About cactus monsters

Impossibly huge cactuses are in harmony with boundless deserted spaces of Arizona. In these lands, cactus is a symbol of local cities, often presented in T-shirts. In some photographs it could be seen how a huge cactus broke through a car. It is obvious that such a giantism could be caused not only by the 300-day-a-year sunshine. The issue of mutation was raised by Moscow State Darvin Museum, where The Cristate and Monstrous exhibition was opened, RIA ‘Novosti’ reports. In the exhibition, there are no round, accurate small cactuses old women like so much, here you could see only real monsters. Some of them really mysterious, similar to a rugged rock with odd shape or to a bird’s comb. Such ugliness or just deformity appears when instead of one top, several tops at once start to grow. So far, the scientists dispute why cactuses deflect from a normal growth and what influences their mutation. Because such monstrous or cristate form could suddenly appear in every cactus and completely change their form and afterwards disappear, as suddenly as appeared. Both cristate and monstrous cactuses seldom flower and much more seldom seed.

Roman Sokolov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://pravda.ru/culture/2002/05/23/41646.html