Mango

Mango, common name for a tree, and for its fruit. The tree, which is native to India, grows up to 15 m (50 ft) high, with spreading top and numerous branches. It is widely grown in the tropics for its succulent fruit. The fruit, which is a fleshy drupe, is somewhat kidney-shaped or oval, from 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) in length; greenish, yellowish, or reddish in color; and contains a large flattened stone.

Scientific classification: The mango belongs to the family Anacardiaceae. It is classified as Mangifera indica.

Peach

Peach, common name for a deciduous orchard tree of the rose family, and for the fruit of this tree. The tree, which botanists believe is native to China, is cultivated throughout warm temperate and subtropical regions of the world. In the peach fruit, the stone is covered with a fleshy substance that is juicy, melting, and of fine flavor when matured and mellowed. The peach tree is of moderate height, more or less spreading according to variety, and, when left to itself, deep-rooted. The popular division of fruit varieties into clingstones and freestones—referring to the relative tendency of the flesh to cling to the stone—is by no means accurate. These two classes merge in different varieties, and even the same variety may be freestone and clingstone in different seasons. The nearly 300 varieties of peaches grown in America have been classified into five races, each with outstanding characteristics, ripening season, and uses. The nectarine is a variety of peach.

The peach is not a long-lived tree, seldom living 30 years, and the life of a commercial orchard is usually 7 to 9 years. The principal peach-growing states are California, South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey.

Scientific classification: The peach belongs to the family Rosaceae. It is classified as Prunus persica.

Aloe

Aloe, genus of plants with more than 150 species, most native to South Africa. They usually have short stems, fleshy, lanceolate leaves crowded in rosettes at the end of the stem, and red or yellow tubular flowers in dense clusters. Species vary in height from several centimeters to more than 9 m (30 ft); they are widely cultivated as garden and tub plants. Several species are commercially important as the source of the aloes used in medicine.

Scientific classification: Aloes belong to the family Liliaceae.

Agave

Agave, genus of plants native to desert regions of the western hemisphere. The best-known species is the American aloe, or century plant, which usually flowers only once, between the ages of 10 and 25 years. Shortly before it flowers, a long stalk grows rapidly upward to a height of about 12 m (about 40 ft). The flowers are large and greenish and cover short, horizontal branches that spring from the upper half of the stalk. Some plants die after flowering, but rhizomes of suckers often develop into new plants. The plant may also be grown from seeds, bulbs, or underground stems. The agave has large, thick, and fleshy leaves, which can store considerable quantities of water. They are spiked, particularly at the tips, are evergreen, and grow to a length of about 2 m (about 6 ft) in a cluster around the base of the plant.

Many species of agave are of economic importance. Sisal, native to the West Indies but now also grown in Mexico and various tropical countries of Eurasia, yields sisal or sisal hemp. Fibers up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long are obtained from the leaves of this plant and are used to make rope. Other species of agave yield similar fibers that are called sisal or, more properly, false sisal. The roots of some species yield a pulp that produces a lather when wet and is used as soap. Such soap plants are called amoles. The sap of some agaves is fermented to obtain a drink called pulque, which can be distilled to make a colorless liquor, mescal. All agave is called maguey in Mexico. One species, the false aloe, is native to the southeastern United States.

Scientific classification: Agaves belong to the family Agavaceae. The American aloe, or century plant, is classified as Agave americana, sisal as Agave sisalana, and false aloe as Manfreda virginica.

Succulent

Succulent, in botany, a tropical or desert plant with thick and fleshy stem or leaves designed to retain water and minimize evaporation. Succulent plants are usually found in regions of little rainfall and generally have long roots to absorb a maximum amount of water. Some of the commonest succulents are the cactus, which are leafless or have short, prickly leaves, storing a lot of sap in the stem; and the agave and aloe, which collect water in the stem.

Protoplasm

Protoplasm, term once used to describe the ground substance—the living material—of cells. This material would include the complex colloidal organization of substances making up a cell's nucleus, cytoplasm, plastids, and mitochondria. The term protoplasm has to a great extent been replaced by the term cytoplasm; the latter, however, does not include the cell nucleus. Protoplasm is also used to describe the contents of the tubelike structures (hyphae) of which fungi are composed.

Ergot

Ergot, name used interchangeably for a disease of rye, for the fungus causing the disease, for the sclerotium (compact hardened mycelium, or fruiting surface) of the fungus, and for the dried sclerotium, which contains certain valuable drugs.

Ergot fungi are molds that infect rye and other cereals and wild grasses. The filamentous mycelium of the mold spreads through the tissues of the flower and attacks the ovaries, which become deformed and enlarged and then wither. The deeper mycelium within the ovary becomes dense and hard, forming sclerotium.

The dried sclerotium as used in medicine contains the crystalline alkaloids ergotamine, C33H35N5O5, and ergotinine, C35H39N5O5, and the amorphous alkaloid ergotoxine, C35H39N5O5. Histamine is also present in minute quantities. In moderate doses ergotamine causes the contraction of unstriped muscle fibers, such as those in terminal arterioles. It is used to control hemorrhage and to promote contraction of the uterus during childbirth; it is used also to treat migraine headaches. In large doses the drug paralyzes the motor nerve endings of the sympathetic nervous system. Ergotism, a disease of humans and animals, is caused by excessive intake of ergot: in humans, either by the overuse of the drug or by eating breadstuffs made with infected flour, and in cattle, by the eating of ergot-infected grain and grass. Acute and chronic ergotism are characterized by mental disorientation, muscle cramps, convulsions, and dry gangrene of the extremities. One of the psychoactive drugs, LSD is chemically related to the ergot alkaloids.

Scientific classification: Ergot fungi belong to the genus Claviceps, of the family Clavicipitaceae.