Tag: Biology

Juniper haircap moss

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Botanical Name : Polytrichium Juniperum
Family: Polytrichaceae
Genus: Polytrichum
Species: P. juniperinum
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Polytrichopsida
Subclass: Polytrichidae
Order: Polytrichales

Synonyms: Bear’s Bed. Robin’s Eye. Ground Moss. Golden Maidenhair. Female Fern Herb. Rockbrake Herb.

Common Names :Juniper haircap moss,Robin’s Rye, Ground Moss.

Habitat: Juniper haircap moss grow across a wide gradient of habitats but it is most commonly found on dry, acidic, exposed habitats. It is frequent in areas that previously experienced disturbances such as fire and logging. Other areas they occupy are mineral soil, humus and rocks, stumps, banks, trailsides and dry open woods. Although Juniper haircap moss is not usually found in moist or wet environments, it has been found growing on moist woods and other moist sites such as streambanks.

Description:
Juniper haircap moss is an evergreen and perennial plany. The stems are reddish with grey-green leaves that have a distinctive red-brown tip. This characteristic allows them to be separated from the bristly haircap, a plant that the juniper haircap moss have a close resemblance to; the difference is that the bristly haircap have a green tip. The leaves of juniper haircap moss are lanceolate and upright spreading when dry, and when moist, wide-spreading. Although their growth form can be varied, they generally grow in thin, interwoven mats, and hardly as closely associated individuals. Juniper haircap moss have a well-developed system of tiny tubes for carrying water from the rhizoids to leaves that is uncharacteristic of mosses, resembling the system that has evolved in vascular plants such as ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms. As a result of this developed system, stems have greater potential for height than in typical mosses.

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Medicinal Uses:
Part Used: Whole herb.

The herb is believed to be a powerful diuretic by herbalists. Because it increases urinary secretions, it is useful in the treatment of urinary obstructions and dropsy, an old term for today’s edema, which is defined by medicinenet as the swelling of tissue due to accumulation of excess water. The plant is also considered to be excellent for long term use because it does not cause nausea.

A very valuable remedy in dropsy as a powerful diuretic, and used with hydragogue cathartics of decided advantage.

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://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/moshai51.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytrichum_juniperinum
http://chestofbooks.com/health/herbs/O-Phelps-Brown/The-Complete-Herbalist/Bears-Bed-Polytrichium-Juniperum.html

Tags Biology, Botanical name, Common Name, Flora and Fauna, Juniper, Moss, Plant, Polytrichaceae, Polytrichum, Soil

Herbs & Plants

Adoxa Moschatellina

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Botanical Name : Adoxa Moschatellina
Family: Adoxaceae
Genus: Adoxa
Species: A. moschatellina
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Dipsacales

Synonyms: Tuberous Moschatel. Musk Ranunculus.

Common Names :Moschatel, five-faced bishop, hollowroot, muskroot, townhall clock, tuberous crowfoot

Habitat :Adoxa Moschatellina grows throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, in hedgerows, cool forests, at low altitudes in the far north, to high altitudes in mountains in the south of its range.

Description:
Adoxa Moschatellina is an interesting little herbaceous plant, 4 to 6 inches high; stem four-angled; root-leaves long-stalked, ternate; leaflets triangular, lobed; cauline leaves or bracts two, smaller, with sheathing petioles; flowers arranged as if on five sides of a cube, small and pale green in colour; berry with one-seeded parchment-like chamber. Growing in hedgerows, local, but widely diffused, also in Asia and North America, even into the Arctic regions.

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The flowers, and indeed the whole plant, has a musk-like scent, which it emits towards evening when the dew falls – this scent, however, disappears if the plant is bruised. It flowers in April and May.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoxa
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/moscha45.html

Tags Adoxa, Asia, Biology, Botanical name, Common Name, Flora and Fauna, Plant, Ranunculus

Herbs & Plants

Monsonia ovata

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Botanical Name: Monsonia ovata
Family: Geraniaceae

Common Names: Monsonia

Habitat:Monsonia ovata occurs in Cape of Good Hope.

Description: Leaves oblong, subcordate, crenate, waved, flowers white axillary stalked, two on one peduncle, roots fleshy large, grown from seed.

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Medicinal Uses:

Part Used-: Plant, root.

A valuable remedy for acute and chronic dysentery, specially of use in ulceration of the lower part of the intestines; the plant is not considered poisonous.

Resours:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/monson43.html
http://crescentbloom.com/Plants/Specimen/MO/Monsonia%20ovata.htM

Tags Biology, Botanical name, Cape of Good Hope, Common Name, Flora and Fauna, Leaf, Plant, Plantae

Herbs & Plants

Peltigera Canina

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Botanical Name :Peltigera Canina
Family: Peltigeraceae
Kingdom: Fungi
Class :Ascomycetes
Order :Peltigerales
Genus: Peltigera
Species: Peltigera canina.

Synonyms: Lichen Caninus. Lichen Cinereus Terrestis. Ash-coloured Ground Liverwort.

Common Name :British Lichen or felt lichen, English Liverwort

Habitat :Peltigera Canina grows in Britain where the drainage is good; on mudwalls and molehill

Description:
The marginal disks of this lichen are at first veiled and project from the thallus, retaining fragments of the veil of the margin. The fronds are foliaceous, coriaceous, ascending, soft, underside is veined and attached to the ground or to whatever substance it grows upon – where they make handsome plants, especially when in fruit or studded with the little red parasite to which they are subject.

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Upper surface of fresh thallus grey-brown, with convex wrinkles (‘bullate’) (compare P. rufescens), ash-grey and lacking wrinkles when dry, densely but minutely felted-tomentose, lacking isidia, margins of main lobes generally down-turned towards the tips but side-margins often erect, crisped-undulate (beware key in Smith et al. (2009)!), lower surface white-tomentose, with irregular, fluffy, confluently-based rhizines. Widespread but local in turf on dunes and on gravelly and sandy soils inland.

Medicinal Uses:
Part Used: Lichen.
Deobstruent, slightly purgative and held in esteem as a remedy for liver complaints.The plant was formerly considered of great value in hydrophobia.

Resources:
http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Peltigera_canina
http://www.lichens.lastdragon.org/Peltigera_canina.html
http://www.gbif.org/species/117071816
http://www.arcticatlas.org/photos/pltspecies/spp_details?queryID=peca60
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/liveng37.html

Tags Biology, Flora and Fauna, Lichen, Nostoc, Peltigera, Peltigeraceae, Peltigerales, Thallus

Herbs & Plants

Haematoxylum campechianum

Post author By Mukul
Post date May 22, 2014
No Comments on Haematoxylum campechianum

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Botanical Name : Haematoxylum campechianum
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Haematoxylum
Species: H. campechianum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales

Synonyms: Haematoxylon Lignum. Lignum Campechianum. Lignum Coeruleum. Peachwood. Bois de Campechey de Sang or d’Inde. Bloodwood.

Common Name :Logwood,bloodwood,kampes agaci, logwood, palo de campeche, bois campeche, campeche, campechier,

Habitat: Haematoxylum campechianum is native to Tropical America, especially the shores of the Gulf of Campeachy. Naturalized in West Indies and elsewhere.

Description:
The name of the genus comes from the Greek and refers to the blood-red colour of the heart-wood. Haematoxylon Campeachianum is a crookedly-branched, small tree. It grows 9–15 metres (30–50 feet) tall and has a short, crooked trunk. The branches are spiny and the bark rough and dark. The leaves have four pairs of small, smooth leaflets, each in the shape of a heart with the points towards the short stem. The flowers, small and yellow, with five petals, grow in axillary racemes.
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The leaves are pinnately compound (feather-formed), with rather oval leaflets. The small yellow flowers grow in a cluster from the leaf axil (upper angle between branch and leaf stem). The wood is heavy and extremely hard. A black dye, also called logwood, is obtained from the heartwood.

Medicinal Uses:
Part Used: The heart-wood, or duramen, unfermented.

Constituents: A volatile oil, an oily or resinous matter, two brown substances, quercitin, tannin, a nitrogenous substance, free acetic acid, salts, and the colouring principle Haematoxylin or Haematin (not the haematin of the blood). The crystals are colourless, requiring oxygen from the air and an alkaline base to produce red, blue, and purple.

Haematein, produced by extraction of two equivalents of hydrogen, is found in dark violet crystalline scales, showing the rich, green colour often to be seen outside chips of logwood for dyeing purposes.

A mild astringent, especially useful in the weakness ofthe bowels following cholera infantum. It may be used in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, in haemorrhages from uterus, lungs, or bowels, is agreeable to take, and suitable whether or not there is fever. It imparts a blood-red colour to urine and stools. It is incompatible with chalk or limewater. The patient should be warned of these two characteristics.

In large doses haematoxylin can produce fatal gastro-enteritis in lower animals.

The infusion, internally, combined with a spray or lotion, is said to have cured obstinate cases of foetid polypus in the nose.

The bark and leaves are also used in various medical applications.

Haematoxylum campechianum is used in homeopathic medicines

Other Uses:
Logwood was used for a long time as a natural source of dye, and still remains an important source of haematoxylin, which is used in histology for staining. In its time, logwood was considered a versatile dye, and was widely used on textiles but also for paper. The dye’s colour depends on the mordant used as well as the pH. It is reddish in acidic environments but bluish in alkaline ones

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/logwoo39.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haematoxylum_campechianum
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/346505/logwoo