Small White Flowers Research Articles

Pharmacological studies of Syrian rue (Peganum harmala L., Zygophyllaceae)

Syrian rue ( Peganum harmala L., Zygophyllaceae ) has been used in traditional medicine of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Caucasus areas (Azerbaijan) for centuries, mainly as ritual and psychedelic plant. At full growth, this erect, dichotomously branched shrub is about 1 m in height with a dense foliage consisting of narrow, linear, pinnate leaves with acute spreading lobes, and small solitary, axillary, white flowers and globe capsules enclosing numerous angular seeds. All parts of the plant (including roots) contain alkaloids. The seeds contain β-carbolineses (harmine, harmalol and harman) with the active hallucinogen being the alkaloid harmine. The seeds contain a red pigment used for coloring wool and carpets and for use as a spice and, in traditional medicine, as valuable aphrodisiac.

Micropropagation of Pyracantha coccinea

Pyracantha coccinea is a thorny evergreen shrub native to southeast Europe to southeast Asia. It is a popular ornamental plant because of its showy bright red fruits and small white flowers. However, in vitro vegetative propagation of P. coccinea has not been studied. Nodal segments with one or two axillary buds (1 to 1.5 cm in length) were cut and disinfected in a solution of 0.1% (v/v) mercuric chloride (HgCl2) for 5 minutes, and proliferated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with various concentrations 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA). After 4 weeks, newly formed shoots were transferred to proliferation and rooting media containing various concentrations of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Establishment of axillary buds was significantly better with an establishing rate of 67% on basal MS medium augmented with 6.6 µm 6-BA. The best medium for proliferation of shoots was three-fourth basal MS supplemented with 1.5 µm IBA, with a proliferation rate of 3.4 axillary bud. The optimum rooting medium was one-fourth MS basal medium containing 93 µm IBA. Rooting of shoots was as much as 77%. Rooted plantlets were transferred to pots containing vermiculite:perlite:peat (6:1:2) and acclimatized to ambient greenhouse conditions with a 95% survival rate. This protocol can be used for in vitro propagation of P. coccinea.

Woman with a Mango

Woman with a Mango Rachel Hadas (bio) Painting by Paul Gauguin, Baltimore Museum of Art Turn. Balance. Hinge. Gazing beyond us back over her shoulder, she’s torqued as if to hurl the ruddy fruit cupped in her right hand. White flowers on dark fabric bunched behind her; white lace collar on her purple dress; three small white flowers in her hair; white cloudlet in a corner of backlit golden sky: these trace an arc across the world of fabric, flesh, and fruit, away from what belongs to earth and changes. What cannot change can never be used up. This rosy mango never to be sliced is passed on nonetheless, neither as lunch nor still life. If it is a portrait, time arrested poses here, warm in the hand and ready to be launched. But though we’re close enough to smell her hair and hear her long skirt swishing in the dust and sense the heft and ripeness of the fruit, eternal and delicious and withheld, this mango’s manifestly not for us. Promise of what is full and what will follow. Turn. Balance. Hinge. [End Page 325] Rachel Hadas RACHEL HADAS is the author of over a dozen books of poetry, essays, and translations. Her most recent poetry collection is Questions in the Vestibule (2016), and she is completing verse translations of Euripides’s two Iphigenia plays. Hadas is Board of Governors Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark. Copyright © 2017 Rachel Hadas

<i>Ixora predeepii</i>, a new species of Rubiaceae from southern Western Ghats, India

Ixora predeepii, a new species of the family Rubiaceae from Southern Western Ghats, India is described and illustrated. It is allied to Ixora elongata Heyne ex D. Don in general appearance, but differs from the latter by its small habit, short peduncled congested inflorescence, small purplish white flowers with glabrous corolla and scarlet berry.Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 23(1): 65-69, 2016 (June)

A Pharmacognostical study on <i>Fumaria parviflora </i>Lamk.

<p><em>Fumaria parviflora</em> Lamk., is a valued herb in Ayurvedic medicine and is used as Parpata by majority of Ayurvedic practitioners amongst the other plant sources mentioned under the same common name. It is found in many parts of India from Indo-Gangetic plain and Nepal down to the Nilgiri Mountains. The whole plant is diuretic, diaphoretic, aperient, laxative and anthelmintic. It is used as antipyretic, blood purifier and in skin disorders. In the present study, physico-chemical parameters were established for identification of the drug. Protopine and <em>β</em>-sitosterol were quantified by validated HPTLC method, developed using precoated silica gel plates as a stationary phase and toluene: ethyl acetate: diethyl amine (7: 2: 1) and toluene: methanol (9.4: 0.6) as a mobile phase respectively. It is a diffuse, annual herb with thin winged stem; alternate leaf<strong><em> </em></strong>finely divided into small, linear lanceolate segments, small white or pink flowers with purplish tips. Microscopically root can be characterized by the presence of centrally located diarch primary xylem encircled by wide secondary xylem occupying major area and a narrow cork; stem by collenchymatous hypodermis, vascular bundle capped with lignified pericyclic fibres and hollow pith; leaf by vascular bundles with groups of sclerenchyma underneath the phloem and narrow spongy parenchymatous lamina. Powder<strong><em> </em></strong>can be typified by xylem vessels with varied thickening, lignified and thick walled testa and spherical pollen grains. The plant was found to be rich in alkaloids. The amount of protopine and <em>β</em>-sitosterol were found to be 0.47 – 0.50% w/w and 0.23 – 0.26% w/w. The quality parameters and HPTLC method developed would serve as useful gauge in standardization of <em>Fumaria parviflora</em>.</p>

Are the Petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne really the Petites Heures de Jeanne de France?

Several authors in recent years have expressed doubts that the so-called Petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne (BnF, n. a. lat. 3027) has any connection to this queen. François Avril summarised some of the discrepancies in 1994: the monogram does not easily fit the name ‘Anne’ and differs from the monogram used for Anne in other works, and a small animal featured throughout the manuscript, often identified as the Brittany ermine, is depicted more often with a brown pelt and thus appears closer to a civet. In this paper I argue that this manuscript was commissioned as a gift for Jeanne de France (1464–1505), Louis XII’s first wife, rather than his second wife, Anne de Bretagne. I argue that the monogram is a cipher of the name ‘Jeanne’ and that the small animal and white flower, used throughout the manuscript in the border decoration, are the genet and the ‘janette’, each a play on the name Jeanne. The strong connection to Louis and to the House of Orléans, indicated throughout the work, suggests that it was produced before the annulment of his and Jeanne’s marriage in 1498. Furthermore, the unusual choice of iconography in the illuminations may reflect Louis’ involvement in the Italian campaigns at this time. BnF, n. a. lat. 3027 is one of the finest works attributed to the Master of the Petrarch Triumphs, an artist active in Rouen and Paris c.1500. A clarification of the origin, circumstances, and purpose of this manuscript is important not only for our understanding of the role of Jeanne as a collector, but also for our understanding of the career of this artist.

In a world of white, flower colour matters: A white–purple transition signals lack of reward in an alpine Euphrasia

AbstractThe New Zealand alpine flora displays a range of unusual characteristics compared with other alpine floras, in particular the high frequency of species with small white flowers. The presence of both white and bright purple flowers on the same plant in the New Zealand alpine annual creeping eyebright (Euphrasia dyeri Wettst.) provides an ideal opportunity to investigate the significance of flower colour in an environment where coloured flowers are rare. The relationships among flower age, gender phase, reward availability and petal colour were assessed in natural populations of E. dyeri. The effect of pollination on flower colour was tested using hand pollination of bagged flowers. Direct observations and videos of flowers were used to assess patterns of flower visitation by native and introduced pollinators. Unpollinated white E. dyeri flowers changed from white to purple within 6 days. However, pollination of white flowers triggered a significantly faster colour change, typically within 1–2 days. White flowers had receptive stigmas, large amounts of lipid‐rich pollen and small amounts of nectar, whereas stigmas of purple flowers are not receptive and flowers did not provide pollen or nectar rewards. Flowers were mainly visited by native syrphid flies. Both native syrphids and introduced Bombus bees showed a marked avoidance of purple flowers, tending to preferentially visit white flowers. Our study suggests that flower colour change from white to bright purple in E. dyeri functions to direct pollinators to rewarding, receptive flowers. As many Euphrasia L. species are described as having variably coloured flowers, this mechanism may be more widespread in the genus. Furthermore, our results add to the growing evidence that the dominance of white flowers in the New Zealand alpine is not simply due to a lack of colour discrimination among pollinators.

ANATOMICAL STUDIES ON THE SEEDS OF ALTERNANTHERA SESSILIS LINN.

Alternanthera sessilis Linn belongs to the family Amaranthaceae. It is an annual or a perennial prostate herb w ith several sp reading branches bearing short petioles, simple leaves and small white flowers. The branches are raised from the root and are up to 50 cm long. The seed is us ed in Siddha system of medicine . So far no Anatomical characters have been reported on the seeds o f Alternanthera sessilis Linn. The aim of this study wa s to evaluate the Macroscopic and microscopic characters of the fresh seed samples of Alternanthera ses silis Linn. The seed samples were mounted on FAA solution. Sections were taken in rotary microtome , stained with toluidine blue characters, histochemical tests were observed. The seed is 400 µm long an d 250 µm wide, Seed coat ( Testa) is 10µm thick and hard . Both outer and inner seed coats are sclerotic with prominent appendages on the outer surface of the seed coat. Endosperm is la rge, thin walled and polyhedral . Anatomical characters reported on the seeds of Alternanthera sessilis Linn can be used as a diagnostic tool for the botanical identity and authentication of the correct plant material. Keyword s: Alternanthera sessilis Linn, Anatomical, Macroscopic, Microscopic, Seed, Siddha.

Hymenopteran pollinators as agents of selection on flower colour in the New Zealand mountains: salient chromatic signals enhance flower discrimination

Flowering plants in New Zealand have often been described as having predominantly small white or pale flowers, possibly due to an absence of social insects as a major pollinating force. However, insect vision is considerably different to human perception, and these hypotheses need to be assessed considering insect perceptual capabilities. We collected spectral reflectance data from flowers of 23 native species in an alpine region of New Zealand at an altitude above 1500 m where 77% of flowers have been reported to possess small white or pale flowers. Our spectral analyses show that these flowers actually have very strong chromatic signals for hymenoptera colour vision. Indeed the spectral signals of these flowers most frequently have inflection points at about 400 and 500 nm, which closely match the region of best spectral discrimination by hymenopteran pollinators with a trichromatic visual system. When the flower spectra are plotted in a colour space designed for hymenoptera, the data reveals that most of the flower colours would be well detected against background foliage, and often reliably discriminated from the other flowers appearing in the same alpine environment. We thus demonstrate that New Zealand alpine flowers are actually well suited for visual detection and discrimination by biologically important hymenopteran pollinators.

In Vivo Protective Activity of Styrax camporum Hydroalcoholic Extract against Genotoxicity Induced by Doxorubicin and Methyl Methanesulfonate in the Micronucleus and Comet Assays

Styrax camporum Pohl is a tall shrub or a tree with small white flowers, which grows in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais and is popularly used for the treatment of gastroduodenal diseases. Considering this last fact, the aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic potential of S. camporum hydroalcoholic extract and its influence on genotoxicity induced by doxorubicin and methyl methanesulfonate in Swiss mice using the micronucleus and comet assays, respectively. The animals were treated by gavage with different doses of the extract (250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg body weight). For antigenotoxicity assessment, different doses of the S. camporum extract were administered simultaneously with doxorubicin (micronucleus test; 15 mg/kg) and methanesulfonate (comet assay; 40 mg/kg). The results showed that the S. camporum extract itself was not genotoxic in the mouse micronucleus or comet assay. The number of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes was significantly lower in animals treated with the S. camporum extract and doxorubicin when compared to animals treated only with doxorubicin. In the comet assay, the S. camporum extract, at the doses tested, significantly reduced the extent of DNA damage in liver cells induced by methanesulfonate. The putative activity of the active compounds of S. camporum extract may explain the effect of this plant on genotoxicity induced by doxorubicin and methanesulfonate.

Carbon dioxide exchange of a pepperweed (Lepidium latifoliumL.) infestation: How do flowering and mowing affect canopy photosynthesis and autotrophic respiration?

[1] The net ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange of invasive plant infestations, such as perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium L.), is not well understood. A characteristic feature of pepperweed's phenological cycle is its small white flowers during secondary inflorescence. Pepperweed flowering causes uniform reflectance over the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus decreasing the amount of energy absorbed by the canopy and available for photosynthesis. Little is known about how pepperweed flowering and control measures such as mowing affect canopy photosynthesis and autotrophic respiration (FAR) and thus ecosystem respiration. To examine this question, we analyzed CO2 flux measurements made with eddy covariance over a pepperweed infestation in California, covering three growing seasons. Unmowed pepperweed caused the site to be almost CO2 neutral (2007: −28 g C m−2 period−1) or a net source (2009: 129 g C m−2 period−1), mostly because of reduced maximum photosynthetic capacity by 13 (2007) and 17 μmol m−2 s−1 (2009) due to flowering during the plant's prime photosynthetic period. Reference FAR at 10°C was reduced by 2 μmol m−2 s−1 in 2007 and 2009. Mowing during early flowering reversed the attenuating effects of pepperweed flowering, causing the site to act as a net CO2 sink (2008: −174 g C m−2 period−1) mainly due to prolonged photosynthetic CO2 uptake over the plant's early vegetative growth phase. Our results highlight the tight link between pepperweed's prominent key phenological phase and applied control measures, which together exert dominant control over the infestation's CO2 source-sink strength.

Neomartensia(Spermacoceae, Rubiaceae) género nuevo de México

The new genus is based on Declieuxia galeottii M. Martens described in 1844. Its taxonomic position has been doubtful up to now. Kirkbride excluded it from Declieuxia (1976) and it was transferred into four different genera ( Manettia in 1927, Hedyotis in 1989, Bouvardia in 2008, and Mexotis in 2009). The new genus is related to Bouvardia subgen. Bouvardiastrum (Schltdl.) Blackwell — belonging to Spermacoceae instead of Hedyotideae — with oblate loculicidal capsule and subcircular to ellipsoid compressed seeds with narrow wing, but differs in having small white flowers with funnel-form corollas, corolla tube mostly naked at the base inside (hairy in B. albiflora ) and with long haired villous throat and corolla lobes inside. The description of Bouvardia macdougallii Lorence (1994) and the discovery of further three species (Borhidi et al. 2008) with the same character combination of the floral features convinced the authors of this paper to separate this five membered species group at generic level, dedic...

<I>Shuaria</I> (Gesneriaceae), an Arborescent New Genus from the Cordillera del Cóndor and Amazonian Ecuador

A new neotropical genus, Shuaria, with a single species, S. ecuadorica, is described from the Cordillera del Condor and Amazonian regions of southeastern Ecuador and is placed in the family Gesneriaceae, tribe Beslerieae. The placement of Shuaria in the tribe Beslerieae is strongly supported by molecular sequence data generated from analyses of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), and the chloroplast DNA trnL intron, trnL-trnF intergenic spacer region. Sequence data were generated for 33 species representing most of the generic diversity from the tribes Beslerieae and Napeantheae. Shuaria is characterized by the following unique combination of relatively uncommon characters in the Gesneriaceae: arborescent habit; opposite leaf arrangement sometimes interrupted by alternate leaves; lepidote trichomes on vegetative and floral structures; small white flowers with a dorsal gibbosity at the base of the corolla tube; and a bivalved septicidally dehiscent capsule. The suite of uncommon characters initially made Shuaria difficult to place in the Gesneriaceae and within a known tribe. Shuaria is restricted to the Ecuadorian provinces of Pastaza, Morona-Santiago, and Zamora-Chinchipe in lowland Amazonian tropical wet forest and in lower montane cloud forest on the western slopes of the Cordillera del Condor. A key and a table are presented for differentiating Shuaria from other related genera.

Two new species of <i>Nemesia</i> (Scrophulariaceae) from the southern Cape, South Africa

Two new species of Nemesia Vent, are described from South Africa. Nemesia fourcadei is an annual with small white flowers, a yellow-orange pubescent palate, and violet lines at the base of the upper lip. It differs from the similar looking N. lucida Benth. by having larger flowers with a more prominent spur (mostly 3.5—4.5 mm long vs 1.5 mm) and a pubescent palate. N. fourcadei is known from only two locations in the southern Cape. N. elata is a facultative perennial with white flowers, a lavender to purple reverse, and a white or very pale yellow palate. It is known only from the Langeberg and Oute-niqua Mountains between Swellendam and Montagu Pass. It is closest to N. fourcadei. but differs from that species by its more robust habit, the absence of a boss inside the corolla tube at the base of the hypochile, and a spur that is violet to purple at the base.

Estudios sobre Rubiaceas Mexicanas, XXIX.Arachnothryx sanchezii(Guettardeae) yBouvardia mitlensis(Spermacoceae) nuevas especies de Oaxaca

Two new species of the family Rubiaceae were collected by the members of the Society for the Study of Biotic Resources of Oaxaca (SERBO) in the state Oaxaca (Mexico). One of them is the Arachnothryx sanchezii shrub with scandent twigs and broadly spiked inflorescences, related to A. heteranthera , belonging to the Guettardeae tribe according the new molecular studies of Rova et al. (2009). The other species is Bouvardia mitlensis , a low dense shrub with small leaves and plentiful small white flowers belonging to the Bouvardioides section, near to B. erecta and B. rosei .

<i>Phalaenopsis mysorensis</i> Saldanha (Orchidaceae): Note on Distribution and Ecology

Phalaenopsis mysorensis Saldanha, an orchid species endemic to South India has recently been recorded in Sri Lanka from a few isolated hill forests in the northern and eastern dry lowlands. The minute habit, small white flowers and short unbranched peduncle distinguishes P. mysorensis from its congener P. deliciosa, the only recorded Phalaenopsis in Sri Lanka. The habit and habitat of the species are described based on recent observations and collections.Key words: Orchid, Kingidium, isolated hills, Sri Lanka, Indiadoi: 10.4038/cjsbs.v37i2.503 Cey. J. Sci. (Bio. Sci.) 37 (2): 163-166, 2008

“I was Aggressive for the Streets, Pretty for the Pictures”

It is a late June afternoon and I am standing outside of a caf6 on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. I am holding flyers for Kiara', a young woman I met a few hours earlier. Kiara is 22 years old with a light brown com plexion and long, wavy hair that suggests a multiracial heritage. Her style of dress is 1980s-retro. She wears a purple lace glove with the finger cut off on her right hand, a short-sleeved jacket over a yellow and green Brazil fdtbol jersey, and tight denim jeans that ride low, causing her belly to peek out sometimes between her jeans and her jersey. Two large star-shaped earrings dangle from her ears and a small white flower is tucked into her hair. She was born and raised in the Fillmore, a once-vibrant Black neigh borhood that is now quickly gentrifying after decades of blight and neglect. I have conducted field research here since 2005 and just finished interviewing Kiara inside the caf6. Kiara's grandmother, like many older Black Fillmore residents, migrated from the South. She owned the house in which she raised Kiara after Kiara's mother was killed by her father, who, Kiara tells me, was a big-time drug dealer in the neighborhood before he was sent to prison. Kiara remembers how her father's tough rep utation influenced how others interacted with her in the neighborhood; even though she was a child she garnered a level of respect. She learned early on how to manage her interactions with others differently in differ ent situations: [as a child] I had the street element, and I was aggressive for the streets, pretty for the pictures. Kiara is helping to collect signatures for an antiredevelopment cam paign in Hunter's Point-Bayview, a larger and even more distressed Black neighborhood in San Francisco. Kiara offers to give me a tour of the

Aloe inconspicua: The first record of an exclusively insect-pollinated aloe

Most Aloe species are wholly or partly bird-pollinated, but a suite of seven Aloe species and two genera ( Haworthia and Chortilirion) that likely belong within the Aloe clade (Asphodelaceae, subfamily Alooidea) share morphological characteristics suggestive of insect pollination. Field studies of one of these species, Aloe inconspicua, revealed that it is effectively and exclusively pollinated by insects, especially females of Amegilla fallax (Apidae) that visit its flowers for nectar and pollen. The small (7.9 mm ± SD = 2.0) white flowers produce a standing nectar crop of 0.097 ± 0.10 μl, much less than that of bird-pollinated aloes. Unlike other aloes studied to date, birds did not visit A. inconspicua, and bird exclusion had no effect on fruit or seed production. Visiting individuals of A. fallax typically contacted stigmas and anthers with their heads while accessing nectar, and single visits by them and a halictid bee resulted in seed set. Recent molecular evidence suggests that insect-pollination is the ancestral state for the Alooidea. If similar floral morphology indicates similar pollination systems, shifts from insect- to bird-pollination and possibly reversions back to insect pollination have occurred repeatedly within the ALOE clade.

Two new species of <i>Nemesia</i> (Scrophulariaceae) from southern Africa

Two new annual species of Nemesia Vent, are described from southern Africa. N. williamsonii is characterized by bright orange flowers with an inflated yellow palate. It differs from the related N. maxii Hiern by having a spur that projects backwards, not downwards, and bracts that are lanceolate with a truncate base, not triangular or cordate. It is unusual for the genus in having dimorphic seeds. N. williamsonii occurs almost exclusively in the Richtersveld. but has been collected in a few localities across the Orange River in southern Namibia. N. hemiptera is a delicate, wiry-stemmed annual with small white flowers. The flowers are characterized by a tiny nipple-like spur and a seed that is winged on onlv one side. N. hemiptera isendemic to the Kamiesberg from near Garies to Kamieskroon.

MELALEUCA TERETIFOLIA, A NOVEL AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL PLANT FROM AUSTRALIA

MELALEUCA TERETIFOLIA, A NOVEL AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL PLANT FROM AUSTRALIA