Passionflower

The passionflower, a close relative of the violets, is a woody-stemmed climbing plant that grows to a height of 10 m (30 ft). Passionflowers are cultivated for their unique flowers and edible fruits.

Passionflower, common name for a flowering plant family, and especially for members of its principal genus. The flowers are usually perfect, generally having a five-parted calyx and five-parted corolla. All species have a more or less conspicuous crown of filaments springing from the throat of the tube formed by the base of the calyx and corolla. The family contains about 530 species, most of which are climbing plants, such as the passion vine of the southern United States, which sometimes reaches a height of 9 m (30 ft). The bell apple, or water lemon, of the West Indies is a species of passionflower with an edible fruit. The giant granadilla is a closely related plant native to Jamaica and South America. The pulp, or aril, surrounding each seed of the giant granadilla plant is used in flavoring drinks and ices.

Scientific classification: Passionflowers make up the family Passifloraceae. The principal genus is Passiflora. The passion vine is classified as Passiflora incarnata, the bell apple, or water lemon, as Passiflora laurifolia, and the giant granadilla as Passiflora quadrangularis.

Indigo Plant

Indigo Plant, common name for any of a genus of shrubs or perennial herbs (see Legume). The genus has about 700 species, most native to tropical regions. Indigo plants have compound leaves and bear purple, pink, or white flowers. Their fruit consists of pods. Various Asian species contain the glycoside indican, which can be oxidized to produce the dyestuff indigo. Of a long-lasting, deep-blue color, indigo was an important Indian, Egyptian, and Roman dye during antiquity. It was first introduced into Europe during the 16th century. Most indigo dye today is synthetically manufactured.

Scientific classification: Indigo plants constitute the genus Indigofera, of the family Papilionoideae.

Foxglove Plant

Foxglove Plant

The common foxglove is grown for decorative and medicinal purposes. The flowers contain glycosides (chemicals that affect heartbeat and pulse), which can be extracted from the leaves and used to regulate and strengthen a person’s heartbeat. However, if plant materials containing glycosides are directly consumed by humans, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and heartbeat and pulse abnormalities can result. If consumed in large enough quantities, glycosides can cause convulsions and death.

Aconite

Aconite, common name for certain perennial herbs and for a preparation derived from them that was formerly used in medicine. More than 100 species belong to the aconite genus and are native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several species, including the helmet flower, a well-known European species, are cultivated as garden plants in the United States. The common aconites have fibrous or tuberous roots, mostly erect stems, and palmately divided or cleft leaves. The flowers in most species are blue or purple, although some species have yellow or white flowers. The outer, showy parts of the bilaterally symmetrical flower are five in number, and the uppermost is shaped like a large, downward-opening hood. Because of this hood, which immediately distinguishes aconite from larkspur, aconites are commonly called monkshood. They are also known as wolfsbane.

Aconites contain highly active alkaloids, especially aconitine, and are poisonous to both humans and animals. The helmet flower has long been considered one of the most dangerous plants of Europe. When eaten in small to moderate amounts, roots produce symptoms of restlessness, salivation, nausea, a weakened and irregular heartbeat, chest pain, prostration, and frequently death within hours.

Scientific classification: Aconites belong to the family Ranunculaceae. The helmet flower is classified as Aconitum napellus.

Cultivated as garden plants in the United States, helmet flowers bloom a brilliant indigo blue in late summer. Long considered dangerous in Europe, helmet flowers are poisonous to humans and if eaten may cause nausea, irregular heartbeat, or death.

Related Articles:

• Hanaoka Seishu 

IMPORTANCE OF LICHENS

Lichens are common food for insects and slugs. In the arctic tundra, reindeer and caribou rely on lichens during the winter, when no other food is available. Several species of lichens that sprout up through the snow are called reindeer mosses.

Humans rarely eat lichens except in cases where no other food is available. The Bible may chronicle one such example: Some scholars believe that the manna or bread that the ancient Israelites ate in the desert when they fled Egypt was made of lichen. In Japan, where algae as well as fungi are prized foods, certain lichens are eaten as delicacies.

Although lichens have been used in folk medicine as purported cures for many ills, from headaches and toothaches to tuberculosis, diabetes, and asthma, their use in modern medicine is recent. The discovery in the 1940s that some fungi produce potent antibiotics stimulated an extensive screening of fungi and lichens. Since then, lichen extracts have found limited use in Europe, where lichen antibiotics have been used to treat tuberculosis and some skin diseases.

Lichen extracts are also used to add color or scent. Many lichens have earthy red, brown, russet, and blue pigments, and these pigments have been used as clothing dyes since the time of ancient Greece. Native Americans use boiled lichen extracts to dye cloth and baskets. Even the famous Harris tweeds, woolen textiles from the Scottish islands, are still dyed with Scottish lichens. A number of dark, oily extracts from European and African lichens are used to add scents to soaps and perfumes.

Lichens are used as living indicators of environmental problems because of their sensitivity to atmospheric pollution. Despite their hardiness in severe conditions, many lichens are damaged by the chemicals found in polluted air and by acid rain produced from the burning of coal, oil, and gasoline, and other industrial processes. Comparisons of lichen damage from industrialized and nonindustrialized areas provide an index of air pollution. Studies spanning the past 50 years have found that the variety and number of lichens have declined in many industrialized cities in both Europe and North America. Fortunately, studies have shown that when a pollution source is shut down, lichens can make a comeback, providing hope for their long-term survival.