Mashta
Mashta (lat. Cleome droserifolia) is a low-growing, light-loving, drought-resistant shrub from the Caperaceae family, growing in the deserts of North Africa and Israel, and has been used by nomads for medicinal purposes since ancient times.
Today it is increasingly attracting the attention of doctors, demonstrating amazing healing abilities.
Having managed to survive in the difficult conditions of the desert, where the heavens provide moisture from time to time, Mashta learned to accumulate in its above-ground parts many useful substances necessary for a person to fully function the body. People can only extract them from the stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, and use them to serve their health.
Description of the plant
The low-growing bushes of Mashta spread out in friendly dense flocks on the hot sands of the desert, enlivening its monotony. They will touch the most indifferent traveler with their sticky leaves covered with glandular hairs, so that a tired person with streams of sweat on his face will inevitably stop and be surprised at the beautiful creation of nature.
And there really is something to be surprised about. Thin, fleshy, erect stems seem to defy the scorching sun, hiding from it behind a thick bristle of glandular hairs. The stems branch, forming a greenish-gray-yellow dense carpet on the shifting sands.
Small oval leaves also used the same hairs to protect themselves from the sun. A sticky substance is released from the glands on the surface of the leaves, which settles on the tips of the hairs in the form of dewdrops. Hence the Latin name of the plant, Cleome droserifolia, which in our native language means “Cleome dewdrop.”
The hairy stems and leaves also gave the plant its Arabic name, Mashta. The meaning of the word “Mashta” means “prickly” or “comb”. It is under this name that the medicinal herb is sold at the Bedouin “market” in Egypt.
Small grains of sand settle on the sticky leaves, and therefore the dried medicinal herb seems even more prickly than in nature. The smell of this medicine is reminiscent of the aroma of well-dried hay.
Small flowers with pubescent bracts have four relatively long yellow petals. To add at least a little brightness to the plant, nature painted purple, lilac, or red spots and stripes on the petals.
Small dark seeds are enclosed in a seed capsule that looks like a miniature pod. The capsule, like other above-ground parts of the plant, is protected by glandular hairs and is sticky. This allows the plant to expand its territory with the help of desert animals, to whose fur the pods stick.
Mashta’s medicinal abilities
The medicinal herb with the Arabic name “Mashta” does not mean anything to official world medicine. And there is very little information about “Cleome droserifolia”. Perhaps the reason for this lack of attention to grass is the difficult access to the places where it grows.
As for the local inhabitants of the desert, the Bedouins, Mashta is held in high esteem among them. The wind that lifts sand into the air does not spare the skin of the Bedouins. To keep their facial skin looking attractive, women resort to the help of Mashta. But Mashta not only supports beauty, but also relieves rashes and itching, which accompany many skin diseases, including eczema, herpes, psoriasis, the scourge of the late 20th century – allergies.
An infusion of the herb restores skin burned by the sun’s rays; strengthens hair, promoting its growth and thickness; when frozen, it is used as a cosmetic to maintain skin elasticity, preventing women from aging quickly.
Mashta’s valuable ability, studied by scientists of Egyptian medicine, is the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in the human body, which attracts the attention of people suffering from diabetes.
