Categories
Herbs & Plants (Spices)

Cleome lutea

Botanical Name : Cleome lutea
Family: Cleomaceae
Genus: Cleome
Species: C. lutea
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Brassicales

Synonyms : Peritoma aurea. P. luteum.

Common Names: Yellow Spiderflower, Jones spiderflower, Yellow bee plant

Habitat :Cleome lutea is native to Western N. America – Nebraska to Washington and Arizona. It grows on sandy soils on desert plains to lower montane valleys, it is also found on sandy flatland.

Description:
Cleome lutea is a sprawling plant often exceeding a meter in height. The erect stem has widely spaced leaves all the way along, each leaf made up of three to five small leaflets. Atop the stem is a showy inflorescence of many bright yellow flowers. Each flower has oblong petals around a cluster of long stamens tipped with knobby anthers. As the inflorescence lengthens at the top of the stem, flowers that have opened and been pollinated drop their petals and the ovary develops into a fruit. The fruits are capsules several centimeters long containing many seeds. A flowering plant may have blooming flowers at the top of the stem and ripening capsules dangling off the stem further down.
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It is frost tender. It is in flower from Jul to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs)Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil.
Cultivation:
Prefers a light fertile soil in a warm dry sunny position with plenty of room to spread. A frost tender plant, it can be grown as a summer annual in Britain.

Propagation:
Seed – surface sow or only lightly cover the seed in spring in a greenhouse. The seed usually germinates in 5 – 14 days at 25°c. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in late spring. Day time temperatures below 20°c depress germination but a night time fall to 20° is necessary.

Edible Uses: Young shoots – cooked. Seed – ground into a meal and used as a flour.

Medicinal Uses: The plant has been used to treat ant bites.

Other Uses: Yields a black dye. No further details are given, but it is probably obtained by boiling down the whole plant

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleome_lutea
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Cleome+lutea

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Zanthoxylum planispinum

Botanical Name: Zanthoxylum planispinum
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Zanthoxylum
Species: Z. planispinum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Spindales

Synonyms : Z. alatum planispinum, Z. alatum subtrifoliatum.

Common Names: Winged Prickly Ash, Bamboo-Leaf Prickly Ash

Habitat :Zanthoxylum planispinum is native to E. Asia – China, Japan, Korea. It grows on the low mountains in Japan.

Description:
Zanthoxylum planispinum is a deciduous Shrub growing to 3.5 m (11ft 6in). It is in flower in May, and the seeds ripen in October. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required)The plant is not self-fertile. ...CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES .

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

Cultivation:
Prefers a good deep well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or semi-shade. A very ornamental plant, it is usually hardy in most parts of Britain but can be damaged in severe winters. Fruits are freely produced after a hot summer. The flowers are formed on the old wood. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation:
Seed – best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Stored seed may requires up to 3 months cold stratification, though scarification may also help. Sow stored seed in a cold frame as early in the year as possible. Germination should take place in late spring, though it might take another 12 months. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter. Plant them out in early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Root cuttings, 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots in a greenhouse. Good percentage. Suckers, removed in late winter and planted into their permanent positions.

Edible Uses:
Seed – cooked. It can be ground into a powder and used as a condiment, a pepper substitute. A light roasting brings out more of the flavour. The seed is an ingredient of the famous Chinese ‘five spice’ mixture. The peel is also used. Young leaves are eaten. No further details are given.

Medicinal Uses:
Stimulant; Stomachic; Tonic; Vermifuge.

The seeds and roots are stomachic and vermifuge. A decoction of 7 – 14 seeds is used in the treatment of abscesses, arthritis, bruises, gastritis, swellings etc. The resin contained in the bark, and especially in that of the roots, is powerfully stimulant and tonic.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum_planispinum
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Zanthoxylum+planispinum

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Antidesma acidum Retz

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Botanical Name : Antidesma acidum Retz.
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Aphanamixis
Species: A. polystachya
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Sapindales
Syn.  :Amoora rohituka W& A
Common Names:Rohitaka, Harinharra, Tiktaraj
Vernacular Names :
Gujarati: Ragat Rohido
Marathi: Raktharohida
Bengali: Tiktaraj
Kannada: Mukhyamuttage
Tamil: Malampuluvan, Sem, Semmaram
Malayalam: Chemmaram, Sem
Telugu: Chevamanu, Rohitaka

Habitat :
It is native to Tropical areas generally from Asia and Oceania : China , Bhutan , India , Sri Lanka , Indochina , Burma , Thailand , Indonesia , Malaysia , Papua New Guinea and Philippines .

West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland & Manus.

Description:
Large canopy tree (up to 25 m high, rarely to 35 m); Bole cylindrical or markedly fluted (slightly up to 100 cm diam.); often crooked or straight (bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses 1-4 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brownish red or pale brown, rough, scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red (bright red); less than 25 mm thick (5-6 mm thick), 5.0-8.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze red, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze red, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.
You may click to see the pictures of the plant
Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, swollen (at base and inhabited by ants); leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd – imparipinnate), broadest below middle, (7.5-) 9.5-25.0 cm, (4.0-) 5.5-8.0 (-9.0) cm, leaflets opposite, asymmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (sweetly aromatic), flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual or bisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked (shortly), flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-5.0 (-7.0) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (4-9 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pale yellow or cream-coloured (sometimes tinged with red); 3, some or partly joined; stamens 3-8, present, joined (to form a staminal tube), at base joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3 (-4); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 20.0-40.0 mm long, yellow when young or pale red, not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 1-3, much more than 10 mm long (17-20 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 6 mm diam.).
Click  For more  details click : http://www.biotik.org/india/species/a/aphapoly/aphapoly_en.html

Other Uses: The wood is used for construction of ships, vehicles, posts and agricultural tools.
Click to see : Evaluation of Aphanamixis polystachya as a source of repellents, antifeedants, toxicants and protectants in storage against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)
:

Medicinal Uses:

Click to see  :
*Radioprotective Potential of Plants and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation :

* Full Length Research Paper
Central nervous system depressant and analgesic
activity of Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) parker leaf
extract in mice
:

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://vaniindia.org.whbus12.onlyfordemo.com/herbal/plantdir.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphanamixis_polystachya
http://www.pngplants.org/PNGtrees/TreeDescriptions/Aphanamixis_polystachya_Wall_R_N_Parker.html

Categories
Exercise

Roller Puts the Work in the Abs

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You’ll feel this exercise more in the abdominal muscles — and less in the hip flexors — by gripping a roller with the backs of your thighs. That’s because recruiting the backs of your legs will prevent you from overworking the front of your legs and hips. The result is an intense workout for your abs.

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Lie on a mat or a padded surface. Cross your ankles and hug a 36-inch roller by squeezing your heels toward your hips. (Hold the roller behind your ankles, not behind your knees.) Place your hands behind your head. Inhale.

On an exhale, contract your abdominals and, without dropping the roller, raise your tailbone and hips slightly off the floor. Simultaneously roll your head, shoulders and upper back off the floor, moving your body into a tight ball. Pause at the peak of the contraction, then slowly release down to the starting position. Repeat 12 to 16 times. Rest, change the cross of your legs and repeat for another set.

Source : Los Angeles Times

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Categories
Exercise

Using a Chair Can Help Abdominal Crunches

Have you ever thought of using a folding chair when performing abdominal crunches? Try it. You’ll find that it’s a comfortable way to focus on contracting your abs without feeling pressure on your back.

…………...…CLICK & SEE

STEP-1. Place an open-back chair or bench on a flat, padded surface and lie down in front of it. Place your lower legs on the seat of the chair with your feet hanging off the back end of the seat. Scoot in so your hips are close to the chair. Place your hands behind your head with your elbows pointed out to the sides. Inhale, allowing your abdomen and rib cage to rise slightly.

STEP-2. On an exhale, push your back firmly against the floor as you contract your abdominal muscles to raise your chest, shoulders and head off the floor. Pause for two seconds with the front of your ribs and navel pressed toward the floor. Remember to rest your head in your hands so your neck and shoulders can stay relaxed. Lower and repeat 15 to 20 reps. Rest 20 seconds and repeat another set.

Source: Los Angeles Times

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