Many times gold has been found, experts say: Wherever there is this plant, there may be treasure

Thanks to this plant, many gold mines have been found.

Geobotanical prospecting is an interesting field.

According to Futurism , in the Middle Ages, Scandinavian miners knew how to use alpine heather to search for copper . In history, there have been many records documenting the correlation between plants and soil containing minerals. To date, geobotanists still use this method to identify copper-bearing areas in Sweden and Finland or places containing heavy metals such as U, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, Ba , Pb, Zn.

So regarding gold , is there any plant that can be considered an indicator that soil contains gold?

The plant often grows where there is gold

In 1900, Emil Lungwitz, an American scientist and inventor, published a paper on "The Decomposition of Gold in Plants" in the Journal of Mining. By 1960, researchers from the US, Canada, New Zealand and Siberia confirmed that some trees were capable of absorbing small amounts of gold in their branches and leaves.

After repeatedly finding gold mines in Nevada and Arizona, scientists have noticed that desert trumpet trees often grow in this area. (Photo: USDA)

From this clue, they found 85 different plant species that often live in locations rich in specific minerals or elements. In there, after finding gold mines in Nevada and Arizona many times, they encountered a tree that grew very strongly. That is the desert trumpet (English name: Desert Trumpet, scientific name: Eriogonum inflatum).

Desert trumpet is a member of the buckwheat family, often growing in rocky, mineral-rich soils. Desert trumpeters live in warm climates from northern Arizona to Baja California in the United States. Where it lives is usually an area located at an altitude of 30m to nearly 1,800m. At low elevations, it occurs in sandy to gravelly areas, mixed grasslands, and desert landscapes. At slightly higher elevations, you'll find it in sagebrush and pine forests.

Desert trumpet is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows upright and grows up to nearly 1 meter tall. The tree is gray-green in color, with its upper body bulging to form a bottleneck.

Stem swelling is believed to be influenced by the presence of gall-producing insects. (Photo: USDA)

Stem swelling is thought to be influenced by the presence of honey-producing insects, most notably the genus Odynerus, a genus of wasps. The female wasp makes a small hole in the body of the desert trumpet, laying eggs there so the larvae develop in the cavity , which also provides a food source and protection for their offspring. The irritation caused by this process is thought to have caused the stem to swell over time.

The perianth, which houses the flower, is densely covered with coarse, curved, yellow hairs with green or reddish midribs. Stamens grow outside the flower tube. The leaves at the base have an ovoid (ovoid-shaped) blade, are rounded and attached to a long petiole (stem) that is 2 to 6 cm long. Desert trumpet flowers are quite small, only 2 to 3 mm long and loosely arranged in open inflorescences (cymose).

The flowers of the desert trumpet are yellow mixed with green. (Photo: USDA)

Desert trumpet also has some documented medicinal uses including you can grind the stems, roots and leaves to treat colds. Additionally, it can be used to clean infected cuts, or the roots can be used to treat diarrhea.

In some accounts, the whole plant can also be used to treat rheumatism, steam baths, stomach disorders, stiff and sore muscles, and it has even been used to fight syphilis.

Desert trumpet is also used for healing. (Photo: USDA)

As described by James L. Reveal in Flora of North America, there are also reports that the hollow trunk was used as a drinking tube or conduit.

Experienced desert explorers always keep an eye out for these desert trumpets, knowing that it could lead them to a nearby gold mine.