Bitter/Sweet Tree
If you’ve read the Old Testament, you know that the newly liberated Israelites complained frequently during their long sojourn in the desert. At Marah, they encountered a well of water too bitter to drink and immediately began to give Moses the side-eye. Petitioning God for help, Moses was shown a piece of wood from a tree that, when thrown into the well, made the waters sweet and drinkable. Soon after, the Israelites were also given manna and quail to eat.
The miraculous events at Marah were intended to demonstrate God’s providence. He cared for the Israelites, provided for their needs and made their bitter waters sweet. But I can’t help but wonder, was that a supernatural tree Moses tossed into the well, or was it a natural miracle? It’s curious to know that there is actually a tree capable of purifying water.
Moringa oleifera, known commonly as the drumstick tree or the horseradish tree, has some amazing properties. Members of the genus Moringa are native to India, Arabia and the East Indies and have been cultivated and distributed along trade routes reaching into Africa since ancient times. It grows well in tropical and sub-tropical regions and is tenaciously drought-resistant. Almost every part of the tree can be eaten and has some medicinal properties attributed to it. Extracts from M. oleifera have been used to treat everything from toothaches to diabetes and cancer. Moreover, it’s an extremely nutritious plant, containing high levels of micronutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium and iron. For this reason, dried and powdered M. oleifera leaves have been used as a supplement to combat malnutrition in third world countries.
But that’s not all. One of the more interesting uses of M. oleifera is as a water treatment agent. Extracts from M. oleifera contain proteins that cause particles in the water to clump together and sink to the bottom, improving the turbidity of the water and removing hard minerals and heavy metals. Extracts from a single kernel of M. oleifera are enough to clear one liter of water in less than an hour.
The tree’s extracts have the added benefit of removing dangerous coliform bacteria. Germs clinging to solid particles also sink to the bottom, but that is not all. M. oleifera produces several antimicrobial compounds that inhibit bacterial growth outright.
As a natural product, extracts of M. oleifera are cheap, renewable and non-toxic. They serve as an alternative to expensive or harsh chemical and have been used to great effect in developing countries treating contaminated rivers and improving waste water management.
So was Moses directed to throw Moringa into the bitter well? We’ll never know, but if he was . . . it’d be pretty sweet.
Brian Rutter, PhD, is the cofounder of Hundredfold Video and plant biologist working for 2Blades at the University of Minnesota. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our “Things About Things – Odd Facts About Plants” and video production tips in your inbox every month!
Works Cited:
Beltrán‐Heredia, J., and J. Sánchez‐Martín. "Improvement of water treatment pilot plant with Moringa oleifera extract as flocculant agent." Environmental Technology 30, no. 6 (2009): 525-534.
Delelegn, Ashenafi, Samuel Sahile, and Azamal Husen. "Water purification and antibacterial efficacy of Moringa oleifera Lam." Agriculture & Food Security 7 (2018): 1-10.
Khan, Faran, Fatima Nasir, Ahmad Bilal Huda Ikram, Mehreen Fatima, and Maheen Shad. "Moringa oleifera: A Miraculous Plant to Combat Malnutrition." Acta Scientific NUTRITIONAL HEALTH (ISSN: 2582-1423) 6, no. 11 (2022).
Pareek, Ashutosh, Malvika Pant, Madan Mohan Gupta, Pushpa Kashania, Yashumati Ratan, Vivek Jain, Aaushi Pareek, and Anil A. Chuturgoon. "Moringa oleifera: An updated comprehensive review of its pharmacological activities, ethnomedicinal, phytopharmaceutical formulation, clinical, phytochemical, and toxicological aspects." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24, no. 3 (2023): 2098.
