Botanical Name : Anthyllis vulneraria Family: Fabaceae Genus: Anthyllis Species: A. vulneraria Kingdom: Plantae Order: Fabales
Common Name :Common kidneyvetch, Kidney vetch,Ladies’ Fingers,Also known as woundwort; vulneraria means “wound healer”.
Habitat : Anthyllis vulneraria is native to Europe.
Description:
Anthyllis vulneraria reaches 5–40 centimetres (2.0–16 in) of height. The stem is simple or more often branched. The leaves are imparipinnate, glabrous or with scattered hairs on the upper face and silky hairs on the underside.
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The flower heads are spherical in shape and 10–20 millimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long. The flower are yellow in almost all sub-species, with the typical irregular shape of the flowers of legumes. Flowering takes place between June and September. The fruit is a legume. The fruits ripening takes place from July to October.
Medicinal Uses:
This plant is an ancient remedy for skin eruptions, slow-healing wounds, minor wounds, cuts and bruises, it is applied externally. Internally, as an infusion, it is used as a treatment for constipation and as a spring tonic. A decoction is used in compresses or bath preparations for treating inflamed wounds, ulcers and eczema, and in gargles and mouth washes. It can be used as a substitute for ordinary tea mixed with the leaves of Wild Strawberry, Raspberry and the flowers of Blackthorn. The plant can be used fresh in the growing season, or harvested when in flower and dried for later use. Old flowers are not dried because they turn brown and disintegrate.
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.
Common Name:Lacquer Tree, Fringe Flower, Chinese fringe flower.
Habitat :Loropetalum chinense is native to Japan and southeastern Asia including southern China. It grows on the rocky hills and dry open woods, often on limestone. Stream banks, hilly slopes and roadsides.
Description:
Loropetalum is a finely textured evergreen shrub. It has a loose open form and will grow as high as 12 ft (3.7 m) and 6-8 ft (1.8-2.4 m) wide. Loropetalum has a spreading habit with branches arranged in horizontal layers. Young shrubs have greater spread than height and are densely branched. When vertical stems are periodically removed loropetalum makes an effective large scale groundcover with some newer varieties selected especially for that purpose. The flowers are arranged in small clusters with each having 4 narrow straplike petals that droop downward. Flowers resemble those of its close relative the witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana). There are white and red flowered forms of loropetalum and both bloom prolifically beginning in late winter into spring and then continue sporadically throughout the summer. The green-leafed varieties have fragrant flowers that are white or yellowish. ‘Rubra’ and ‘Razzleberri’ are among several named red flowered forms and tend to bloom earlier than the white form. The red forms are much showier in bloom than the white whose flowers tend to get lost with the effect that the shrub just looks like it has lighter foliage color when in bloom….
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The leaves of loropetalum are oval, 1-2 in (2.5-5 cm) long and about 1 in (2.5 cm) wide and are held alternately on the stem. Foliage of the white form is light green to yellowish-green and lighter on the underside. Red forms typically have leaves that are darker green and have burgundy, red or copper tints depending on the selection.
Cultivation:
Landscape Uses:Border, Screen, Standard, Superior hedge, Specimen. Requires a rich well-drained neutral to acid soil in full sun or light shade. Requires a lime-free humus-rich soil. One report says that it succeeds on a sheltered north wall whilst another says that it needs a sunny position and another says it needs warm summers. Prefers a cool root run. This species is not very cold-hardy in Britain, it is also slow growing. It succeeds outdoors in the mildest areas of the country, tolerating temperatures down to about -5°c. Plants do not flower well if the temperature drops below 5°c. The Japanese form of this species might be hardier. Plants grow taller in their native habitat, reaching a height of 3 metres. The flowers emit a delicate sweet perfume. Some named forms have been developed in Japan for their ornamental value. Special Features: Attractive foliage, Not North American native, Fragrant flowers, Attractive flowers or blooms.
Propagation:
Seed – sow in a warm greenhouse in late winter or early spring. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Give the plants some protection from the cold for at least their first winter outdoors. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 5 – 8cm with a heel, July/August in a frame. Fair to good percentage. Layering in the spring .
Uses:
In the past few years loropetalum has become increasingly popular and is now seen everywhere from commercial properties to streetside plantings to residential. Everyone seems to be discovering the charms of this beautiful and robust shrub. Its graceful, horizontally layered shape makes it a perfect foundation plant and with periodic pruning can be used in hedges. The red flowered forms add beautiful contrasting color and texture in shrub borders and look great massed together. Lower growing varieties are now available for use as large scale ground cover.
Features
Attractive evergreen foliage, fragrant flowers and low maintenance requirements are just a few of loropetalum’s talents. Due to its vigor and adaptability, many new selections have become available in the past several years. This is the only member of the genus Loropetalum which is in the witchhazel family Hamamelidaceae. Other well known members of this large family are witch-alder (Fothergilla major), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and parrotia (Parrotia persica).
Medicinal Uses:
A decoction of the whole plant is used in the treatment of coughing in tuberculosis, dysentery, enteritis etc. The leaves can be crushed and pulverized for external application on wounds.
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.
Common name: Coix, Job’s tears Habitat :
Coix lacryma-jobi is perhaps native to southeast Asia, but now rather pantropical as cultigen and weed. Listed as a serious weed in Polynesia, a principle weed in Italy and Korea, a common weed in Hawaii, Iran, Japan, Micronesia, and Puerto Rico, also in Australia, Borneo, Burma, Cambodia, China, Congo, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Melanesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rhodesia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela (Holm et al, 1979).
Description
Coix lacryma-jobi is an Annual (in the temperate zone) but perennial plant where frost is absent or mild, freely branching upright or ascending herb 1-2 m tall, the cordate clasping leaf blades 20-50 cm long, 1-5 cm broad. Spikelets terminal, and in the upper axils, unisexual, staminate spikelets two-flowered, in twos or threes on the continuous rachis; pistillate spikelets three together, one fertile, and two sterile; glumes of the fertile spikelet several-nerved, all enclosed finally in a bony beadlike involucre, the grain, white to bluish white, or black, globular orvoid, 6-12 mm long.
Propagation & Cultivation:
Propagation by seeds, sown during monsoon (in India) at rate of 6-10 kg/ha. Seed dibbled 2.5 cm deep, at spacing of 60 x 60 cm. One intercultivation, before the plants tiller, and shade on ground may be necessary. Sufficient rains in early stage of growth and a dry period when grain is setting are necessary for good yields. Plants respond well to liberal applications of organic manure.
Chemical constituents:
Per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 380 calories, 11.2 g H2O, 15.4 g protein, 6.2 g fat, 65.3 g total carbohydrate, 0.8 g fiber, 1.9 g ash, 25 mg Ca, 435 mg P, 5.0 mg Fe, 0 ug beta-carotene equivalent, 0.28 mg thiamine, 0.19 mg riboflavin, 4.3 mg niacin, and 0 mg ascorbic acid. According to Hager’s Handbook (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979), there is 50-60% starch 18.7% protein (with glutamic-acid, leucine, tyrosine, arginine, histidine, and lysine) and 5-10% fatty oil with glycerides of myristic- and palmitic-acids.
Uses Weed to some, necklace to others, staff-of-life to others, job’s tear is a very useful and productive grass increasingly viewed as a potential energy source. Before Zea became popular in South Asia, Coix was rather widely cultivated as a cereal in India. Still taken as a minor cereal, it is pounded, threshed and winnowed, as a cereal or breadstuff. The pounded flour is sometimes mixed with water like barley for barley water. The pounded kernel is also made into a sweet dish by frying and coating with sugar. It is also husked and eaten out of hand like a peanut. Beers and wines are made from the fermented grain. Chinese use the grain, like barley, in soups and broths.
Medicinal Uses: Folk Medicine
According to Hartwell (1967-1971), the fruits are used in folk remedies for abdominal tumors, esophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumors, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows. This folk reputation is all the more interesting when reading that coixenolide has antitumor activity (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979). Job’s tear is also a folk remedy for abscess, anodyne, anthrax, appendicitis, arthritis, beriberi, bronchitis, catarrh, diabetes, dysentery, dysuria, edema, fever, gotter, halitosis, headache, hydrothorax, metroxenia, phthisis, pleurisy, pneumonia, puerperium, rheumatism, small-pox, splenitis, strangury, tenesmus, and worms (Duke and Wain, 1981). Walker (1971) cites other medicinal uses.
In Chinese medicine, the seeds strengthen the spleen and counteract “damp heat”, and are used for edema, diarrhea, rheumatoid arthritis and difficult urination. Drains dampness, clears heat, eliminates pus, tonifies the spleen. This herb is added to medicinal formulas to regulate fluid retention and counteract inflammation. It is very good for all conditions and diseases associated with edema and inflammation, including pus, diarrhea, phlegm, edema or abscesses of either the lungs or the intestines, and rheumatic and arthritic conditions. A tea from the boiled seeds is drunk as part of a treatment to cure warts. It is also used in the treatment of lung abscess, lobar pneumonia, appendicitis, rheumatoid arthritis, beriberi, diarrhea, oedema and difficult urination. The roots have been used in the treatment of menstrual disorders. The FDA has approved testing for cancer therapy. Currently going through testing, the Kanglaite Injection is a new effective diphasic anti-cancer medicine prepared by extracting with modern technology the active anti-cancer component from the Coix Seed, to form an advanced dosage form for intravenous and intra- arterial perfusion. It had been proved experimentally and clinically that the Kanglaite Injection had a broad spectrum of anti-tumor and anti-metastasis action, such as hepatic cancer and pulmonary cancer, along with the action of enhancing host immunity. When used in combined treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, the Kanglaite Injection can increase the sensitivity of tumor cells, reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, relieve cancerous pain, improve cachexia, and raise the quality of life in advanced cancer victims. As a fat emulsion, the Kanglaite Injection can provide patients with high-energy nutrients with little toxicity. It inhibits formation of new blood vessels that promote tumor growth, counteracts weight loss due to cancer.
Some of the latest research also shows that Job’s tears is immunostimulating, induces interferon, Bronchodialates; Lowers blood sugar; Reduces muscle spasms and is anti-convulsant; Stimulates respiration in small doses and inhibits it in higher doses; reduces arterial plaque; Anti-inflammatory, possibly through the suppression of macrophage activity
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.
Botanical Name :Anchusa Italica Family: Boraginaceae Genus: Anchusa Kingdom:Plantae )
Common Names :Italian Bugloss,Large Blue Alkanet,Garden Anchusa
Italian name: Buglossa azzurra French name: Andryala à feuilles entières German name: Italienische Ochsenzunge Spanish name: Carmelita descalza Portuguese name: Tripa-de-ovelha
Name Derivation:: Anchusa is a Greek word meaning “face make up paint” since of a particular red die extracted from the roots. Such a name was already by Aristofanes and Xenofen, (400BC) for the name of the plant (Greek); italica = Italian origine
Habitat : The plant grows as a weed among crops of alfalfa, flax, sesame, wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, and in pastures and hay. A. italica is distributed throughout the Mediterranean region and in Asia; in the USSR it is found in the southern European part, in the Caucasus, and in Middle Asia.
Description:
Anchusa Italica is a biennial or perennial plant .. The whole plant is thickly covered with bristles. The root is a taproot. The stem is upright and reaches a height of 40–100 cm. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate; the lower ones are tegular, gathered in a rosette, and the upper ones are sessile. The inflorescence is paniculate, and the flowers are rather large and of a blue and light blue color. The fruit consists of four trihedral nutlets.
Medicinal Uses:
The dried powdered herb is used as a poultice to treat inflamations. Care should be taken to use internally with caution, the plant contains alkaloid cylognossine which can have a paralyzing effect.
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.
Botanical Name : Rumex patientia Family: Polygonaceae Genus: Rumex Species: R. patientia Kingdom: Plantae Order: Caryophyllales Synonyms: Rumex callosus (Fr. Schmidtex ex Maxim.) Rech. fil.
Common Name :Garden patience”, “Herb patience”, or “Monk’s rhubarb”
Habitat : Rumex patientia grows in Middle Europe, the Mediterranean, Balkany – Asia Minor, Armenian-Kurdish region. In the territory of the former USSR: the European part – Crimea, Black Sea Coast, Top and Middle Dnepr, the Bottom Don; Caucasus – Ciscaucasia, East, Western and Southern Transcaucasia, Dagestan; Western Siberia – Altai; the Far East -Ussurijsky, Udsky, Sakhalin areas. Grows in meadows, on edges of rivers, and on wet soils.
Description:
Rumex patientia is a herbaceous perennial plant. The stem is straight, thick, with grooves, 80-100 cm tall, branching in upper part. The bottom leaves are 20-30 cm long, 7-9 cm wide, ovate, pointed or blunt and a little bit wavy on the edges. The base of the bottom leaves is heart-shaped. Stalks of the bottom leaves are long. The top leaves are on short stalks, finer than bottom leaves, lanceolate. Flowers are thin, jointed in the bottom part, a little bit expanded. Flower whorls consist of 10-16 flowers, pulled together on almost leafless brush, which form together a long dense panicle. Internal shares of perianth are entire or with small denticles, light brown, ovary or heart-shaped, 6-8 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, mesh, round above or poorly pointed. Seeds are trihedral, oval, peaked, light brown, 3 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide. Blossoms in June-July, fructifies in July-August.
Edible Uses:
Rumex patientia is often consumed as a leaf vegetable in Eastern Europe, especially in Bulgaria and Serbia. It is also used in Romania in spring broths.
Leaves are used as a vegetable, fresh and cooked, instead of spinach. In culture it is known under the name of English spinach.
Mrdicinal Uses:
The juice, and an infusion of the root, has been used as a poultice and salve in the treatment of various skin problems. An infusion of the root has been used in the treatment of constipation. The leaves have been rubbed in the mouth to treat sore throats.
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.
