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Ribwort Plantain
''Plantago lanceolata'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on cultivated or disturbed land. Description The plant is a rosette-forming perennial herb, with leafless, silky, hairy flower stems (). The basal leaves are lanceolate spreading or erect, scarcely toothed with 3-5 strong parallel veins narrowed to a short petiole. The flower stalk is deeply furrowed, ending in an ovoid inflorescence of many small flowers each with a pointed bract. Each inflorescence can produce up to two hundred seeds. Flowers are ( calyx green, corolla brownish), 4 bent back lobes with brown midribs and long white stamens. It is native to temperate Eurasia, widespread throughout the British Isles, but scarce on the most acidic soils ( pH < 4.5). It is present and widespread in the Americas and Australia as an |
Glanville Fritillary
The Glanville fritillary (''Melitaea cinxia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is named for the naturalist who discovered it and the checkerboard pattern on its wings. These butterflies live in almost all of Europe, especially Finland, and in parts of northwest Africa. They are absent from the far north of Europe and parts of the Iberian Peninsula. To the east they are found across the Palearctic (in Turkey, Russia, northern Kazakhstan and Mongolia). It has been discovered that this butterfly only mates one time in June or July and lays its eggs. It does not provide any protection to these eggs or care for the offspring. As adults, the Glanville fritillaries are short-lived; they spend most of their lives as caterpillars. As caterpillars, Glanville fritillaries enter a stage of diapause, which is a period of suspended development, during the winter time. The spiked speedwell and ribwort plantain are the Glanville fritillary's preferred plants to lay eggs and to ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants, or from the male cone to the female cone of gymnosperms. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, producing a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule containing the female gametophyte. Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is highly useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology, and forensics. Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a single flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this process takes place from the an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spilosoma Congrua
The agreeable tiger moth (''Spilosoma congrua'') is one of three species of white tiger moth which are common in the United States. It has pronounced black eyes, white abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ..., and orange "bib" which set it apart from its cousin the Virginia tiger moth. Like its cousin, it tents its wings when at rest. It was described by Francis Walker in 1855. It is found in the United States, Canada, and possibly India. References * *''Spilosoma congrua'' at EOL [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera. Lepidopteran species are characterized by more than three derived features. The most apparent is the presence of scales that cover the bodies, wings, and a proboscis. The scales are modified, flattened "hairs", and give butterflies and moths their wide variety of colors and patterns. Almost all species have some form of mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outcrossing
Out-crossing or out-breeding is the technique of crossing between different breeds. This is the practice of introducing distantly related genetic material into a breeding line, thereby increasing genetic diversity. Outcrossing can be a useful technique in animal breeding. The outcrossing breeder intends to remove the traits by using "new blood." With dominant traits, one can still see the expression of the traits and can remove those traits whether one outcrosses, line breeds or inbreeds. With recessive traits, outcrossing allows for the recessive traits to migrate across a population. Many traits are Mendelian and therefore exhibit a more complicated intermediate phenotype. The outcrossing breeder then may have individuals that have many deleterious genes that may be expressed by subsequent inbreeding. There is now a gamut of deleterious genes within each individual in many dog breeds. Increasing the variation of genes or alleles within the gene pool may protect against ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asexual Reproduction
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the full set of genes of their single parent and thus the newly created individual is genetically and physically similar to the parent or an exact clone of the parent. Asexual reproduction is the primary form of reproduction for single-celled organisms such as archaea and bacteria. Many eukaryotic organisms including plants, animals, and fungi can also reproduce asexually. In vertebrates, the most common form of asexual reproduction is parthenogenesis, which is typically used as an alternative to sexual reproduction in times when reproductive opportunities are limited. Komodo dragons and some monitor lizards can also reproduce asexually. While all prokaryotes reproduce without the formation and fusion of gametes, mechanisms for lateral gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junonia Coenia
''Junonia coenia'', known as the common buckeye or buckeye, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and in Mexico. Its habitat is open areas with low vegetation and some bare ground. Its original ancestry has been traced to Africa, which then experiences divergence in Asia. The species ''Junonia grisea'', the gray buckeye, is found west of the Rocky Mountains and was formerly a subspecies of ''Junonia coenia''. Caterpillars of these butterflies appear to prefer plants that produce iridoid glycosides, which are bitter compounds that release a hormone called gastrin that activates the digestive system (i.e. hunger); therefore, iridoid glycoside producing plants stimulate and attract their appetites particularly when found in plants like ''Plantago lanceolata''. In fact, the presence of these metabolites may trigger oviposition behaviors in female butterflies so that descendant larval bodies may better incorporate iridoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catalpol
Catalpol is an iridoid glucoside. This natural product falls in the class of iridoid glycosides, which are simply monoterpenes with a glucose molecule attached. Natural occurrence First isolated in 1962, catalpol was named for plants in the genus ''Catalpa'' in which it was discovered. Later in 1969, catalpol was found to be present in larger quantities in several plants in genus '' Rehmannia'' (Orobanchaceae). It is also found in plants belonging to several families, including, but not limited to, Scrophulariaceae, Lamiaceae (including scullcap), Plantaginaceae (''Plantago sp'') and Bignoniaceae, all of which being in the order Lamiales. Because they feed on these plants, variable checkerspot butterflies (''Euphydryas chalcedona'') contain high amounts of catalpol, which makes them unpalatable to predators and thus serves as a defense mechanism. Biosynthetic pathway Though first isolated in the 1960s, there has been very little investigation of the biosynthetic pathway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aucubin
Aucubin is an iridoid glycoside. Iridoids are commonly found in plants and function as defensive compounds. Iridoids decrease the growth rates of many generalist herbivores. Natural occurrences Aucubin, as other iridoids, is found in asterids such as ''Aucuba japonica'' (Garryaceae), ''Eucommia ulmoides'' (Eucommiaceae), ''Plantago asiatica'', ''Plantago major'', ''Plantago lanceolata'' (Plantaginaceae), '' Galium aparine'' (Rubiaceae) and others. These plants are used in traditional Chinese and folk medicine. Agnuside is composed of aucubin and ''p''-hydroxybenzoic acid. Health effects Aucubin was found to protect against liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride or alpha-amanitin in mice and rats when 80 mg/kg was dosed intraperitoneally. Chemistry Aucubin is a monoterpenoid based compound. Aucubin, like all iridoids, has a cyclopentan- pyran skeleton. Iridoids can consist of ten, nine, or rarely eight carbons in which C11 is more frequently missing than C10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acteoside
Verbascoside is a caffeoyl phenylethanoid glycoside in which the phenylpropanoid caffeic acid and the phenylethanoid hydroxytyrosol form an ester and an ether bond respectively, to the rhamnose part of a disaccharide, namely β-(3′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)ethyl-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→3)-β-D-(4-O-caffeoyl)-glucopyranoside. Occurrences Natural occurrences Verbascoside can be found in species in all the families of the order Lamiales (syn. Scrophulariales). Only two examples are known from outside the order, in the clade Asterids. ; in the Lamiales In the family Lamiaceae, it can be found in the medicinal plants in the genus ''Phlomis'', in the Scrophulariaceae, in '' Verbascum phlomoides'', ''Verbascum mallophorum'', or, in the family Buddlejaceae, in '' Buddleja globosa'' or '' Buddleja cordata'', in the family Bignoniaceae, in '' Pithecoctenium sp'' and '' Tynanthus panurensis'', in the family Orobanchaceae, in ''Cistanche sp'' and ''Orobanche rapum-genistae'', in the Pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phenylethanoid
Phenylethanoids are a type of phenolic compounds characterized by a phenethyl alcohol structure. Tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol are examples of such compounds. Glycosides The red deadnettle (''Lamium purpureum'') contains phenylethanoid glycosides named lamiusides A, B, C, D and E. The aerial parts of '' Stachys officinalis'' contain phenylethanoid glycosides, ( betonyosides A, B, C, D, E and F). Chemical investigation of methanol extracts from '' Pithecoctenium crucigerum'' (Bignoniaceae) showed the presence of five phenylethanoid glycosides ( verbascoside, isoverbascoside, forsythoside B, jionoside D and leucosceptoside B), these all active against DPPH DPPH is a common abbreviation for the organic chemical compound 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. It is a dark-colored crystalline powder composed of stable free radical molecules. DPPH has two major applications, both in laboratory research: one is .... Verbascoside and echinacoside are phenylethanoid and phenylpro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbalism
Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies, such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from '' Artemisia annua'', a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever. There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of plants used in 21st century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage. The scope of herbal medicine commonly includes fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts. Herbal medicine is also called phytomedicine or phytotherapy. Paraherbalism describes alternative and pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or health-promoting agents. Paraherbalism relies on the belief that preserving various ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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