DISK (taxus baccata)

	D
	DISK
	*taxus baccata*

Name
DISK

Scientific Name
taxus baccata

DISK

The tree of the death "by the toxic substances that contain all their organs, including the crust has been called him". One said that the birds that pecked their stems returned black, but also that nailing a copper nail in the trunk was annulled the maleficent effects.

Bud of disk, and the detail to the left of the masculine flowers and in the center of the fleshy seed coats, its fruits. The feminine flowers are greenish and can be observed in the low part of ramillete main. All the parts of the disk, excepting the pulp of the fruit, contain toxic principles, like the taxina, that only can be used in the pharmaceutical industry.

A disk of beautiful bearing. Planted like ornamental tree, in some countries of Europe one is in the cemeteries.

It is a always green tree, with two feet, one masculine one, that give masculine flowers and that, according to the tradition, is the tree of the men; and a feminine foot that gives the fruit. For the same reason, it is the tree of the ladies. It grows in the shade, reason why in old Rome one devoted the underground Gods, and for that reason one stood in the cemeteries, custom that still are conserved in some places, like in Great Britain. Very longevo, says that it can live more than thousand years.

CHARACTERISTICS: Tree of satately bearing, that can reach 15 ms of height and their trunk a diameter of 1.5 ms. The stems grow very slowly; the thicknesses form from many small ones that end up megring. The branches, extended and hanging, are populated with small extended leaves. The fruit (that only forms in the tree of feminine foot) is a small berry (fleshy fruit with the seeds in its interior, like the grape grain) red, very showy. The fleshy envelope of the berries is the only part of the plant that is not toxic, which allows that the birds eat them and, with the excrements, contribute to the dissemination of the species with the seed, prote'ge'es of the gastric and indestructible juice with the digestion.

LOCATION: The world, ex- in Australia, shady mountain slopes, humid places, special lives in all the parts to where the humidity comes from niel is only developed in calcáreos grounds. Other times there were many units in western Europe, in which today it is Holland now are not more than some very longevos units.

ACTIVE PRINCIPLES: All the plant, from the root to the last leaf, including the crust and the branches, whose only exception of the pulp of the fruit, contains toxic substances, in special the taxina alkaloid. Also is the taxicantina glucósido one. In the pulp of the fruit (the only nontoxic part) isolated efedrina is had, stimulating alkaloid of the respiratory apparatus

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES: Than more toxic, the taxina is poisonous; embargo, is not it with equal for all the animals, because whereas for the man and the horse, for example, it is very toxica, to the rumiantes or to the rabbits and hares it seems not to affect to them absolutely. An abortion and stimulating plant of menstruation. It acts on the nervous system, getting to paralyze the cardiac muscle the poisoning is pronounced by one first stage of euphoria, with increase of the cardiac pulsations, happening to one second in that the pulsations diminish until the heart becomes paralyzed.

HARVESTING: It blooms in spring, and the fruit takes six months in maturing; nevertheless, he is not advisable to gather leaves, branches, flowers nor fruits then his toxicity is uncontrollable.

USES And APPLICATIONS: It never must be used the disk like homemade remedy, nor the pulp of the fruits, because a divided seed would be sufficient to contaminate. Only the specialists can elaborate a syrup from the fruits without seed for their use like relajante respiratory, with applications in asthmatic processes.

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