Myristica trobogarii

       Myristica trobogarii is a new species of wild nutmeg from the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve (Southern Western Ghats) in Kerala, India. It was described by the researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) at Palode. They named the new species as Myristica trobogarii (They derived its specific name, 'trobogarii' as an acronym of their institute) as a tribute to the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute. Their findings were published in the journal "Phytotaxa".
       According to researchers, this is the first time in 124 years that a new nutmeg species is being reported from the Western Ghats region. The other three species belonging to the genus Myristica have been found in the Western Ghats and one in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Family: Myristicaceae

Binomial name: Myristica trobogarii Govind and M. Dan

Distribution:
       It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. 

"Bleeding Heart Flower" - Lamprocapnos

       We have all heard of holy ghost orchid flowers. But have you heard about the cute and amazing Bleeding heart flowers? If not, don't worry. Today we are going to see this flower. Let's go!
       

       
       Lamprocapnos spectabilis is a species of flowering plant in the Papaveraceae family which is the sole species in the monotypic genus Lamprocapnos. It is also called "bleeding heart' or "Asian bleeding-heart" due to its flower resembles a conventional heart shape.

Synonyms: Dicentra spectabilis

Family: Papaveraceae

Binomial name: Lamprocapnos spectabilis (L.) Fukuhara

Geographical occurrence:
       It is an endemic plant native to Siberia, Korea, Japan and Northern China.

Plant morphology:

       It is a herbaceous perennial plant. It has 3 lobed compound leaves on fleshy green to pink stems. It has racemes of pink heart-shaped flowers that appear to bleed a drop of white blood. Flowers (bleeding heart) are growing to 120 cm tall and 45 cm in wide. The outer petals are bright fuchsia- pink, while the inner ones are white. It blooms from April to May. 

"Lily of the valley" - Convallaria majalis L.

Lily of the valley is a highly poisonous herbaceous perennial flowering plant with sweetly scented bell-shaped white flowers.

Synonyms: Mary's tears, Our lady's tears, Muguet (French).
Family: Asparagaceae
Geographical distribution: It is a native of Europe. Also found in Asia.

Piper longum Linn.

P. longum is a slender aromatic climber, mostly cultivated for its fruit. 

Synonyms: Piplamul, Pippali, Indian long pepper.

Family: Piperaceae

Chemical constituents:
       It contain alkaloids (piperine, piplartine, piperlonguminine etc), volatile oil, sesamine etc

Uses:

• It is commonly used for cough, cold, asthma, bronchitis etc.
• Its fruit is used as a spice in Indian cuisine.
• It acts as a carminative, sedative and analgesic

Crocus sativus Linn.

Crocus sativus Linn.

Synonyms: Crocus, French saffron, Spanish saffron
Family: Iridaceae
Plant morphology:

       Crocus sativus is a small, perennial herb, 5-10 in high. Saffron is flattish-tubular, almost thread-like stigmas which are about 3 cm long. Its odour is strong, peculiar and aromatic.

Uses:

• Saffron is used as a colouring and flavouring agent.

Clitoria ternatea L.

Clitoria ternatea L.

Synonyms:

• Asian pigeon wings
• Blue pea
• Darwin pea
• Butterfly pea
• Sangupushpam (Malayalam)
• Gokarni (Hindi)

Family: Fabaceae

Plant morphology:

       Clitoria ternatea is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its stem is woody at the base. The leaves are pinnate. Flowers are solitary and have a deep blue or white colour. Fruits are 5-7 cm long, flat pods with six to ten seeds in each pod. Its roots form a symbiotic association with rhizobia, which transform atmospheric N₂ into a plant usable form (Nitrogen fixation).

Chemical constituents:

       It contains anthocyanins, steroids, triterpenoids, etc.

Uses:

• It is grown as an ornamental plant.
• The flower is used as a natural food colouring to colour glutinous rice.

Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad.

Citrullus colocynthis
(Image taken by Wikimedia commons)

Citrullus colocynthis L. is a viny plant, widely distributed in the desert areas of the world. It is widely used in traditional medicine.

Synonyms: 

• Colocynth
• Bitter cucumber
• Bitter apple
• Indrayan (Hindi)
• Indravaruni (Sanskrit)
• Colocynthis
• Vine of sodom

Family: Cucurbitacea

Plant morphology:

       Citrullus colocynthis is a perennial herbaceous vine. It have vine like stems and leaves are very similar to watermelon. Leaves are palmate and angular with three to seven divided lobes. Flowers are yellow in colour and are solitary in the axes of the leaves. The fruit is a globular berry having 4 to 10 cm in diameter. and the fruit mesocarp is filled with a soft, dry and spongy white pulp. Fruit is odourless and its taste is very bitter. The seeds are also edible but similarly bitter and rich in fat and protein.

Zingiber officinale

Zingiber officinale
(Image from Wikimedia commons)

Synonyms: Zingiber, Saunth (Hindi)

Family: Zingiberaceae

Geographical source: Zingiber officinale is cultivated in all tropical countries.

Plant morphology:

       Zingiber officinale is a herbaceous perennial plant. The rhizome of Zingiber officinale is called as ginger. It's inflorescence bear pale yellow with purple flowers.

Chemical constituents:

       Ginger contains volatile oil, protein, starch, sugars (sucrose, raffinose and glucose), gingediols, shogaols, etc. The pungency of Ginger is due to Gingerol which is the major constituents of fresh ginger. The volatile oil contain camphene, cumene, myrcene, β -phellandrene, citral, borneol, linalool, zingiberene, etc.

Uses:

• Ginger (rhizome) is widely used as a spice, flavouring agent, aromatic stimulant and carminative.

Elettaria cardamomum - "Queen of Spices"

Cardamom

Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton is known as the "Queen of spices" for its pleasant aroma and taste. It is the third most expensive spice after saffron and vanilla.

Synonyms:

• Ilayachi (Hindi)
• Cardamom 
• Grains of Paradise
• Elam, elakkai (Malayalam) 
• Elettari (Tamil)

Family : Zingiberaceae

Geographical source : It is widely cultivated in south India and Sri Lanka. It is cultivated in altitudes ranging from 900 to 1400 m above mean sea level.

Plant morphology:

       Elettaria cardamomum is a herbaceous perennial plant that grows 2 - 4 m in height. It have underground rhizomes and is propagated by vegetative division of these rhizomes. The leaves are 30 to 35 cm long and dark green in colour. Flowers of most cardamom types are white with the central lip streaked with pink. Flowers are bisexual and irregular. Fruit is an inferior and have trilocular capsule. The fruit colour is green and terns golden yellow on ripening. Its seeds are up to 4 mm in length. The odour is aromatic.

Safranin stain preparation

Safranin is used as a counterstain.

For Safranin stain preparation:

       Dissolve 1 gm safranin in 100 ml alcohol (95%) and dilute to required concentration with distilled water. Store at room temperature.

How to prepare Acetocarmine staining solution?

Acetocarmine stain is commonly used for cytological preparations.

For the acetocarmine stain preparation:

       Boil 45% acetic acid in a flask and add 0.5 g of carmine powder to it. Mix well and continue heating for 10-15 minutes. After that allow it to cool and filter it. Before using it, add few drops of ferric chloride solution.

Aloe vera

Aloe vera
Image courtesy: MidgleyDJ/Wikimedia Commons
(CC BY-SA 3.0)

        Aloe vera is a succulent and evergreen perennial plant species, cultivated widely for agricultural and medicinal uses. The name Aloe vera derives from the Arabic word "Alloeh" meaning "Shining bitter substance", while the name "vera" in Latin means "true".

Synonyms : Aloe indica, Aloe barbadensis.

Scientific Classification

        Kingdom           : Plantae
        Order                 : Asparagales
        Family               : Asphodelaceae
        Genus                : Aloe
        Species              : vera
        Binomial name : Aloe vera L.

Geographical occurrence:
        It grows mainly in the dry regions of Asia, Africa, America and Europe.

Plant morphology:

       Aloe vera is a stemless plant growing up to 60-100 cm. The leaves are thick, fleshy and contain spines at the margins (serrated edges). The yellow tubular flowers are produced in summer on a spike up to 90 cm tall. 

Azadirachta indica

Neem flowers
Image courtesy: Bishnu Sarangi

Synonyms: Neem, Veppu (Malayalam), Vepa (Telugu).

Scientific Classification
    Kingdom          : Plantae
    Order                : Sapindales
    Family              : Meliaceae
    Genus               : Azadirachta
    Species             : indica
    Binomial name : Azadirachta indica A. Juss.

Habitat:
         It is habitated in south-east Asia and tropical regions of Australia and Africa.

Plant morphology:

        Neem is an evergreen tree, 10-20 m high with a straight trunk and long spreading branches. Leaves are alternate and exstipulate. Leaflets are alternate or opposite. The petioles are short. The flowers are white and fragrant. The fruit is an ovoid, smooth drupe, green when young, yellow to brown when mature with a very scanty pulp and a hardy endocarp. The seed is solitary with a thick testa and embryo with foliaceous cotyledons in the axis of the scanty endosperm. 

Waling-waling : "The Queen of Philippine flowers"

       Waling-waling (Vanda sanderiana) is known as "The Queen of Philippine flowers". It is a beautiful flower in orchidaceae family, commonly known as Waling-waling or Sander's Vanda. This orchid is worshipped as a diwata by the indigenous Bagobo people and was described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1882. 

Geographical distribution :

       It is native to the Philippines and also occurs endemically on the island of Mindanao. 

Waling-waling
Image courtesy: I Travel Philippines/
Wikimedia commons
(CC BY 2.0)

Systematic classification
        Kingdom           : Plantae
        Division            : Angiosperms
        Order                 : Orchidales
        Family               : Orchidaceae
        Genus                : Vanda
        Species              : sanderiana
        Binomial name : Vanda sanderiana (Rchb.f.) Schltr.

Plant Morphology:

        Its leaves are 30-40 cm long. Flowers are fragrant with 7 to 10 flowered raceme. The flower has wide and colourful petals. The dorsal flower petal is slightly pink and tinted white. The internal whorls are smaller and the concave lip is usually brown-yellow with red streaks on the inside. It blooms only once a year, between the months of July and October.

Uses:

• It is widely used as an ornamental flower (rarest and most expensive orchid). Ethnobotanical uses are not yet reported. 

References

• Vanda sanderiana (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f.; The Plant List; www.theplantlist.org.; Retrieved 2019-10-06

Petrea volubilis

Petrea volubilis
Image courtesy: Vinayaraj/
Wikimedia commons
(CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Synonyms : Petrea arborea, Petrea racemosa, Petrea mexicana

Common names : Purple wreath, Nilmani, Queen's wreath.

Scientific Classification
        Kingdom           : Plantae
        Order                 : Lamiales
        Family               : Verbenaceae
        Genus                : Petrea
        Species              : volubilis
        Binomial name : Petrea volubilis L.

Geographical distribution:
     It is native to Central America.

Plant morphology:

    It is commonly a climber. Flowers are violet-purple star-like flowers with drooping long racemes. It flowers best in spring season.

Chemical Constituents:
     It contain  β-amyrin, stigmasterol, lupeol, ursolic acid,  β-sitosterol etc.

Uses:
    It have antimicrobial and antioxidant potential.

References:

• Mahabuba Rahman, Aziza Siddika, Bithika Bhadra et al.,; 2010; Antihyperglycemic Activity Studies on Methanol Extract of Petrea volubilis L. (Verbenaceae) Leaves and Excoecaria Agallocha L. (Euphorbiacea) Stems; Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences.
• Chitra Jain, Shivani Khatana and Rekha Vijayvergia; 2018; Bioactivity of secondary metabolites of various plants: A review; International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research; 10(2); 494-504.

Clerodendrum infortunatum

      Clerodendrum infortunatum is a perennial herb belonging to the Lamiaceae family.

C. infortunatum
(Image courtesy: Vanlap Hoang/Flickr)

Synonyms : Bhat (Hindi), Ghentu (Bengali).

Scientific Classification
        Kingdom           : Plantae
        Order                 : Lamiales
        Family               :Lamiaceae
        Genus                : Clerodendrum
        Species              : infortunatum
        Binomial name : Clerodendrum infortunatum L.

Geographical occurrence:
      The plant is common in the tropical regions of Asia.

Plant morphology:

      Clerodendrum infortunatum is a shrub having 2-4 feet in height. Its leaves are simple, opposite, decussate, petiolate, exstipulate and hairy with a disagreeable odour. Flowers are bluish-purple often white in pyramid-shaped terminal panicles. The fruits are four-lobed purple drupe. It flowers in the months of April to August.

Chemical constituents:
      The major compounds found in this species are sterols, saponins, flavonoids, and sugars. Roots contain luperol and β-sitosterol.

Uses:
      Its leaves have antimicrobial, antihelmintic, hepatoprotective, analgesic and antioxidant activities.

References:

• Debayan Bhattacharjee, Arup Das, Sreemoy Kanti Das and G.S. Chakraborthy; 2011; Clerodendrum infortunatum Linn.: A Review; Journal of Advances in Pharmacy and Healthcare research; 1(3).