 4 T 2+4 P 1 or K 4 C 4 A 2+4 G 1.
The leaves of most members of the family are whole or dissected, lyre-shaped and devoid of stipules. They are located alternately, and the lower ones often form a basal rosette and differ from the upper ones in smaller size and shape. Typically, the leaves are covered with glandular hairs, which is why cruciferous plants have a distinctive, pungent odor. The root system is taproot, the shoot is closed, the stem is branching, straight, about 20 - 30 cm high.
Cruciferous fruit 2-locular and is represented by a long pod or a short pod (field grass, shepherd's purse), less often a nut (woad tincture and oriental woad). After ripening, it bursts in half, the flaps fall off, but what remains is a frame formed by seams and a thin partition stretched over it. Seeds in varying quantities are located on both sides of the frame at the seams. They are rich in oils, have no protein, and have a fairly thick skin that becomes sticky when wet.
Spreading. Plants of the cruciferous family are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Their main number is concentrated in the temperate zone of the planet's northern hemisphere. In the tropics they are less common and are represented by single species confined to mountainous areas. Brassicas have the ability to successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Some of them have taken root in the highlands, reaching plant boundaries at an altitude of 4500-5700 m above sea level, where, along with lichens, they are the founders of the vegetation cover. Other cruciferous plants grow along sea coasts, move north, reaching the Arctic regions, and are also inhabitants of steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. In addition, the family is widely represented in forests, wetlands, and even in water.
Reproduction. Representatives of the cruciferous family are mainly adapted to cross-pollination, which in extreme cases (extreme heat, heavy rain or lack of insects) is replaced by self-pollination. Their main pollinators are bees, bumblebees and flies. Some plants, such as matthiola and hesperis, are pollinated by butterflies at night. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species and the brightest flowers, while plants with small, inconspicuous flowers are visited mainly by flies. Among the cabbages there are also purely self-pollinating species that are never visited by insects, for example the Australian stenopetalum.
Cruciferous seeds are spread in quite a variety of ways. In most species, the fruits are winged or bubble-like swollen, or the seeds are edged with a wing, so they are easily carried by the wind. There are also a number of plants whose fruits have hook-shaped outgrowths, with which they cling to the fur of animals and move with them. In rare cases, the plant itself scatters the seeds. Thus, in cardamine hirsuta, the pod valves open with enormous force, due to which the seeds scatter over a considerable distance in different directions.
Vegetable, fodder, oilseed and honey crops of the cruciferous family have the widest economic importance, but the main role, of course, belongs to cabbage, in which vitamin “C” is not destroyed during storage, both fresh and salted. Many types of cabbages are successfully used in medicine (shepherd's purse, mustard, camelina), and lefty is the most striking decorative representative of the family. Some weeds (shepherd's purse, jarutka, hickory) are a serious headache for agricultural workers, since their destruction requires a special treatment regime.
If you want to boost the nutritional value of your food, don't forget to include cruciferous vegetables in your diet. In addition to being rich in vitamins and minerals, cruciferous vegetables also have cancer-fighting properties and strengthen the immune system. Those who are looking for a good diet should include at least a few cruciferous vegetables in their daily meals. However, it is important to consume them in moderation to maintain proper functioning of the pancreas.
All vegetables are plant foods, but cruciferous vegetables are distinguished from other vegetables by their flowers. If you look more closely at cruciferous vegetables, you will find that their flowers are shaped like a cross or crusader. These vegetables belong to the Cruciferous plant family and are considered very healthy foods due to their high nutritional value.
Health Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables
As a good source of fiber, cruciferous vegetables help improve intestinal motility. These vegetables also help maintain hormonal balance. To regulate hormone levels, the breakdown of the hormone estrogen (predominantly present in the female body and promoting the development of female sexual characteristics) is essential. Research shows that cruciferous vegetables help maintain normal estrogen metabolism. Eating these vegetables on a daily basis makes the body's environment more alkaline and reduces oxidative stress.
Precautionary measures
An important component of cruciferous vegetables are thyroid hormones - substances notorious for reducing thyroid function. Gastrogenic factors stimulate the development of goiter, a disease in which abnormal growth of the thyroid gland occurs. Animal studies also indicate that too much consumption of raw cruciferous vegetables reduces thyroid hormone production. Therefore, excessive consumption of raw cruciferous vegetables should be avoided. In addition, people with hypothyroidism are advised to keep their consumption of cruciferous vegetables to a minimum and consult a doctor about how much of these vegetables can be consumed on a daily basis to prevent thyroid problems. One of the best ways to neutralize goitrogenic factors is to heat cruciferous vegetables a little longer. It is important to try not to overcook them, as in this case they lose their nutritional value.
In addition, it has been found that oxalic acid (oxalic acid) contained in cruciferous vegetables can reduce the body's ability to absorb calcium. Unabsorbed material that binds to oxalic acid can harden to form kidney stones. Regular consumption of cruciferous vegetables also increases the likelihood of forming oxalate stones. However, such problems can be avoided by consuming steamed vegetables. Steaming or even boiling reduces the amount of oxalic acid present in cruciferous vegetables to a minimum. For example, to get rid of oxalic acid in spinach, it is enough to cook it in boiling water for just a minute. Oxalic acid usually remains in the cooking water. Therefore, it is recommended to get rid of this water immediately after cooking. Overall, the bottom line is that lightly cooked cruciferous vegetables are healthier than raw ones.
Non-cruciferous vegetables
Since there is a connection between thyroid problems and the consumption of cruciferous vegetables, quite a few patients with thyroid disease would probably like to learn more about non-cruciferous vegetables. These vegetables are also considered excellent sources of minerals and vitamins, and most importantly, they do not harm thyroid function. Carrots, green peppers, asparagus, green onions, sweet potatoes and tomatoes are all non-cruciferous vegetables that also play a role in maintaining good health.
And herbaceous plants (wild flowers),
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colored laminated definition tables, including: woody plants (trees in winter, trees in summer, shrubs in winter and shrubs in summer), herbaceous plants (flowers of forests, meadows and fields, ponds and swamps and primroses), as well as mushrooms, algae, lichens and mosses ,
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colored determinants herbaceous plants (wild flowers) of central Russia (Ventana-Graf publishing house), as well as
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methodological benefits And 40
educational and methodological films By methods carrying out research work in nature (in the field).
FAMILY CRUCIFLOWERS - BRASSICACEAE, or CRUCIFERAE
The family has up to 380 genera and about 3200 species . They are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Mainly concentrated in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. In the tropics they are represented by single genera, confined to mountainous regions; they are also found there through introduction and as weeds. A small number of cruciferous plants growing in the southern hemisphere are highly localized.
Cruciferous plants successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats . Some of them are confined to the extreme conditions of the highlands, reaching the boundaries of vegetation (4500-5700 m above sea level), where, together with lichens, they are pioneers of vegetation cover; others grow along sea coasts; some in their distribution move far to the north and are characteristic of the Arctic regions; others are inhabitants of deserts, semi-deserts and steppes. Cruciferous plants are also widely represented in forests, among steppe vegetation, in moist places and even in water, but plants of arid and dry habitats definitely predominate among them.
However, despite such high plasticity in adaptation to environmental conditions, there is a relatively small diversity of life forms. Most cruciferous plants are annual or perennial herbs, there is also subshrubs , in which the lower part of the stem becomes woody.
Leaves cruciferous plants are alternate, with the lower ones often forming a basal rosette. Some species exhibit heterophylly. Among the cruciferous plants there are plants both completely naked and pubescent with simple or forked or stellately branched hairs. Multi-rayed stellate hairs often resemble scales. The pubescence also involves glandular hairs and the so-called malpighian hairs - spread out, bifid, attached in the middle.
Cruciferous plants are characterized by apical racemes or corymboses, usually (or with rare exceptions) leafless inflorescences, which are sometimes very shortened, almost capitate, or, conversely, elongated, spicate.
Flowers usually devoid of both bracts and bracts, not large, often very small, inconspicuous, but many are also beautifully colored, giving the plant great decorativeness. In their structure they are extremely uniform. The sepals, arranged in two circles (2 each), may be sac-like at the base, and in such cases nectar flows into these containers. There are also 4 petals, free, arranged crosswise (hence the name cruciferous). The color of the petals is dominated by yellow and white, but plants with violet, pinkish, even purple flowers are also not uncommon. The petals are generally wider in the upper part. In most cases they are entire or notched, but among the cruciferous plants there are also types with lobed, pinnately dissected and even ciliated-fringed. There are usually 6 stamens arranged in 2 circles. Of these, 2 lateral ones (outer circle) are short, 4 middle ones are longer. Sometimes the median ones grow together in two with their threads. In rare cases, all stamens are the same length or 3 of different lengths. Their number can sometimes be reduced to 4 or even 2, or reach 16. In a number of species, the stamens are equipped with appendages or their threads grow in the form of teeth and wings. Gynoecium of 2 carpels. Along the seam of the fusion of the carpels, a false septum is formed, dividing the ovary into 2 nests. Usually the ovary is sessile, but in some species it sits on a rather long gynophore. The structural features of the ovules play an important role in the taxonomy of cruciferous plants. The cotyledons are usually flat, but they can also be folded lengthwise, like those of cabbage, less often folded transversely, or spirally twisted ( sverbiga - Bunias). According to the location of the embryonic root in relation to the cotyledons, they are marginal and dorsal radicular.
Cruciferous plants are adapted to both cross pollination
, and to self-pollination
. The main pollinators are flies, bees, bumblebees; some species are pollinated at night by butterflies. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species, as well as by the most colorful flowers. Those species whose flowers are small and inconspicuous are visited mainly by flies. Insects are also attracted by color contrasts that sometimes occur during flowering and fruiting.
Cross pollination in cruciferous plants is ensured due to their inherent dichogamy. Most of them are characterized by protogyny; protandry is observed extremely rarely. In cases where cross-pollination cannot occur for some reason (heavy rains, extreme heat, lack of pollinators), cruciferous plants are pollinated due to the ability to self-pollinate (autogamy). The mechanism of combined pollination can be observed, for example, in meadow core
(Cardamine pratense). At the beginning of flowering, the anthers of the long stamens turn outward, as a result of which their pollen does not land on the stigma of its flower, but can stick to the sides of pollinating insects that penetrate deep into the flower to the base of the stamens for nectar. However, if the stigma is not pollinated by foreign pollen, then by the end of flowering it is pollinated by short stamens, which during this time reach the same level as it. In inclement weather, when there are no insects, the anthers of the long stamens do not turn away and pollinate the stigma of their flower. Among the cruciferous plants there are also plants in which, at the beginning of flowering, the stamens deviate entirely outward, and then rise, bringing the anthers closer to the stigma and pollinating it. However, only one stamen empties pollen onto its stigma; the remaining anthers open later, preserving pollen for cross-pollination.
If the structure of all other organs of cruciferous plants is quite uniform, then the same cannot be said about their fruits, the structural features of which are most widely used in the taxonomy of the family. Elongated fruits, the length of which significantly exceeds the width, are called pods, while short ones are called pods. Both of them can be double-opening or non-opening. In dehiscent fruits, after the valves fall off, a frame remains on the stalks, covered by a false septum. In pods that do not open, the valves often become very compacted and the pods become nut-shaped. Of particular interest are two-membered fruits, consisting of an upper, always indehiscent segment and a lower, opening or indehiscent one. In some cases the upper segment is seedless, in others the lower, in most cases both segments contain seeds. Among the two-membered fruits, the pods or pods also differ. Cruciferous fruits also vary greatly in size, shape of the valves and various outgrowths on them.
TO dissemination
fruits
And
seeds Cruciferous plants are adapted quite diversely. Many of them are classified as anemochores. These are mainly species with winged or bubble-like-swollen fruits, many species with small, light seeds that are easily carried by the wind, or with seeds trimmed with a wing. Sometimes the upper segments of two-membered fruits fall off together with one of the valves of the lower segment or part of the septum, which also increases the windage.
Among the cruciferous plants there are also a number of species that have hook-shaped outgrowths on their fruits. Thanks to this, they cling to the fur of animals and are carried by them. In some cases, the seeds are scattered due to the “efforts” of the plant itself.
Most cruciferous plants with difficult-to-open fruits are characterized by hygrochasia. The seeds of indehiscent fruits, protected from unfavorable conditions by a dense case, germinate only after it rots. Many species adapted to dry conditions are characterized by mucilage of the seed coat (myxospermia). The smallest particles of soil adhere to the mucus, which secure the seeds and protect them from being carried into unusual environmental conditions.
One of the features of many cruciferous plants, which significantly increases their adaptive capabilities, is heterocarpy in its most diverse manifestations. In some cases, parts of the fruit differ (heteroarthrocarpy), as is observed in many species with two-membered fruits; in other cases, the entire fruit differs. Heterocarpy provides combined methods of propagation, as well as more reliable preservation of seeds and the possibility of their germination under changing conditions.
No less interesting in cruciferous plants is another type of heterocarpy - amphicarpy. In this case, along with the usual dehiscent pods of the apical inflorescence, basal cleistogamous flowers develop, which, burrowing into the ground, form numerous single-seeded indehiscent pods (geocarpy). At the same time, in unfavorable years, above-ground inflorescences often do not reach fruiting, while underground fruits always ripen.
Economic importance
Cruciferous vegetables are hard to overestimate. Vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and honey crops are the most widely known among them, but the main role belongs, of course, to cabbage in all its diversity. Cabbage has been cultivated since prehistoric times, and the first information about it dates back to the Neolithic. Many researchers, starting with Charles Darwin, believe that all currently existing cultivated forms of cabbage come from the wild form of cabbage ( Brassica oleracea), others - from wild cabbage considered as an independent species ( Brassica sylvestris), others associate them with a number of Mediterranean species. For several millennia, no plant has provided man with such extensive material for selection as cabbage. The most popular is cabbage, many forms and varieties of which are cultivated on all continents. Of these, cabbage is the main food plant in temperate latitude countries. The taste of varieties such as kohlrabi, cauliflower and its varieties of broccoli is undeniable. Many local varieties are especially preferred by the population of certain countries. Thus, one of the oldest cultivated plants cultivated in China and Japan is Chinese cabbage ( B. chinensis) and Chinese cabbage ( B. pekinensis).
Various varieties of radishes and radishes are also widely known as vegetable plants among cruciferous plants ( Raphanus sativus), as hot seasonings - horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and Sarepta mustard ( Brassica juncea). One of the cultivated horticultural crops is watercress, grown on a large scale in the Caucasus. A number of wild cruciferous vegetables are also used as salad, such as rapeseed, or rapeseed , ordinary (Barbarea vulgaris), watercress ( Nasturtium officinale) and many others, and shepherd bagman, or shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris
) has been bred as a vegetable in China for over 100 years. Young shoots and petioles of leaves of katran seaweed, or seaweed ( Crambe maritime), often eaten like asparagus.
A number of cultivated oilseed crops are of great economic importance. Of these, in temperate latitudes, the most productive oilseed plant is rapeseed, the seeds of which contain up to 50% oil. It has a purely technical application - it is used in hardening steels; after special treatment, it vulcanizes well, forming a rubber-like mass (factis), which is used to soften hard rubbers and make pencil erasers. Sarepta mustard oil has food applications, mainly in the confectionery and baking industries and in the production of margarine and canned food, and the powder (cake) is table mustard.
Valuable forage plants such as rutabaga ( Brassica napus var. napobrassica), turnips and turnips ( Brassica container), also belong to the cruciferous family. In addition, fodder cabbage, rapeseed and bee bread (a hybrid of rapeseed and fodder cabbage) are sown as green fodder.
Many cruciferous vegetables, due to their high content of vitamins, especially vitamin C, are widely used in folk medicine. Shepherd's purse, one of the popular plants in Tibetan and Chinese medicine, has a strong hemostatic effect. Many wild species are highly decorative, which deserves special attention. At the same time, among cruciferous crops there are also malicious weeds that require a special control regime.
