Cactus Mucilage
Since I’m no longer blogging stories from Arizona newspapers, I have to find farther flung stories about cactus. This one comes from India.
The prickly cactus… can actually be used as a water purifier, says a new study.
Opuntia ficus-indica’s… mucilage… acted as a flocculant. The agent had caused all the sediments to join together and settle at the bottom of the water…. (and) made the water 98% bacteria free.
Very interesting. Especially that word, “flocculant.” Nice!
I haven’t gone to the trouble of verifying that story, so I wouldn’t believe a word in it without further scientific confirmation, but it’s a happy fun cactus story!
