Nerium Oleander
''Nerium oleander'' ( ), most commonly known as oleander or nerium, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the only species currently classified in the genus ''Nerium'', belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though it is usually associated with the Mediterranean Basin. Nerium grows to tall. It is most commonly grown in its natural shrub form, but can be trained into a small tree with a single trunk. It is tolerant to both drought and inundation, but not to prolonged frost. White, pink or red five-lobed flowers grow in clusters year-round, peaking during the summer. The fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds. Nerium contains several toxic compounds, and it has historically been considered a poisonous plant. Howe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was born in Råshult, the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thevetia Peruviana
''Cascabela thevetia'' (syn: ''Thevetia peruviana'') is a poisonous plant native throughout Mexico and in Central America, and cultivated widely as an ornamental. It is a relative of '' Nerium oleander'', giving it a common name yellow oleander, and is also called lucky nut in the West Indies. Etymology 'Cascabel', 'cascavel' or 'cascabela' is Spanish for a small bell, a snake's rattle or a rattlesnake itself. The allusion may also be to the plant's toxicity comparable to the venom of a rattlesnake. The latin specific name ''thevetia'' commemorates André de Thevet (1516-1590), a French Franciscan priest and explorer, who explored Brazil and Guiana (where the plant is known as chapéu-de-napoleão, ie, Napoleon's hat). Description ''Cascabela thevetia'' is an evergreen tropical shrub or small tree. Its leaves are willow-like, linear-lanceolate, and glossy green in color. They are covered in waxy coating to reduce water loss (typical of oleanders). Its stem is green turning silve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isonema
''Isonema'' is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ... first described as a genus in 1810. It is native to Africa. ;Species * '' Isonema buchholzii'' Engl. - Nigeria, Cameroon * '' Isonema infundibuliflorum'' Stapf - Cameroon, Gabon, Zaire * '' Isonema smeathmannii'' Roem. & Schult. - W Africa (Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone) References Apocynaceae genera {{Apocynaceae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Otto Stapf (botanist)
Otto Stapf FRS (23 April 1857, in Perneck near Bad Ischl – 3 August 1933, in Innsbruck) was an Austrian born botanist and taxonomist, the son of Joseph Stapf, who worked in the Hallstatt salt-mines. He grew up in Hallstatt and later published about the archaeological plant remains from the Late Bronze- and Iron Age mines that had been uncovered by his father. Stapf studied botany in Vienna under Julius Wiesner, where he received his PhD with a dissertation on cristals and cristalloids in plants. 1882 he became assistant professor (''Assistent'') of Anton Kerner. In 1887 he was made ''Privatdozent'' (lecturer without a chair) in Vienna. He published the results of an expedition Jakob Eduard Polak, the personal physician of Nasr al-Din, the Shah of Persia, had conducted in 1882, and plants collected by Felix von Luschan in Lycia and Mesopotamia 1881–1883. In 1885, Polak sponsored Stapf to conduct a botanical expedition of his own to South- and Western Persia, which was to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Farquharia
''Farquharia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1912. It contains only one recognized species, ''Farquharia elliptica'', native to tropical western and central Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...). ;Formerly included *''Farquharia excelsa'' (Bojer) Hils. & Bojer. = '' Crateva excelsa'' Bojer References {{Taxonbar, from1=Q8960934, from2=Q15584317 Flora of Africa Monotypic Apocynaceae genera Nerieae ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Louis-Marie Aubert Du Petit-Thouars
Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars (5 November 1758, Bournois – 12 May 1831, Paris) was an eminent French botanist known for his work collecting and describing orchids from the three islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion. Introduction Petit-Thouars came from an aristocratic family of the region of Anjou, where he grew up in the castle of Boumois, near Saumur. In 1792, after an imprisonment of two years during the French Revolution, he was exiled to Madagascar and the nearby islands such as La Réunion (then called Bourbon). He started collecting many plant specimens on Madagascar, Mauritius and La Réunion. Ten years later he was able to return to France with a collection of about 2000 plants. Most of his collection went to the ''Muséum de Paris'', while some species ended up at Kew. He was elected member of the prestigious ''Académie des Sciences'' on 10 April 1820. Du Petit-Thouars is remembered as the author of the book ''Histoire des végétaux recueill ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alafia (plant)
''Alafia'' is a genus of lianas or climbing shrubs found in tropical Africa and Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric .... The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises 26 species:Search for "Alafia", References Flora of Africa {{Apocynaceae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arrow Poisons
Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting and warfare. They have been used by indigenous peoples worldwide and are still in use in areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Notable examples are the poisons secreted from the skin of the poison dart frog, and curare (or 'ampi'), a general term for a range of plant-derived arrow poisons used by the indigenous peoples of South America. Poisoned arrows have featured in mythology, notably the Greek story of Heracles slaying the centaur Nessus using arrows poisoned with the blood of the Lernaean Hydra. The Greek hero Odysseus poisons his arrows with hellebore in Homer's '' Odyssey''. Poisoned arrows also figure in Homer's epic about the Trojan War, the ''Iliad'', in which both Achaeans and Trojans used toxic arrows and spears. Poisoned arrows are referred to in the Book of Job in the Bible, descriptive of the sufferings experienced by the just man, Job. The modern terms "toxic" and "to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cardiac Glycosides
Cardiac glycosides are a class of organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart and decrease its rate of contractions by inhibiting the cellular sodium-potassium ATPase pump. Their beneficial medical uses are as treatments for congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias; however, their relative toxicity prevents them from being widely used. Most commonly found as secondary metabolites in several plants such as foxglove plants, these compounds nevertheless have a diverse range of biochemical effects regarding cardiac cell function and have also been suggested for use in cancer treatment. Classification General structure The general structure of a cardiac glycoside consists of a steroid molecule attached to a sugar (glycoside) and an R group. The steroid nucleus consists of four fused rings to which other functional groups such as methyl, hydroxyl, and aldehyde groups can be attached to influence the overall molecule's biological activity. Cardiac glycosi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Strophanthus
''Strophanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1802. It is native primarily to tropical Africa, extending to South Africa, with a few species in Asia from southern India to New Guinea and southern China. The genus name is a compound of the Greek words στροφος (''strophos'') "twisted" and ανθοσ (''anthos'') "flower", in reference to the corolla lobes which, in some species - notably ''S. petersianus'' (see below) - resemble long twisted ribbons or threads and can reach a length of 30–35 cm. This trait, in addition to colouring involving combinations of bright pinks, purples and oranges, combine to make the flowers among the most ornamental in the plant kingdom. The genus includes vines, shrubs, and small trees. The leaves are opposite or whorled, simple broad lanceolate, 2–20 cm long, with an entire margin. Several African tribes used ''Strophanthus'' as the principal ingredient in arrow poison. Af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adenium
''Adenium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae first described as a genus in 1819. It is native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Cultivation and uses ''Adenium obesum'' is grown as a houseplant in temperate and tropical regions. Numerous hybrids have been developed. Adeniums are appreciated for their colorful flowers, but also for their unusual, thick caudices. They can be grown for many years in a pot and are commonly used for bonsai. Because seed-grown plants are not genetically identical to the mother plant, desirable varieties are commonly propagated by grafting. Genetically identical plants can also be propagated by cutting. However, cutting-grown plants do not tend to develop a desirable thick caudex as quickly as seed-grown plants. The sap of '' Adenium boehmianum'', '' A. multiflorum'', and '' A. obesum'' contains toxic cardiac glycosides and is used as arrow poison throughout Africa for hunting large game. Classification The genus ''Adeniu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |