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Herbs & Plants

Vicia faba major

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Botanical Name: Vicia faba major
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Vicieae
Genus: Vicia
Species: V. faba
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales
Common Names: Broad bean, Fava bean, Faba bean, Field bean, Bell bean, English bean, Horse bean, Windsor bean, Pigeon bean and Tic(k) bean
Habitat ; The origin of this legume is obscure, but it had been cultivated in the Middle East for 8,000 years before it spread to Western Europe. It is grown on cultivated bed.

Description:
Vicia faba major is an annual stiffly erect plant growing to 1 m (3ft 3in) at a fast rate with stout stems of a square cross-section. The leaves are 10–25 cm long, pinnate with 2–7 leaflets, and of a distinct glaucous grey-green color. Unlike most other vetches, the leaves do not have tendrils for climbing over other vegetation. The flowers are 1–2.5 cm long, with five petals, the standard petal white, the wing petals white with a black spot (true black, not deep purple or blue as is the case in many “black” colorings,) and the keel petals are white. Crimson-flowered broad beans also exist, which were recently saved from extinction. The flowers have a strong and sweet scent which is attractive to bees and other pollinators,[6] particularly bumble bees. The fruit is a broad, leathery pod, green maturing to blackish-brown, with a densely downy surface; in the wild species, the pods are 5–10 cm long and 1 cm diameter, but many modern cultivars developed for food use have pods 15–25 cm long and 2–3 cm thick. Each pod contains 3–8 seeds, round to oval and 5–10 mm diameter in the wild plant, usually flattened and up to 20–25 mm long, 15 mm broad and 5–10 mm thick in food cultivars. Vicia faba has a diploid (2n) chromosome number of 12 (six homologous pairs). Five pairs are acrocentric chromosomes and one pair is metacentric.

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It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to August, and the seeds ripen from Jul to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.The plant is self-fertile.
It can fix Nitrogen.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.
Cultivation:
Prefers a fairly heavy loam but succeeds in a sunny position in most soils that are well-drained. Grows well in heavy clay soils. Dislikes dry conditions according to some reports, whilst another says that it is drought tolerant once established. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 to 7. Broad beans are often cultivated for their edible seed and sometimes also as a green manure crop. There are two main types, the ‘longpod’ beans are the more hardy and can be sown in the autumn in cool temperate areas, whilst ‘windsor’ beans, which are considered to be finer flavoured, are less tolerant of the cold and so are best sown in spring. The ideal temperature range in the growing season is between 18 and 27°c, at higher temperatures the flowers are often aborted. The autumn sown varieties are more susceptible to ‘chocolate spot’ fungus, this problem can be alleviated by the addition of potash to the soil. Black fly can be a major problem in late spring. Autumn sown crops are less likely to be affected. Pinching out the soft tips of the plants, one they are tall enough and are beginning to flower, can reduce the problem since the blackfly always start on the soft shoots and then spread to the older stems. Grows well with carrots, cauliflowers, beet, cucumber, cabbages, leeks, celeriac, corn and potatoes, but is inhibited by onions, garlic and shallots. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen.

Propagation:
Pre-soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water and then sow in situ in succession from late winter until early summer. Germination should take place in about 7 – 10 days. The earlier sowings should be of suitably hardy varieties such as the ‘Longpods’ whilst later sowings can be of the tastier varieties such as the ‘Windsors’. By making fresh sowings every 3 weeks you will have a continuous supply of fresh young seeds from early summer until early autumn. If you want to grow the beans to maturity then the seed needs to be sown by the middle of spring. You may need to protect the seed from the ravages of mice. Another sowing can be made in middle to late autumn. This has to be timed according to the area where the plants are being grown. The idea is that the plants will make some growth in the autumn and be perhaps 15 – 20cm tall by the time the colder part of winter sets in. As long as the winter is not too severe, the plants should stand well and will grow away rapidly in the spring to produce an earlier crop. The plants will also be less likely to be attacked by blackfly. Make sure you choose a suitably hardy variety for this sowing.
Edible Uses:
Broad bean seeds are very nutritious and are frequently used as items of food. There are, however, some potential problems to their use if they are consumed in large quantities – see the notes above on toxicity. The immature seeds can be eaten raw when they are small and tender, as they grow older they can be cooked as a vegetable. They have a very pleasant floury taste. The young pods can be cooked as a vegetable, though they quickly become fibrous and also have a hairy coating inside that can become unpleasant as the pods get larger. Mature seeds can be eaten cooked as a vegetable or added to soups etc. They are best soaked for 12 – 24 hours prior to cooking in order to soften them and reduce the cooking time. They will also become more nutritious this way. The flavour is mild and pleasant with a floury texture. They can also be dried and ground into a flour for use in making bread etc with cereal flours. The seed can also be fermented to make ‘tempeh’.The seed can be sprouted before being cooked. Popped seeds can be salted and eaten as a snack or roasted like peanuts. Young leaves – cooked. They are very nutritious and can be used like spinach.
Medicinal Uses: The seedpods are diuretic and lithontripic.

Other Uses :
Fibre; Soap making.

A fibre is obtained from the stems. The burnt stems are rich in potassium and can be used in making soap.

Known Hazards: Although often used as an edible seed, there are reports that eating the seed of this plant can cause the disease ‘Favism‘ in susceptible people. Inhaling the pollen can also cause the disease. Favism, which is a severe haemolytic anaemia due to an inherited enzymatic deficiency, only occurs in cases of excessive consumption of the raw seed (no more details are given) and when the person is genetically inclined towards the disease. About 1% of Caucasians and 15% of Negroids are susceptible to the disease.
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/Vicia_faba
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vicia+faba+major

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Brassica rapa campestris

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Botanical Name : Brassica rapa campestris
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Brassica
Species:B. rapa
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Brassicales

Synonyms: B. campestris autumnalis. B. rapa campestris. (L.)Clapham.

Common Name : Wild Turnip

Habitat : Brassica rapa campestris is native to Europe – Mediterranean. Naturalized in Britain. It grows on the river banks, arable and waste land.

Description:
Brassica rapa campestris is an annual plant growing to 0.8 m (2ft 7in).
It is hardy to zone (UK) 7 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, self.The plant is self-fertile.

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

Cultivation:
Succeeds in full sun in a well-drained fertile preferably alkaline soil. Succeeds in any reasonable soil but prefers one on the heavy side[16]. Tolerates a pH in the range 4.8 to 8.3. This is the wild form of the turnip with a non-tuberous tap-root. It is closely related to the cultivated forms that are grown for their edible oil-bearing seeds.
Propagation:
Seed – sow spring or autumn in situ.
Edible Uses:
Leaves – raw or cooked. A strong radish/cabbage flavour. An edible oil is obtained from the seed, it is best when cold pressed. Some varieties are rich in erucic acid which can be harmful.
Medicinal Uses: The tuberous roots and seeds are considered to be antiscorbutic. A rather strange report, the leaves are much more likely to contain reasonable quantities of vitamin C than the roots or seeds.
Other Uses:…Oil; Oil…..The seed contains up to 45% of a semi-drying oil. It is used as a lubricant, luminant and in soap making

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/Brassica_rapa
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Brassica+rapa+campestris

Categories
Fruits & Vegetables Herbs & Plants

Apple Gourd (Tinda)

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Botanical Name: Apple Gourd
Family: Cucurbitaceae
SubfamilyCucurbitoideae
Tribe: Benincaseae
Subtribe: Benincasinae
Genus: Praecitrullus  Pangalo
Species: P. fistulosus
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Cucurbitales
Common Names: Tinda, Indian round gourd , Indian baby pumpkin, Meha (in  Sindhi language),  Dhemase (in Marathi)
Habitat : Apple Gourd is native to South Asia. Specially grown in India & Pakinthan
Description:
The plant is, as with all cucurbits, a prolific vine, and is grown as an annual. The fruit is approximately spherical, and 5–8 cm in diameter. The seeds may also be roasted and eaten. Tinda is a famous nickname among Punjabi families in India. This unique squash-like gourd is native to India, very popular in Indian and Pakistani cooking with curry and many gourmet dishes. Green colored, apple sized fruits are flattish round in shape and 50-60 grams in weight. Plants are vigorous, productive and begin to bear fruits in 70 days after planting.
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Cultivation:  Sandy loam soils rich in organic matter with good drainage and pH ranging from 6.5-7.5 is best suited for Tinda cultivation. This crop requires a moderate warm temperature.
Propagation: Sow the seeds on one side of the channel. hin the seedlings after 15 days to maintain two/pit at 0.9 m spacing.
Uses:
Tinda is famous vegetable in India and Pakistan and regarded as super food due to its numerous health benefits. It contains antioxidants like carotenoids and many anti-inflammatory agents, which are effective for controlling blood pressure, heart diseases, and strokes and prevent cancer formation.
It is very mild and soothing vegetable for intestinal tract. A lot of fiber helps in digestion, helps in diarrhea by increased water absorption, relieves stomach acidity, and prevents constipation. Some researches indicate that they are good food for healthy skin and hairs, its consumption result in very long and healthy hairs. It increases the urinary flow and excretes toxins from the kidney.
It is very effective in prevention of prostitutes and prostate cancer. Prostate is male gland present near bladder and its inflammation and cancers are becoming common now a days, it is also very effective in urinary tract infections.
Carotenes present in pumpkins slow the aging process and prevent age related changes in body like cataract formation, grey hairs, thickening of blood vessels bone degeneration, and age related brain cell degeneration. Over all this vegetable, have magical effects on body if used regularly.
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/Tinda
http://desiclinic.com/roman/tinda-156.html
http://www.agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/horti_vegetables_tinda.html
Categories
Herbs & Plants

Pinus strobus

Botanical Name: Pinus strobus
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: Strobus
Species: P. strobus

Synonyms: Weymouth Pine. Pin du Lord. Pinus Alba.
Common Names: Eastern white pine, White pine, northern white pine, Weymouth pine, and soft pine

Habitat: Pinus strobus is native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and perhaps very rarely in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama, and is planted in areas near its natural range where summer temperatures are fairly moderate.

Description:
Like all members of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, the leaves (‘needles’) are in fascicles (bundles) of five (rarely 3 or 4), with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, and 5–13 cm (2.0–5.1 in) long, and persist for 18 months, i.e. from the spring of one season to the autumn of the next, when they are shed by abscission.

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The cones are slender, 8–16 cm (3.1–6.3 in) long (rarely longer than that) and 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip. The seeds are 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, with a slender 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) wing, and are wind-dispersed. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years.

While eastern white pine is self-fertile, seeds produced this way tend to result in weak, stunted, malformed seedlings.

Mature trees can easily be 200 to 250 years old. Some white pines live over 400 years. A tree growing near Syracuse, New York was dated to 458 years in the late 1980s and trees in both Wisconsin and Michigan have approached 500 years in age

Cultivation:
Pinus strobus is cultivated by plant nurseries as an ornamental tree, for planting in gardens and parks.[21] The species is low-maintenance and rapid growing as a specimen tree. With regular shearing it can also be trained as a hedge. Some cultivars are used in bonsai

Part Used: Dried inner bark
Constituents: The powder shows starch and resin. The bark yields a maximum of 3 per cent of ash. It is a source of the terebinth of America. Coniferin is found in the cambium.

Medicinal Uses:
Expectorant, demulcent, diuretic, a useful remedy in coughs and colds, having a beneficial effect on the bladder and kidneys.The compound syrup contains sufficient morphine to assist in developing the morphine habit and should be used with caution.

Eastern white pine needles contain five times the amount of Vitamin C (by weight) of lemons and make an excellent herbal tea. The cambium is edible. It is also a source of resveratrol. Linnaeus noted in the 18th century that cattle and pigs fed pine bark bread grew well, but he personally did not like the taste. Caterpillars of Lusk’s Pinemoth (Coloradia luski) have been found to feed only on Pinus strobus.

Pine tar is produced by slowly burning pine roots, branches, or small trunks in a partially smothered flame. Pine tar mixed with beer can be used to remove tapeworms (flat worms) or nematodes (round worms). Pine tar mixed with sulfur is useful to treat dandruff, and marketed in present day products. Pine tar can also be processed to make turpentine

Native American traditional uses:
The name “Adirondack” is an Iroquois word which means tree-eater and referred to their neighbors (more commonly known as the Algonquians) who collected the inner bark of this tree, Picea rubens, and others during times of winter starvation. The white soft inner bark (cambial layer) was carefully separated from the hard, dark brown bark and dried. When pounded this product can be used as flour or added to stretch other starchy products.

The young staminate cones were stewed by the Ojibwe Indians with meat and were said to be sweet and not pitchy. In addition, the seeds are sweet and nutritious, but not as tasty as those of some of the western nut pines.

Pine resin (sap) has been used by various tribes to waterproof baskets, pails, and boats. The Chippewa also used pine resin to successfully treat infections and even gangrenous wounds. This is because pine resin apparently has a number of quite efficient antimicrobials. Generally a wet pulp from the inner bark was applied to wounds, or pine tar mixed with beeswax or butter and used as a salve was, to prevent infection.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_strobus
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/pinewh36.html

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Jacobaea maritima

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Botanical Name: Jacobaea maritima
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Senecioneae
Genus: Jacobaea
Species: J. maritima
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Synonym: Senecio cineraria,Cineraria Maritima, Senecio maritima

Common Names: Silver ragwort, Dusty miller

Habitat : Jacobaea maritima is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, in northwest Africa (Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia), southern Europe (Spain, Gibraltar, southern France including Corsica, Italy including Sardinia and Sicily, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Hercegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece), and the far west of Asia (Turkey). It occurs primarily on cliffs and rocky coastal sites, more rarely inland.

It is also naturalised further north in Europe (north to Great Britain and Ireland, where occurring mainly in mild coastal areas) and locally in North America.
Description:
Jacobaea maritima is a perennial plant. It is a very white-wooly, heat and drought tolerant evergreen subshrub growing to 0.5–1 m (1.6–3.3 ft) tall. The stems are stiff and woody at the base, densely branched, and covered in long, matted grey-white to white hairs. The leaves are pinnate or pinnatifid, 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) long and 3–7 centimetres (1.2–2.8 in) broad, stiff, with oblong and obtuse segments, and like the stems, covered with long, thinly to thickly matted with grey-white to white hairs; the lower leaves are petiolate and more deeply lobed, the upper leaves sessile and less lobed. ....CLICK & SEE >…..(01): ..…...(1) :http://www.maltawildplants.com/ASTR/Jacobaea_maritima_subsp_sicula.php

The tomentum is thickest on the underside of the leaves, and can become worn off on the upper side, leaving the top surface glabrous with age. The flowers are yellow, daisy-like in dense capitula 12–15 millimetres (0.47–0.59 in) diameter, with central disc florets surrounded by a ring of 10–13 ray florets, and enclosed in a common whorl of bracts at the base of the capitulum. The seeds are cylindrical achenes. It belongs to the groundsel or ragwort family, of which there are nearly 900 different species known to botanists.

Cultivation & propagation: Jacobaea maritima is widely used in horticulture for its silvery foliage. It is winter-hardy in USDA Zones 8-10, tolerating winter temperatures down to -12° to -15 °C, tolerant of light shade but preferring full sun. In colder areas it is grown as an annual plant. Many cultivars have been selected for particularly dense silvery tomentum, such as ‘Cirrus’, ‘New Look’, ‘Ramparts’, ‘Silverdust’, ‘Silver Filigree’, and ‘White Diamond’. It has been recommended in North America for its fire resistance resistance to browsing by deer, and its salt tolerance.

This plant is perennial, propagated by cuttings, layers, or seeds.
Medicinal Uses: The fresh juice is said to remove cataract. A few drops of the fresh juice are dropped into the eye. To learn more click & read 

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/Jacobaea_maritima
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/cinmar68.html

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