Orangutan pill
Cactaceae is a large family of succulent plants that originated in the Americas and many species have been widely cultivated. Cacti are so famous that some people use "cacti" as a synonym for succulent plants, indicating the high popularity of this family in people's minds. succulent plants usually have thick water storage tissues to cope with drought environments. Some use leaves to store water, while others use stems to store water. Cactus plants choose the latter and can change the shape of their stems in unexpected ways. Moreover, this family preserves many key species in its evolutionary path, allowing us to see how it gradually evolves from an ordinary tree to various uniquely shaped succulent plants.
The most primitive surviving cactus family plant is the Pereskia genus. Their stems are not very fleshy, their leaves are intact, and thorns have also appeared. The coexistence of leaves and thorns indicates that the widely circulated belief that the leaves of cacti have degenerated into thorns is incorrect.
The second step in the development of the cactus family towards drought growth is to shorten and thicken the stem, resulting in fleshy transformation. The leaves degenerate into granulation like structures and are prone to shedding, only existing briefly at the top of the tender stem. For example, the Austroylindropuntia subunita is one of the representatives. The well-known genus Opuntia further flattens its stems on this basis to expand the area of photosynthesis. At the same time, the apical buds of the stem also lose their ability to sustain growth, thus forming patches of "palms". In this step, some types of stems become spherical, such as the football bonnieae, which can better store water.
The third step is for the leaves to completely degenerate and disappear, and the surface of the stem protrudes outward, forming warts and longitudinal edges. Some types of warts become large and long, resembling leaves, such as Leuchtenbergia principis, Ariocarpus agavoides, and Astrophytum caput medusae. They do indeed use the protrusions of their stems to perform the function of abandoned leaves, making people exclaim, "If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place?".
Step four, this step formed the core group of cactus family today, with the vast majority of species emerging here, developing various spherical and large columnar species, and even entering tropical rainforests twice to begin climbing and epiphytic life. This includes the familiar Echinopsis oxygona and Celeus repardus. As the species enter the rainforest, the longitudinal edges on the stem gradually decrease. For example, the measuring stick (Selenacereus undatus) decreases to 3 edges, while Epiphyllum oxyphyllum and Schlumbergera truncata decrease to 2 edges. So both Epiphyllum and Cactus appear to have flaky stems, but in reality
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