Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[LegoLord]

Ah.  I see.  Well.  Yeah, I can see that being a problem.

[zchris13]

Other things bad about it too, but I forget what it was.

[G-Flex]

"Pure HCl" is kind of a misnomer, since acids only really act as acids when they're in solution with water. You can't really "pour" the pure substance on you, because at room temperature it's a gas, and even if it were solid wouldn't do anything until you threw water on it, at which point it would no longer be "pure".

Also, I'm pretty sure saguaro are safe. A lot of other plants/cacti may not be, but I'm almost positive that those are. I can't really find anything to back that up at the moment, though.

And if you see a dude in a TV show tapping a cactus, it's pretty much GOING to be a saguaro anyway.

[Impaler[WrG]]

I live in the desert surrounded by Saguaro cacti, I've never heard of 'tapping' them for water in the way one might do with Maple Syrup.  Even if they did drip water like that the evaporation rates are far to high to accumulate water in a bucket.  But I believe you can eat the cactus flesh and its fruits for there moisture content but that's actually much easier with a cactus called Jumping Cholla, its composed of small segments that detach at the slightest brush and stick to you with spines.  The trick is to actually light one of these detached segments on fire, the needles flash-burn in a matter of seconds leaving a safe to handle and succulent fruit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_Cholla

[Footkerchief]

I actually think it is poisonous.  Most cacti have excess of oxalic acid in them, the same stuff which is in rhubarb leaves.   Drink very much cacti-water and you will be losing pieces of stomach.   Not that you could actually stand to drink it.  The TV shows where they tap barrel cacti... yeah.. that would end them quick unless they knew what type of cacti they were tapping *one or two species are safe*.

If you want to get the effect, Try drinking some CLR cleaner.

Could you provide a citation for the levels being dangerously high?  Lots of edible foods like spinach contain it too.

I found this source which states 518 mg of oxalic acid per 100 g of prickly pear, which is about .5% by weight.  This site claims that spinach is closer to 1% oxalic acid.  So it looks like you could eat cactus in moderation without any problems.

[LegoLord]

Pure HCl acting as an acid would be defined as the highest concentration of HCl possible at the temperature the solution is at.

[profit]

I actually think it is poisonous.  Most cacti have excess of oxalic acid in them, the same stuff which is in rhubarb leaves.   Drink very much cacti-water and you will be losing pieces of stomach.   Not that you could actually stand to drink it.  The TV shows where they tap barrel cacti... yeah.. that would end them quick unless they knew what type of cacti they were tapping *one or two species are safe*.

If you want to get the effect, Try drinking some CLR cleaner.

Could you provide a citation for the levels being dangerously high?  Lots of edible foods like spinach contain it too.

I found this source which states 518 mg of oxalic acid per 100 g of prickly pear, which is about .5% by weight.  This site claims that spinach is closer to 1% oxalic acid.  So it looks like you could eat cactus in moderation without any problems.

Most are edible in moderation, but using them as a water source would go far beyond a simple side dish with a meal.   If you attempted to drink spinach juice as your only water source you would probably die due to renal failure. Alot of health journals recommend cooking spinach because it reduces the acidity, and they all recommend avoiding it if you have calcium absorption problems or you are having kidney problems. 

There are also some other nasty things in cacti which preclude many of them from a water source. 

But you are right, as a supplemental food source MOST cacti will not kill their eaters.  It is only when they are stepped up to become a water source that fatalities happen.

[zchris13]

I think it may only be useable as a supplemental water source.

[Neonivek]

With this relevation... It may be prudent to see what the makeup of many trees Sap is.