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Beaked willow

Botanical Name : Salix bebbiana
Family: Salicaceae
Genus: Salix
Species: S. bebbiana
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Common Names:  Beaked willow, Long-beaked willow, Gray willow, and Bebb’s willow.

Habitat :Beaked willow is indigenous to Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska and Yukon south to California and Arizona and north-east to Newfoundland and New England.

Description:
Beaked willow plant is typically a large, fast-growing, multi-stemmed shrub or small, shrubby tree capable of forming dense colonial thickets. It can be found in loose, saturated soils such as that on riverbanks, lakesides, swamps, marshes, and bogs. It is capable or tolerating heavy clay and rocky soils, making it highly adaptable and durable. It is a dominant species in many marshland areas in its native range.
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Leaves are alternately arranged, simple, anICKd ovate in shape, widest near the midrib and narrowing to a tapering base and pointed tip. The leaf edges are serrated, with large, coarse, irregular teeth, a characteristic that distinguishes the species from other willows, which have  much finer serrations on their leaves. The leaves are dull blue green in color and smooth in texture when mature; new leaves are coated in downy hairs. The leaves are up to 5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. Like other willows, this plant is dioecious, with male and female plants producing small, dangling catkins. Female flowers yield spherical seeds covered in long, threadlike fibers that help them disperse on the wind. The plant also spreads via vegetative reproduction, sprouting from the base of the stem or from segments of root, and by layering, allowing the plant to form colonies of clones.

Medicinal Uses:
A poultice of the chewed root inner bark has been applied to a deep cut. The shredded inner bark has been used as sanitary napkins to ‘heal a woman’s insides’. A poultice of the damp inner bark has been applied to the skin over a broken bone. A decoction of the branches has been taken by women for several months after childbirth to increase the blood flow.  A poultice of the bark and sap has been applied as a wad to bleeding wounds.  The fresh bark of all members of this genus contains salicin, which probably decomposes into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in the human body. This is used as an anodyne and febrifuge.

Other Uses:
This is the most important species of diamond willow, a type of willow which produces fine, colorful wood used for carving. The twigs and branches are used by Native Americans for basket weaving and arrowmaking.

Many parts of the plant are consumed by animals, especially domestic cattle, which find the foliage a palatable forage.

This species readily hybridizes with several other species of willow.

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salix_bebbiana
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_AB.htm
http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/trees/salbeb01.htm

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Herbs & Plants

Mahonia bealei

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Botanical Name : Mahonia bealei
Family: Berberidaceae
Genus: Mahonia
Species: M. bealei
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Ranunculales

Common Names: Beale’s barberry, Leatherleaf Mahonia, Leatherleaf Holly, Mahorina

Habitat : Mahonia beal is native to E. Asia – W. China in Hupeh, Hubei, Sichuan and Taiwan. It grows in damp woodlands in uplands around 2000 metres.

Description:
Leatherleaf mahonia is an evergreen shrub with large, pinnately compound leaves. It grows in an upright, open and loose, multi-stemmed clump 4-6 ft (1.2-1.8 m) tall and 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m) wide. It can get as large as 10 ft (3 m) tall and 8 ft (2.4 m) wide. The erect stems are stiff and unbranched, and the leaves come out in horizontal tiers. The leaves are about 18 in (46 cm) long with 9 to 13 stiff, sharply spiny, hollylike leaflets. The leaflets are dull grayish blue-green above and pale yellowish green below, and about 2-4 in (5-10 cm) long and 1-2 in (2.5-5 cm) wide. The terminal leaflet is larger than the lateral leaflets. The fragrant lemon-yellow flowers, appearing in late winter, are borne in erect racemes 3-6 in (7.6-15 cm) long. The fruit is a berry, first green, then turning bluish black with a grayish bloom. They are about a half inch long and hang in grapelike clusters.

click to see the pictures…>..…(01)..…....(1)..…..(2)…..…(3).…..………………………

Cultivation:
Landscape Uses:Border, Foundation, Pest tolerant, Massing, Rock garden, Specimen, Woodland garden. Thrives in any good garden soil[11]. Grows well in heavy clay soils. Survives under quite heavy tree cover, thriving in dense shade. Prefers a semi-shaded woodland position in a damp, slightly acid to neutral humus-rich soil. The fully dormant plant is hardy to about -20°c, though the young growth in spring can be damaged by late frosts. Scarcely distinct from M. japonica, differing mainly in its broader leaflets which are placed closer together on the stem and its erect flower raceme. It is often treated as a subspecies of M. japonica, despite the fact that this species is found in the wild whilst M. japonica is a cultigen and not a wild plant. Plants of the two species are often confused in cultivation. The flowers are sweetly scented. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus. Special Features:Attractive foliage, Not North American native, Extended bloom season in Zones 9A and above, Fragrant flowers, Attractive flowers or blooms.

Propagation :
Seed – best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. It usually germinates in the spring. ‘Green’ seed (harvested when the embryo has fully developed but before the seed case has dried) should be sown as soon as it is harvested and germinates within 6 weeks. Stored seed should be sown as soon as possible in late winter or spring. 3 weeks cold stratification will improve its germination, which should take place in 3 – 6 months at 10°c. Prick out the seedlings when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant them out in late spring or early summer. Division of suckers in spring. Whilst they can be placed direct into their permanent positions, better results are achieved if they are potted up and placed in a frame until established. Leaf cuttings in the autumn.

Edible Uses:.....Fruit –raw or cooked. A pleasant acid flavour, it is nice when added to muesli or porridge. Unfortunately, there is relatively little flesh and a lot of seeds. The fruit is about 10mm long and 6mm wide, it ripens in April/May and if the plant is in a sheltered position the crops can be fairly heavy.

Medicinal Uses:
A decoction of the root and root bark is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, recurring fever and cough in rundown body systems, rheumatoid arthritis, backache, weak knees, dysentery and enteritis. Berberine, universally present in rhizomes of Mahonia species, has marked antibacterial effects and is used as a bitter tonic. Since it is not appreciably absorbed by the body, it is used orally in the treatment of various enteric infections, especially bacterial dysentery. It should not be used with Glycyrrhiza species (Liquorice) because this nullifies the effects of the berberine. Berberine has also shown antitumor activity. The taste is bitter.  The plant detoxifies, reduces inflammations and breaks fevers. Anti-influenza effect of alkaloids from roots of Mahonia bealei. was studied in vitro. The experiment in embryo indicated that the alkaloids at concentration of 0.25 mg/ml obviously inhibited the proliferation of influenza virus Al, and at concentration of 20 mg/ml showed no side-effect on embryo.

The leaf is febrifuge and tonic. A decoction of the root and stems is antiphlogistic, antirheumatic, depurative and febrifuge. A decoction is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, recurring fever and cough in rundown body systems, rheumatoid arthritis, backache, weak knees, dysentery and enteritis. The root and root bark are best harvested in the autumn. Berberine, universally present in rhizomes of Mahonia species, has marked antibacterial effects  and is used as a bitter tonic. Since it is not appreciably absorbed by the body, it is used orally in the treatment of various enteric infections, especially bacterial dysentery. It should not be used with Glycyrrhiza species (Liquorice) because this nullifies the effects of the berberine.  Berberine has also shown antitumour activity.

Other Uses:
The shade tolerant leatherleaf mahonia is a popular shrub in the southern US and similar climates, producing dense clusters of very fragrant, golden yellow flowers. These showy blossoms stand above its evergreen foliage in late winter or early spring when few other plants are blooming. Use this spiny, gangly shrub on the north side of a building, where shade excludes most flowering shrubs. You can plant a leatherleaf mahonia in front of a window, and still be able to see out between the vertical stems and horizontal layered foliage. It often is used as a border or foundation plant as well. The coarse texture and clumsy form may not suit well in a neat, formal garden, but leatherleaf mahonia can be pruned to a single-stemmed specimen. To keep a denser form, prune out a few of the tallest stems each spring to encourage new stem growth from the base. Prune out a few leaves to accentuate the layered effect. With creative pruning, leatherleaf mahonia has a dramatic silhouette.

The fruits are much relished by birds, and are usually devoured within days of ripening. Leatherleaf mahonia can be grown in containers and can be used as a large houseplant.

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.floridata.com/ref/m/maho_bea.cfm
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_AB.htm
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Mahonia+bealei

 

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Balm of Gilead(Populus spp )

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Botanical Name :Populus spp, Populus balsamifera,Populus tremuloides,Populus grandidentata
Family: Salicaceae
Genus: Populus
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Salicales
Species: spp.

Common Name: aspens and poplars

Common Name Synonyms : cottonwood

Habitat:  Range:
Most of the following range description is taken from Fowells, H.A., compiler, 1965, Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States, USDA Agriculture Handbook No. 271.

P. balsamifera: Newfoundland, Labrador to northwest Alaska, northeastern British Columbia, east through Alberta, northern portions of the Great Lakes states, northern New England, and locally from Iowa to Connecticut and in the Rocky Mountains.

P. grandidentata: Nova Scotia to Manitoba, south to northeastern Missouri, east to Virginia, and locally in the eastern United States.

P. tremuloides: Newfoundland, Labrador to southern Alaska; British Columbia through Alberta to New Jersey. Locally in Virginia, Missouri and mountains of western United States and northern Mexico.

Climatic conditions vary throughout the ranges, but are often characterized by low seasonal temperature provided by high altitudes or northern latitudes, and short growing seasons.

Most of the following habitat description is taken from Fowells, H.A., compiler, 1965, Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States, USDA Agriculture Handbook No. 271.

P. balsamifera most frequently grows in moist soils of various textures including subirrigated sandy and gravelly soils, calcareous clay loams, or silt loams. It grows at elevations from sea level to about 5,500 feet (1,676 m). It is usually found in cool lowlands such as alluvial bottoms, sandbars, stream banks, lake shores and swamps. It grows in pure stands or in the following forest types: aspen, balsam fir-paper birch, white spruce-balsam fir-paper birch, black ash-American elm-red maple, aspen-birch, white spruce-aspen, and black cottonwood-willow (Fowells 1965).

P. grandidentata is usually found on drier sites than the other two species, at elevations from 500 to 2,000 feet (152 to 660 m). Soil textures include sand, loamy sand, light sandy loams, and, less frequently, heavier textured soils. High water tables closer than 18″ (45.7 cm) to the surface reduce aeration, and increase chances of windfall (Fowells 1965). It is most commonly associated with quaking aspen, gray birch, paper birch and red maple.

P. tremuloides tolerates a wide range of soil conditions from rocky soils or loamy sands, to clay soils. The most favorable soils are porous, and loamy soils that have abundant lime and humus. Growth in clay soils is reduced because of poor aeration; growth in sand is poor because of low moisture and nutrient levels. Rocky soils can hinder the spread of lateral roots. Quaking aspen grows at elevations up to 5,800 feet (1768 m) in the north, and rarely below 8,000 feet (2438 m) in lower California. It grows at sea level only as far south as Maine and Washington. In the southwest United States, quaking aspen often grows in cool shaded mountain slopes, canyons, and on stream banks, at about 6,500 to 10,000 feet (1981 to 3048 m) in elevation. It grows with other aspens and often in the following forest types: Jack pine-aspen, white spruce, balsam fir-aspen, black spruce-aspen, aspen-paper birch (Fowells 1965).


Description:
The following descriptions are taken from Barnes and Wagner 1981 and Rosendahl 1970. Further taxonomic description is available in these texts.
Populus balsamifera is a shade-intolerant tree 6-30 m high with gray or greenish bark that becomes darker and furrowed on older trunks. Resinous buds are large; twigs are stout and lustrous turning gray-green with age. Alternate simple leaves are ovate-lanceolate or cordate-ovate with acute or acuminate tips and finely crenate margins. The aromatic leaves are glabrous and dark green above, and pale silver or rusty brown beneath. Staminate catkins are 3-5 cm long; pistillate catkins 3-5 cm long. The fruit is an ovoid capsule 7-9 mm long. Balsam poplar has numerous shallow spreading roots and forms clones.

Populus grandidentata is a shade intolerant tree 10-20 m high with smooth gray tan or yellowish-green bark that becomes furrowed and darker with age. Stout twigs are white tomentose becoming reddish brown to greenish-gray with age. The alternate leaves are ovate and coarsely sinuate-toothed. Young leaves are densely white tomentose beneath; older leaves are glabrous, yellow green or dark green. Young suckers often have larger leaves than mature plants. Staminate catkins, 4-7 cm long, are silky pubescent; pistillate catkins are 3-5 cm elongating in fruit to 10-15 cm.

CLICK TO SEE THE PICTURES..>.….(01).…..(1)..…….(2)..…….…(3)…..…

Bigtooth aspen has a wide spreading lateral root system with larger and fewer roots than P. tremuloides, and sinker roots (vertically penetrating roots) to 3 m. This species forms clones by root-suckering. Suckers are distinguishable from seedlings because they have a thickening that develops on the distal side of the parent root next to the sucker (Maini 1972).

P. tremuloides is a shade intolerant tree 6-20 m high with smooth greenish-white or gray bark, turning darker and slightly furrowed with age. Twigs are slender, glabrous and reddish-brown, turning gray with age. The thin, alternate leaves are ovate to orbicular, truncate or sub-cordate at the base and short acuminate at the tip. Leaves are glabrous when mature, have finely serrated margins, and range from bluish to dull green in color. Young suckers frequently have much larger leaves than older plants. Staminate catkins are 3-6 cm long with silky hairs. The fruit is a capsule about 5 mm long. This species is typically clonal, with suckers arising from extensive lateral roots. Quaking aspen has “sinker roots” like bigtooth aspen and distinction between seedlings and suckers is the same as with P. grandidentata.

Aspen Tree (Populus spp.)
These deciduous trees are tall and fast growing. In North America they are the most widely dispersed tree. They are great in rural areas because they have large root systems. They have triangular shaped leaves that provide beautiful colors in the fall. The bark is creamy white to a light olive-gray color. They are a lovely addition to any large open area.


SEXUAL REPRODUCTION:
Flowers of all three species appear before leaf expansion, usually in April or May. Phenology varies between clones, with air temperature, and geographic locations (Maini 1972). Following wind pollination, fruits ripen in May or June and are dispersed by wind or water May through July. The light seeds have a silky hair aiding in dispersal. P. grandidentata flowers, fruits, and disperses fruit about ten days later than P. tremuloides in Ontario (Maini 1972).

Most aspens are capable of flowering at ten years (Maini 1972) and 20 year old trees of P. tremuloides and P. grandidentata produce good seed crops every four or five years (Fowells 1965). A 23 year old P. tremuloides tree 33 feet tall in Ontario produced 1.6 million seeds (Maini 1972). Under favorable natural conditions, seeds of P. grandidentata and P. tremuloides maintain viability up to two or three weeks. P. balsamifera seed is viable for a few days (Fowells 1965).

Medicinal Uses:
Balm of Gilead Medicinal Properties & Benefits

Common Uses: Abrasions/Cuts * Burns/SunBurn * Rheumatoid Arthritis *
Properties: Antibacterial* Analgesic* Anti-inflammatory* Antirheumatic* Astringent*
Parts Used: Leaf buds
Constituents: volatile oil, up to 2% (including cineole, bisabolene, bisabolol and humulene), resins, palicin and populin, phenolic acids.

Use popular buds in balms and pain relieving creams.

The dried, unopened buds of the poplar tree are used in ointments and skin treatments to reduce pain and inflammation, and to ease rheumatic pain. Salicin, a major constituent of this plant, is a painkiller, while bisabolol in the oil reduces inflammation and is antimicrobial.

Side Effects:
If you are sensitive to aspirin, you should not use Balm of Gilead.Recommended for external use only.

How to Use: Balm of Gilead
Preparation Methods :Oils, salves and lotions.

Click to learn more.……(1)...(2).…. (3)

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.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail358.php
http://www.gardenswithwings.com/plant/Aspen%20Tree/index.html
http://wiki.bugwood.org/Populus_spp

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When ‘Baby Fat’ is Good for Health

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Want to shed your baby fat? Wait, don’t do it just yet, for a new study has revealed that such a fat is good – as long as it is calorie-burning -”Brown Fat”.

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Brown fat burns off calories and generates heat in babies and small mammals.

Most of the body fat is white fat, which also provides insulation but stores calories. It becomes “bad” fat when an individual have too much. The “good” fat-brown fat-was considered essentially nonexistent in human adults.

The new study has found that adults have much more of this type of fat than previously believed.

“We now know that it is present and functional in adults,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Aaron Cypess, MMSc, of the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston.

“Three ounces of brown fat can burn several hundred calories a day,” he added.

In the new study involving 1,970 study participants, researchers measured the patches of brown adipose tissue-brown fat-in people with the help of high-tech imaging method that combines positron emission tomography and computed tomography, called PET/CT.

By evaluating biopsy tissue of what appeared to be brown fat, the authors confirmed that they were, indeed, looking at stores of brown fat.

The researchers found that brown fat was located in an area extending from the front of the neck to the chest.

Of the subjects who had detectable brown fat, about 6 percent had 3 ounces or more of the fat.

“We believe that this percentage greatly underestimates the number of adults in the population who have a large amount of brown fat,” said Cypess.

They also discovered that brown fat is most abundant in young women and least frequent in older, overweight men. In fact, women were more than twice as likely as men to have substantial amounts of brown fat.

“One theory for this is that women may have less muscle mass overall, so they need more brown fat to generate heat and keep warm,” Cypess said.

Source: The study appears in New England Journal of Medicine.

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Loose Weight in Cold Foot-Bath

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Everyone knows that too much fat makes us fat. But it seems more of the right kind could make you thinner – and that fat is brown fat.

This is one of the two types of fat found in the body. There is the more familiar white stuff, which sits under the skin on your tummy and thighs and is the result of eating too much.
Then there is brown fat – and its job is to generate heat. It does this by boosting your metabolism, so you then start to use up the ‘bad’ white fat.
.CLICK @ SEE THE PICTURE

It’s long been known that babies have brown fat around their shoulder blades to help them maintain their body temperature after birth. But until recently it was thought this good fat disappeared in infancy because it was no longer needed.

Now it’s been shown that brown fat persists into adulthood. Not only that, some people – generally lean types – have more brown fat than others. This could help explain why they remain a healthy weight without much effort, while others struggle to lose weight.

In fact, scientists think boosting brown fat stores could be a new approach to dealing with excess weight.
‘We calculate that if you had three ounces of brown fat that was maximally stimulated, it could help you burn an extra 400 to 500 calories a day,’ says Dr Aaron Cypress of the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston.
He led one of three studies on brown fat recently published in the influential New England Journal of Medicine.

This research has also suggested that brown fat plays a role in diseases such as diabetes that are linked to obesity.

In some studies, stimulating the production of brown fat in mice stopped them gaining weight, or developing Type 2 diabetes, even when they were fed a high-calorie diet.

The good news is that many of us have brown fat. Around half of all people have deposits of it in their neck, where it is most easily detected, says Dr Cypress.

And women have more brown fat than men. It becomes activated and starts to burn fat naturally only when people are cold and on the verge of shivering.

In evolutionary terms, brown fat developed to protect newborn babies from lifethreatening cold temperatures. It is thought that, in a throwback to our ancestors, chilly conditions trigger brown fat to become activated in adults.

To demonstrate this, Sven Enerback, a researcher at the University of Goteborg in Sweden, kept five volunteers in a cool room for two hours before giving them a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan, which lights up any part of the body that is using glucose stores for energy, and not fat.

Enerback asked the subjects to place a foot intermittently in a bucket of icy water to chill their body, in the belief that it would trigger any brown fat to be revealed by the scan.
Brown fat deposits showed up each time their body temperature dropped. In another study, in Holland, a group of 24 men sat in a room cooled to 61F for two hours.

When they had PET scans, 23 displayed activated brown fat deposits; only the heaviest man had none.
The men were retested when they’d warmed up again; no brown fat was active. Scientists are investigating whether it is possible to reproduce this effect using drugs.
Professor Mike Cawthorne, director of metabolic research at the University of Buckingham, who has researched the effects of brown fat, says a drug to mimic the weight-loss benefits ‘is definitely on the cards’.
Another possibility is that a sample of a person’s brown fat could be removed from the body; this sample could then be increased in the laboratory and then re-injected.
There is another possible option for the half of the population who don’t have brown fat. Scientists have discovered a way to reproduce the energy-burning fat by manipulating mouse and human cells to produce it.
In a study published in Nature journal last month, Professor Bruce Spiegelman of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute injected mice – which have lots of brown fat cells – with extra ‘good’ fat. He found it boosted their metabolism and burnt calories at a faster rate.
Injecting 50g to 100g of brown fat cells into a person could help them to burn off more than 10lb of ‘bad’ fat a year, say scientists.
But could there be a simpler solution? According to Professor Cawthorne, the brown fat levels of our hunter-gatherer ancestors would almost certainly have been more highly activated than our own.
Warmer temperatures, abundant food and too little activity have effectively switched off its usefulness in the modern world.
‘Even 30 years ago, it was more difficult to stay warm than it is now,’ says Professor Cawthorne. ‘Today, our homes, cars, offices, shops and almost everywhere we go are warm.’
Just turning off the central heating could help spur brown fat into action. ‘If we were to expose ourselves to cooler temperatures more often, then a lot of people would probably lose weight,’ he says.
‘Either that or have a daily sauna and plunge into icy water afterwards. Don’t have the heating on in the car and spend more time outdoors, especially in winter. We need to activate brown fat and there are simple ways to do it that may have some benefit.’

Source: Mail Online. Aug 18 2009

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