The cruciferous family includes about 4 thousand species. Family in a different way cruciferous called a family cabbage. Among them there are both annual, biennial and perennial plants. Mostly herbs. Brassicas belong to the class of dicotyledonous plants.
The cruciferous family includes many cultivated plants that are of agricultural importance. These are cabbage, field mustard, left field, garden radish, radishes, turnips, rutabaga, etc.
Members of the cruciferous family are pollinated by insects. Therefore, they have bright-smelling inflorescences. They are honey plants.
Another important value of cabbage plants is that many of their species contain seeds a large number of vegetable oils (mustard, rapeseed), which humans use for food and other purposes.
Characteristics of the cruciferous family
The name of the family is associated with the structural features of the flower. Its four petals are arranged crosswise. In cruciferous plants, not only the corolla consists of four petals. The same is true for the calyx; it has four sepals. There is one pistil and six stamens, two of which are short and four are long.
Usually small cruciferous flowers are collected in a raceme inflorescence.
The fruits are pods or so-called pods (short pods).
The leaves are arranged alternately or in a rosette.
The root system is taproot type. A number of cruciferous plants produce root vegetables.
Wild cruciferous plants
Many wild cruciferous plants are also weeds in agricultural fields, i.e. they are weeds.
Wild radish has an erect stem covered with hairs at the bottom. The leaves are arranged alternately. The flowers are usually yellow, relatively large, collected in a raceme inflorescence. Mass flowering is observed in June, but wild radish can bloom in the fall. The pods have transverse constrictions. Along these constrictions, the pods, when ripe, break up into separate fragments containing one seed each.
U common colza the flowers are smaller than those of wild radish. The fruit of the cress has the usual structure for pods: the seeds grow on the partition between the valves. Common cress mainly blooms in May. Over the summer, it manages to form fruits and seeds, which germinate in the fall of the same year. This produces a plant with a short stem and a rosette of leaves. And already in the spring of next year, long ordinary shoots develop.
U shepherd's purse the flowers are small and white. The pods resemble triangular handbags. In one summer, several generations of shepherd's purse are replaced, as it quickly blooms and bears fruit. This is an unpretentious widespread plant.
Cultivated cruciferous vegetables
The most famous cruciferous plant of agricultural importance is cabbage. Man has been growing this plant since ancient times. Currently, there are many varieties of cabbage (white cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, etc.).
Cultivated varieties of cabbage are derived from wild cabbage, which does not form heads.
White cabbage is a biennial plant. The head is formed in the first year of life. If you want to get seeds, then dig up the entire plant and plant it again next spring. Stems with leaves and flowers develop from its axillary and apical buds. The flowers have a yellowish tint and are collected in a raceme.
Pumpkin that has formed shoots and inflorescences
Cultivated cruciferous vegetables also include mustard, radish, turnip, radish, rapeseed, turnip, horseradish, camelina, etc.
Cruciferous vegetables are so close to capers that it is not always easy to draw a line between them. Some genera, for example dipterygium(Dipterygium), is included by some botanists in the caper family, and by others in the cruciferous family. There are up to 380 genera and about 3,200 species in the family. They are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Mainly concentrated in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, mainly in the Old World. 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.
Distribution and habitats
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 are also subshrubs in which the lower part of the stem becomes woody. Shrubs are represented by single, mainly African and Macaronesian species, such as, for example, katran bush(Crambe fruticosa) on the island of Madeira, reaching a height of 2 m, species of the genus synapidendron(Sinapidendron, Macaronesia), Heliophila glaucosa(Heliophila glauca - Cape region) or Billot's foleyola(Foleyola billotii - Sahara), reaching a height of up to 1.5-2 m. Species such as heliophila climbing(H. scandens), and species of the South American genus cremolobus(Cremolobus) are habitually similar to vines. Many of the high-altitude species have a pillow-like shape that helps retain heat.
Structure and appearance
Cruciferous leaves are alternate, with the lower ones often forming a basal rosette. Some species exhibit heterophylly. For example, at stink bug(Lepidium perfoliatum) rosette leaves are dissected into narrow linear lobes, while the stem leaves are entire, round, stem-covering. 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, spike-shaped.
Rice. 1. Plants of the order Cruciferous
Kerguelen cabbage (Pringlea antiscorbutica): 1 - general view of the plant with fruits; 2 - flower. Caulanthus inflatus: 3 - general view of the plant with fruits. Tiny geococcus (Geococcus pusillus): 4 - general view of the plant with underground fruits
American has an unusual appearance caulanthus swollen(Caulanthus inflatus, Fig. 1), in which the axis of the inflorescence is very fusiformly thickened and the flowers sitting on it, and then the fruits, create the impression of cauliflory. The flowers are 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. They are in most cases entire or notched, but among the cruciferous plants there are also species with lobed ones (North American genus varea- Warea), pinnately dissected and even ciliated-fringed (in the Mexican ornithocarps- Ornithocagra, for example) with petals.
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, as in strider(Macropodium), reaches 10. 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 (similar to capers). 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 cabbage, or less often folded transversely, like heliophiles(Heliophila), or spirally twisted ( sverbiga- Bunias). According to the location of the embryonic root in relation to the cotyledons, they are marginal and dorsal radicular.
Rice. 2. Different shapes of fruits in cruciferous vegetables
1 - prostrate muricaria (Muricaria prostrata); 2 - Thysanocarpus curvipes; 3 - beautiful pterygoid (Acthionema pulchellum); 4 - Arabian pterygoid (A. arabicum); 5 - bird-billed woad (Isatis ornithorhynchus); 6 - giant macrocarp (Megacagraea gigantea); 7 - curved enarthrocarpus (Enarthrocarpus arcuatus); 8 - bladderwort (Coluteocagrus vesicaria); 9 - Besser's woad (Isatis besseri); 10 - Syrian strong fruit (Euclidium syriacum); 11 - pierced-leaved vole (Myagrum perfiliatum); 12 - folded pterygoid (Acthionima diastrophis); 13 - horned pugionium (Pugionium cornatum); 14 - Tauscheria lasiocagra; 15 - Lehmann's wool-carp (Lachnoloma lehmannii); 16 - Fedchenko's double (Didymophysa fedtschenkoana); 17 - Bukhara tetramidion (Tetracmidion bucharicum); 18 - anchor tetramidion (T. glochidiatum); 19 - Pamir tetrame (Tetracme pamirica); 20 - curved tetrame (T. recurvata)
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 (Fig. 2). 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 (like some capers), covered by a false septum. For example, the following types are very popular: lunar(Lunaria), the frames of large oval pods of which are very decorative. 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.
Methods of pollinating flowers
Cruciferous plants are adapted to both cross-pollination and self-pollination. The main pollinators are flies, bees, bumblebees; some types, for example gillyflower(Matthiola) or Evening girls(Hesperis), 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. Thus, in some species with inconspicuous small flowers, for example, stoneflies(Erophila), the small white petals of the lower flowers of the inflorescence that begin to bear fruit do not fall off, but double in size and are pressed against the unripe fruits, which have a purple tint. This creates a sort of halo around the flowers that are beginning to bloom. In another case, for example field yarutki(Thlaspi arvense), which also has small, white flowers; the sepals of fading flowers turn yellow. In species Iberians(Iberis) conspicuousness is ensured by the significantly larger outer petals of the marginal flowers of the inflorescence, like many umbrella flowers. In some species reveler(Sisymbrium), alyssum(Alyssum), teeth(Dentaria) this effect is achieved due to the fact that the petals of flowers with already set fruits do not fall off, but begin to increase in size, thereby attracting insects to the remaining blooming flowers.
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 field mustard(Sinapis arvensis) or 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. U watercress(Lepidium sativum), garlic(Alliaria petiolata), brayi alpine(Braya alpina) at the beginning of flowering, all stamens are shorter than the stigma, then 4 of them elongate and the anthers come into contact with the stigma. However, only one stamen empties pollen onto its stigma; the remaining anthers open later, preserving pollen for cross-pollination.
Examples can also be given where self-pollination predominates in some species of the same genus, while cross-pollination predominates in others. So, alpine jarutka(Thlaspi alpina) is always capable of self-pollination, since by the end of flowering the stamens bend over the stigma. And vice versa, Yarutka Mountain(T. montana) is predominantly cross-pollinating, as most plants have stamens shorter than the stigma. Exclusively cross-pollinating plants can be found in rezuhi Constanta(Arabis constancii): their stigmas are exposed from the bud even before the flower blooms and later, when the stamens reach its level, it turns away from them so that it cannot be pollinated by their pollen. In such plants, the likelihood of self-pollination is also excluded by the biochemical incompatibility of the pollen and the surface of the stigma - its own pollen does not germinate.
Among the cruciferous plants there are also purely self-pollinating plants. These include species of the Australian genus never visited by insects stenopetalum(Stenopetalum), which sometimes even produce cleistogamous flowers. This can be seen as an adaptation to the harsh conditions of Western and South Australia, which are not always conducive to pollination. In another Australian plant - tiny geococcus(Geococcus pusillus, Fig. 1) - all flowers are cleistogamous. Thanks to long, downward-pointing pedicels, they burrow into the ground and bear fruit there (geocarpy). Partial cleistogamy is characteristic of the Brazilian heartwood(Cardamine chenopodiifolium), in which, in addition to the normal flowers of the apical inflorescence, cleistogamous flowers are formed at the base of the stem, which are also buried in the ground. In rare cases, with excessive moisture, flooding, cleistogamy appears in some species bedbugs(Lepidium), water flea(Subularia aquatica), with increased dryness - field mustard.
Anemophily, which is usually observed in petalless plants, can be considered as a completely exceptional phenomenon for cruciferous plants. Kerguelen cabbage, or pringleys(Pringlea antiscorbutica, Fig. 1). Successful wind pollination of this island subantarctic species is facilitated by long stamens protruding from the flower, long filiform papillae on the stigma and a dense spike-shaped inflorescence.
Fruits and seeds
Cruciferous plants are adapted to the distribution of fruits and seeds in quite a variety of ways. 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 dispersed 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. Of the zoochorous species, the myrmecochorous species is very curious. bladder bug(Lepidium vesicarium), the plants of which are often arranged concentrically around anthills, as can be seen on the Ararat Plain in Armenia. In some cases, the seeds are scattered due to the “efforts” of the plant itself. Yes, y impatiens core(Cardamine impatiens) and rough core(C. hirsuta) the pod valves open with such force that the seeds fly away a considerable distance. Another type of heartwood is quite unusual, in which, in addition to the pods, brown bulbs are formed in the axils of the leaves, which, falling off, germinate. The so-called tumbleweed is widely known as rose of jeriochon, or anastatic(Anastatica hierochimtica). This small annual plant, native to the desert regions of Western Asia and northern Africa, produces fruits that ripen at the start of the dry season.
By this time, its numerous branches are tightly compressed and rounded flat pods remain inside the lump. Having taken on a spherical shape, the dried stem is often torn off the root by the wind and rolled over. With the onset of rain, the moistened branches straighten again, thus resembling a blooming rose. It is then, with abundant moisture, that the pods open (hygrochasia) and disperse the seeds. Hygrochasia is generally characteristic of most cruciferous plants with fruits that are difficult to open. 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.
Rice. 3. Cruciferous (lat. Cruciferae)
Sea mustard (Cakile maritime): 1 - general appearance of the plant; 2 - fruits. Lanceolate mustard (Cakile lanceolata): 3 - branch with fruits
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. One example of combined anthropo-, hydro- and anemochory can be the distribution features of two-membered fruits sea mustard(Cakile maritima), living on sea coasts (Fig. 3). Both parts of the fruit contain one seed. The upper segments, thanks to their highly developed spongy tissue, covered on the outside with a thick leathery layer, adhere well to the water and are carried by sea currents. The lower segments remain on the stems, which, after drying out, are torn from the root and rolled over by the wind.
Since sea mustard often grows near ports, the upper parts of its fruits often end up on ships along with cargo and are carried over long distances. It is in this way that the “native” of the Mediterranean sea mustard is now widespread outside the Old World and has successfully naturalized in America and Australia, where it penetrated along with the first colonists. This, undoubtedly, was facilitated by its high vitality, as evidenced by one of nature’s curious experiments. In November 1963, a new island was formed in the Atlantic Ocean, 20 miles south of Iceland, as a result of the eruption of an underwater volcano. The first vascular plant on this island was sea mustard, discovered there already in July 1965. Fruits are also distributed by sea currents sea katran(Crambe maritima).
No less interesting is the manifestation of heterocarpy in doublecarp protruding(Diptychocagrus strictus). This small annual, confined to desert habitats, develops three types of pods on one plant: upper, flat, easily opening with two valves, then difficult to open, ripening much later, and finally, the lowest pods, not opening, with very thickened valves and partition. The winged seeds of the upper pods are dispersed by the wind; Pods that are difficult to open remain on the stem for a long time and lie down with it; non-opening pods fall around the mother plant and their seeds germinate only during heavy rains, when the surrounding dense tissues rot, while the unprotected seeds of the upper pods die. Among dicarp plants, sometimes there are specimens with only dehiscent or only non-dehiscent pods, and this often leads to scientific oddities when they are assigned to other genera.
Heterocarpy is also well expressed in two species pterygoid(Aethionema): y pterygoid heterofruit(A. heterocagra) the upper pods are indehiscent, single-locular, with compacted valves, the rest are dehiscent, bilocular; at pterygoid fleshy(A. carneum), on the contrary, only the lowest pods do not open. Dweller of sandy deserts sand sicklebird(Spirorhyncus sabulosus) has spindle-shaped fruits at the base of the shoots, which, when falling, are buried in the sand. The upper curved pods are easily torn off by the wind, interlock with each other and roll into balls. A similar thing is observed in Boissier woads(Isatis boissieri), the upper winged pods of which are carried by the wind, the lower wingless ones fall around the plant. No less interesting in cruciferous plants is another type of heterocarpy - amphicarpy, observed in the Brazilian heartwood(Cardamine chenopodiifolia) and heterocarpus fernandez(Heterocagrus fernandezianus), native to the Juan Fernandez Islands. In these species, 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.
Basics of cruciferous taxonomy
Numerous attempts to build a system for the cruciferous family have not led to the creation of a generally accepted system. Modern systems are aimed towards the enlargement of tribes. The most primitive genera of cruciferous plants are included in the tribe telipodium(Thelypodieae). In many of them, the fruits sit on the gynophore and the stamens are long, protruding from the flower, which brings cruciferous plants closer to caperaceae. Stanley(Stanleya), which has the most primitive features, is linked in its appearance to the supposed ancestor of the cruciferous plants. Telipodiums are distributed mainly in the Pacific part of North America, in particular in the Rocky Mountains. Only long-legged(Macropodium), native to Sakhalin and southern Siberia, is the only representative of the tribe outside the American continent. Two more small tribes of cruciferous plants are confined to the American continent, mainly to the Pacific region of South America and Central America - Schisopetalaceae(Schizopetaleae) with characteristic pinnately dissected or fringed petals and cream-fronted(Cremolobeae) with widely or multiply winged double fruits.
The most extensive central tribe revelers(Sisymbrieae), covering the main generic and species composition of the family. The Gulavnikovaceae are characterized by a strong variation in the shape of the fruits, the general structure of which comes down to dehiscent and non-dehiscent pods and pods, both with a wide and a narrow partition. The main center of morphological diversity of this tribe is the Iran-Turanian floristic region, where there are about 80 endemic genera. Being widespread in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, a number of endemics, as well as cosmopolitan genera, are represented in America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The next largest tribe is cabbage(Brassiceae), whose representatives differ sharply from other cruciferous plants in their two-membered fruits and longitudinally folded cotyledons. The main center of distribution of this tribe is in the arid regions of the Mediterranean and the adjacent desert zones of Africa and southwest Asia. Representatives of Brassicas can also be found on various continents, but they are mainly cultivated plants or weeds.
The remaining cruciferous tribes are geographically extremely isolated and much poorer in composition. One of the unusual cruciferous plants is the only representative of the tribe pringley(Pringleae) - Kerguelen cabbage, which also has exposed stamens and a long, dense, spike-shaped inflorescence. Kerguelen cabbage, so named because of its large, fleshy basal leaves that have antiscorbutic properties, grows exclusively on the subantarctic islands of Kerguelen and Crozet, located south of the Indian Ocean. The following two tribes are known from the Cape region. One of them - chamir(Chamireae) - represented by only one species - chamyra bipetallata(Chamira circaeoides) with large cotyledons, which do not fall off after seed germination, grow strongly and are significantly larger than the stem leaves. Second South African tribe - heliophilaceae(Heliophilae) with doubly transversely folded cotyledons, not found in other members of the family. Of particular interest among heliophilaceae are species with tree-like stems. Among the cruciferous plants there is also a purely Australian tribe - stenopetal(Stenopetaleae), the main distinguishing feature of the only genus of which is stenopetalona(Stenopetalon) - are filiform-linear, very long petals, many times larger than the tightly compressed sepals.
Economic importance of cruciferous vegetables
The economic importance of cruciferous vegetables is difficult 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 a wild form cabbage(Brassica oleracea), others - from considered as an independent species wild cabbage(Brassica sylveslris), 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, some of the oldest cultivated plants cultivated in China and Japan are Chinese cabbage(B. chinensis) and cabbage(B. pekinensis). Various varieties of radish and radishes(Raphanus sativus), as hot spices - 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 spoon(Cochlearia), indau(Eruca sativa), rapeseed(Barbarea vulgaris), watercress(Nasturtium officinale) and many others, and shepherd's purse(Capsella bursa-pastoris) has been cultivated as a vegetable in China for over 100 years.
Young shoots and leaf petioles sea katran, or seaweed(Crambe maritima), often eaten like asparagus, and in Central Asia from the roots Katrana Kochi(C. kotschyana) produce flour from which flat cakes are baked. A number of cultivated oilseed crops are of great economic importance: rape(Brassica napus var. napus), Sarepta mustard, black mustard(Brassica nigra), white mustard(Sinapis alba), saffron milk cap(Camelina saliva), katran abyssinian(Crambe abyssinica). 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.
Camelina is the only cultivated plant among cruciferous plants that produces semi-drying oil. It is used in soap making, for making drying oil and as a lubricant for tractors. In the USA, high-yielding crops are introduced as fat and oilseeds. Fendler's lekerella(Lesquerella fendleri), the seeds of which do not fall off and can be harvested with a combine. In dry areas it is even recommended instead of wheat. Most oilseeds are also excellent honey plants. There are many honey and essential oil plants among wild cruciferous plants. Valuable forage plants such as swede(Brassica napus var. napobrassica), turnip and turnip(Brassica rapa), 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. In some types of grass jaundice(Erysimum) contains erysimylactone, which is used in heart medications. Shepherd's purse, one of the popular plants in Tibetan and Chinese medicine, has a strong hemostatic effect. From leaves woad(Isatis tinctoria) produces indigo dye. In floriculture, various varieties of cruciferous vegetables are widely known gillyflower(Matthiola incana), as well as some species alyssum(Alyssurn), used in flower beds and as border plants. Many wild species are also highly decorative, which deserves special attention. At the same time, among cruciferous crops, there are also malicious weeds that require a special control regime
The importance of representatives of the cruciferous family in nature and for humans.
Among the representatives of the family there are vegetable plants. The most important of them is cabbage. A head of cabbage is actually a giant bud that has a shortened stem - a stalk and a large number of leaves curved inward due to the stronger growth of their lower side. A stalk planted the following year can develop an inflorescence. In addition to cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, etc. are grown. Other vegetable plants are turnips, rutabaga, radishes and radishes. Horseradish roots are used as a seasoning. Mustard is an oilseed plant. Oil is obtained from its seeds. What remains after pressing the oil is ground into powder, from which table mustard is obtained, and mustard plasters are also prepared. Found among cruciferous plants medicinal plants, for example, a shepherd's purse.
The importance of representatives of the cruciferous family in nature and for humans.
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