Interactions With Other Species
Allium sativum is a lucky species
because it has anti-fungal and
anti-bacterial properties, so there are no common pathogens of Allium
sativum. There are fungi and bacteria that affect the Allium
genus,
but none specifically for Allium sativum.
That being said, there are "predators" of garlic. The
biggest and
main one is humans. Humans use garlic for food and medicine
mainly. Garlic also grows due to the fact the humans cultivate it for
our own personal gain.
The uses humans use garlic for other then just food as
an
ingredient are as a medicine. The anti-fungal properties of garlic have
made it a great ingredient to use for making fungicides that are more
or all natural. It still is not one-hundred percent certain what in garlic
makes it a good fungicide, but it is believed that it is the sulfur that
garlic has that kills the fungus. The same properties that make garlic a
good fungicide seem to also be why it makes a good product for use
on bacteria.
In the image above, it shows the cloves of garlic that
almost everyone can recognize from either cooking themselves or watching
someone else cook. However, those cloves of garlic can be used for much
more then eating. They can be used to benefit humans in
many medical areas as well. Some medical issues that it is currently or
formerly used are: abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, arterial
disease, asthma, boils, bronchitis, cancer, constipation, coughs,
diarrhea, epilepsy, fatigue, gangrene, headaches, heart hoarseness,
indigestion, leprosy, plaque, pneumonia, toothaches, tumors, ulcers,
worms, and the list just goes on and on. As states above it is
currently most effective for humans as an antibiotic, meaning that it will
assist in the body's immune response to get rid of bacteria and
other parasitic entities that entire into the human body. An example of
something it would help rid the body of is
Plasmodium
falciparum,
otherwise known as malaria. The example given has been proven to work in the lab
setting, but has not been tried on
humans extensively to prove if it is effective in real life, but it works
in the lab.
If you have any questions, comments, or found any errors, please email me at gallant.kirk@students.uwlax.edu.