If you go to the desert for tourism or adventure, even if you are thirsty, don't try the "watermelon" here easily.
Watermelon in the desert
This should be regarded as the most useful advice of the locals, but many people feel puzzled, the same watermelon, how can it not be eaten in the desert?
Next, let's understand why no one dares to eat the "watermelon" everywhere in the desert? Locals say that if you don't believe in evil, you can try one.
Eating "watermelon" can actually be poisoned
There are really people who do not believe in evil and run to the desert to explore, but they are accidentally lost, and they walk dry mouth for a long time without finding an exit.
Suddenly, in the endless yellow desert, I saw a green, is this an oasis in the desert or a mirage?
A rare visible "oasis"
Not really, but the result is surprising, because it's a big "watermelon".
In the desert, it is simply a gift from heaven to find this fruit containing a lot of juice, so this person completely forgot the advice of others, and opened the "watermelon" without saying a word, and found that it was a white gourd.
Maybe it's because of the lack of water, so the watermelon has not yet matured, but in the case of extreme water shortage, who cares about this.
As a result, when I took a bite, I only felt full of bitterness, but in order to survive, I still had to swallow it.
White watermelon
As everyone knows, this "watermelon" is not here to give him a life, but rather to "urge".
Originally, in the case of lack of water in the desert, people's immunity has declined, and even the phenomenon of dizziness has long appeared.
So after eating "watermelon", he will only feel more pain in his head, and even directly diarrhea to the whole person is collapsed, if it is not rescued, he may be dehydrated due to body dehydration, plus poisoning and fell in the desert.
Therefore, in order to save your own life, it is best not to eat things in the wild.
After eating the whole person is not good
What exactly is a desert "watermelon"?
But what kind of "watermelon" is this, and why can it still make people poisoned?
It turns out that the watermelon we usually eat belongs to the genus of watermelon in the cucurbitaceae family, and it has 6 other siblings.
They are sticky seed watermelon, missing watermelon, Amaru watermelon, Nordan watermelon, hot watermelon, and medicine watermelon.
These 7 kinds of watermelons actually have their own uses, and according to their composition, we can use them for food, feeding and medicinal purposes.
The desert "watermelon" we are going to talk about today is actually a medicinal watermelon, because it has a certain medicinal property, so people name it this way.
Watermelon domestication process
However, didn't it say earlier that it is toxic, and how can it still be medicated now? This is indeed true, but there is no hurry, we slowly understand.
Medicinal watermelon is a wild watermelon that is not domesticated
There is no definitive answer to the origin of watermelons, but one theory is that these watermelons originated in Africa.
Thousands of years ago, all watermelons were still wild, like the bright red, juicy and sweet watermelons we eat now, which were domesticated by people for a long time.
Watermelon
The original watermelon not only has a dull color, but also the taste of the melon is also very general, after a long period of cultivation, it has gradually become an indispensable fruit king in today's summer.
As a watermelon for feeding, it is a variant of the watermelon subspecies of hair watermelon, its rhizome is developed, it grows very large, but it does not have any taste, so it is used to feed livestock.
The medicinal watermelon, obviously the batch that has not been completely domesticated, is left in the desert, gradually adapted to the high temperature and dry environment, and gradually accumulated a lot of toxins.
Feeding watermelon is more like winter melon
Distinguish between medicinal watermelon and watermelon
It is worth mentioning that the appearance of medicinal watermelons is too confusing, and when they are not ripe, they are almost exactly the same as the appearance of watermelons, so they will be eaten by mistake in the desert.
But in addition to their differences in function and composition, we can easily distinguish the difference between the two.
The size of the medicinal watermelon is much smaller than the watermelon, the diameter is generally not more than 10 cm, the surface of the grain also looks more broken, after ripening, the outer skin will become yellow.
Medicinal watermelon is yellower in color
The biggest difference is that it and the fruit of the watermelon, most of the edible watermelon fruit is red, and the melon seeds are black, while the medicinal watermelon is white, and the melon seeds are like soybeans.
Therefore, whether it is from the appearance or the fruit, we must distinguish between the two, otherwise it is not a good thing to eat the medicine watermelon by mistake.
The medicinal watermelon is full of poison
The vines and fruits of the medicinal watermelon are poisonous, so don't say that eating it, even touching it is a problem.
Virtually all plants in the Cucurbitaceae family produce the toxic steroid compound cucurbitarin, such as pumpkin, zucchini, and American pumpkin.
You can't touch it
Fruits that contain a lot of cucurbitacin generally taste very bitter, so this may be to avoid being eaten by some herbivores.
However, in many of the cucurbitaceous foods we eat now, the compound content of this cucurbitacin is already very small, which is actually the result of natural selection.
But the medicinal watermelon that has lived in the wild for a long time is different, its living environment is very harsh, so it is more important to protect itself from being eaten by animals, and finally lead to extinction.
There are many types of cucurbitacin, and scientists can now use alphabetical arrangements from A to T, of which cucurbitacin A, B, C are the most toxic.
Cucurbitacin B
The cucurbitacin contained in the medicinal watermelon is grade B, in addition to this type of toxin, it also contains substances such as bitter glycosides, so in summary, its toxicity can be ranked to the 5th level.
People who mistakenly eat the medicine bitter melon generally have symptoms such as dizziness, diarrhea and spasms, and eating too much may lead to kidney failure.
Of course, after eating, its medicinal seizures are still some time, so it is necessary to drink milk immediately to relieve it, and then quickly seek medical treatment, and with atropine can reduce secretions.
Drinking milk can relieve it
But we must pay attention to the fact that this medicinal watermelon generally grows in the desert, where there is often no shop behind the village, so if you see it, even if you are thirsty, you have to take a detour.
Medicinal watermelon is also useful
Of course, medicinal watermelon is not useless, for this natural toxin, people will naturally use it.
【Watermelon seeds can produce oil】
The first is the melon seeds of the medicinal watermelon, which is really useful, and this bean-sized melon seed can be used as an oil seed.
The oil content of its melon seeds is generally 24.86-26.1%, and the highest can even reach 30.12-35.66%.
Medicinal watermelon seeds
Moreover, the production of medicinal watermelon is still very large, and generally people will pick the unripe medicinal watermelon, remove the peel and dry the melon directly in the sun or use the oven.
1 hectare of medicinal watermelon can obtain 6.7-10 tons of melon seeds, and the maximum oil production can reach 3 tons.
The main components of these oils include triglycerides, free fatty acids, phospholipids and sterols, so it can be used to produce soaps.
Some scientists believe that due to the high oil content of medicinal watermelon seeds, if they are continuously bred, they can provide edible oil for water-scarce countries.
Sun-dried melon seeds
Watermelon seeds can be medicated
In addition, scientists have also found that low doses of watermelon seeds and pulp can be used to lower blood sugar, so in the clinical application of islamic countries in the world, it is also used as one of the herbs that can treat diabetes.
Because it can not only induce the pancreas to secrete insulin after supplementing with insulin, but also lower blood sugar and improve blood lipid levels at the same time.
Of course, in the folk of North Africa, the medicinal watermelon is also used to treat liver disease and blood diseases.
Medicine watermelon inside
In addition, it has even been found that medicinal watermelon can stimulate hair growth, and a large number of medicinal watermelons may indeed lead to hair loss, but once the dosage is accurate, its effect can be comparable to the male baldness drug finasteride.
And people also use the toxicity of the medicinal watermelon as a raw material for insecticides, which also has an excellent effect in insecticide.
It can be seen that although the medicinal watermelon is poisonous, its ability is not small at all.
Therefore, this medicinal watermelon not only grows in the wild, but also grows in large quantities by many people.
Medicine watermelon in the wild
As early as the 14th century, it was already cultivated in large quantities on the island of Cyprus, and according to its use value, the First World War was used as one of the sources of local economic income and is still exported today.
Nowadays, medicinal watermelon is mainly distributed in North Africa and the Mediterranean coast, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Spain, Egypt, India and other places.
In the mainland, this medicinal watermelon came to the Mainland Xinjiang region along the Silk Road during the Song Dynasty, and was also planted in large quantities in the HetianHeyecheng area of Xinjiang.