Anti-malarial herbal remedies of northeast India, Assam: An ethnobotanical survey

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Malaria is a serious public health problem in the north-eastern region of India including Assam, in view of development of chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum. There is need for alternative and affordable therapy. Aim of the study: This study was conducted to document indigenous knowledge, usage customs and practices of medicinal plant species traditionally used by the residents of Sonitpur district of Tezpur, Assam to treat malaria and its associated symptoms. Materials and methods:A total of 50 randomly selected sampling represented by male (38.76%) and female respondents (12.24%) were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: The present ethno-botanical survey revealed 22 species of plants belonging to 17 botanical families were reported to be used exclusively in this region for the treatment of malaria. Verbenaceae (three species), Menispermaceae (two species), and Acanthaceae (two species) botanical families represented the species that are most commonly cited in this survey work and the detailed use of plants has been collected and described. Conclusions: The most serious threat to the existing knowledge and practice on traditional medicinal plants included cultural change, particularly the influence of modernization and lack of interests shown by the next younger generations were the main problems reported by the informants during the field survey. Hence, the proper documentation of traditional medicinal plants being used as anti-malarial agents and related indigenous knowledge held by the tribal community is an important approach to control the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria reported in this survey work. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethnobotany of the Monpa ethnic group at Arunachal Pradesh, India

Background: The present paper documents the uses of plants in traditional herbal medicine for human and veterinary ailments, and those used for dietary supplements, religious purpose, local beverage, and plants used to poison fish and wild animals. Traditional botanical medicine is the primary mode of healthcare for most of the rural population in Arunachal Pradesh. Materials and methods: Field research was conducted between April 2006 and March 2009 with randomly selected 124 key informants using semi-structured questionnaire. The data obtained was analyzed through informant consensus factor (F(IC)) to determine the homogeneity of informant's knowledge on medicinal plants. Results: We documented 50 plants species belonging to 29 families used for treating 22 human and 4 veterinary ailments. Of the medicinal plants reported, the most common growth form was herbs (40%) followed by shrubs, trees, and climbers. Leaves were most frequently used plant parts. The consensus analysis revealed that the dermatological ailments have the highest F(IC) (0.56) and the gastro-intestinal diseases have F(IC) (0.43). F(IC) values indicated that there was high agreement in the use of plants in dermatological and gastro-intestinal ailments category among the users. Gymnocladus assamicus is a critically rare and endangered species used as disinfectant for cleaning wounds and parasites like leeches and lice on livestocks. Two plant species (Illicium griffithii and Rubia cordifolia) are commonly used for traditional dyeing of clothes and food items. Some of the edible plants recorded in this study were known for their treatment against high blood pressure (Clerodendron colebrookianum), diabetes mellitus (Momordica charantia), and intestinal parasitic worms like round and tape worms (Lindera neesiana, Solanum etiopicum, and Solanum indicum). The Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh have traditionally been using Daphne papyracea for preparing hand-made paper for painting and writing religious scripts in Buddhist monasteries. Three plant species (Derris scandens, Aesculus assamica, and Polygonum hydropiper) were frequently used to poison fish during the month of June-July every year and the underground tuber of Aconitum ferrox is widely used in arrow poisoning to kill ferocious animals like bear, wild pigs, gaur and deer. The most frequently cited plant species; Buddleja asiatica and Hedyotis scandens were used as common growth supplements during the preparation of fermentation starter cultures. Conclusion: The traditional pharmacopoeia of the Monpa ethnic group incorporates a myriad of diverse botanical flora. Traditional knowledge of the remedies is passed down through oral traditions without any written document. This traditional knowledge is however, currently threatened mainly due to acculturation and deforestation due to continuing traditional shifting cultivation. This study reveals that the rural populations in Arunachal Pradesh have a rich knowledge of forest-based natural resources and consumption of wild edible plants is still an integral part of their socio-cultural life. Findings of this documentation study can be used as an ethnopharmacological basis for selecting plants for future phytochemical and pharmaceutical studies.

An inventory of the ethnobotanicals used as anti-diabetic by a rural community of Dhemaji district of Assam, Northeast India

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Traditional remedies used for treating diabetic ailments are very important in the primary health care of the people living in rural Dhemaji district of Assam, north-east India. Novel information gathered from the current survey is important in preserving folk indigenous knowledge. Materials and methods: Interviews were conducted amongst 80 households comprising of 240 individuals using semi-structured questionnaires. The focus was on plants used in treating diabetes mellitus. Results: The current survey documented 21 plant species (20 families) which are reportedly used to treat diabetes mellitus by the rural people in the study area. To the best of our knowledge, Amomum linguiforme, Cinnamomum impressinervium, Colocasia esculenta, Dillenia indica, Euphorbia ligularia, Garcinia pedunculata, Solanum indicum, Sterculia villosa and Tabernaemontana divaricata are recorded for the first time based on globally published literature as medicinal plants used for treating diabetes mellitus and related symptoms. Conclusions: The wide variety of plants that are used to treat diabetes mellitus in this area supports the traditional value that medicinal plants have in the primary health care system of the rural people of Dhemaji district of Assam. The finding of new plant uses in the current study reveals the importance of the documentation of such ethnobotanical knowledge. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clonal propagation of Phyllanthus amarus: A hepatoprotector

Background: The micropropagation protocol for Phyllanthus amarus, an important medicinal herb used widely for the treatment of hepatitis in ethnomedicinal systems, was standardized with shoot tip and single node explants. Materials and Methods: The micropropagation was carried out for the hyperproducing ecotype (phyllanthin content 463.828 ppm; hypophyllanthin content: 75.469 ppm) collected from Aanaikatti, Coimbatore, and grown in mist chamber, CPMB, TNAU. For micropropagation studies, the leaves were trimmed off and the shoot tips (6 mm long) and nodal segments (single node) were used for initiation. Results: Shoot tips and single node explants gave a maximum of 6.00 and 7.00 multiple shoots per explant with Benzyl Amino Purine (BAP) (1.0mg/L mg/L). Upon subculturing, a shoot length of around 7 cm with an average of eight internodes per shoot was observed after 20 days in the elongation medium supplemented with BAP (0.2 mg/Lmg/L) and Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) (2.0 mg/L). Seven to ten adventitious roots developed when the elongated microshoots were cultured in half strength MS medium with Indole Butyric Acid (IBA) (2.0 mg/Lmg/L) and NAA (1.0 mg/L mg/L) in 15-20 days after transfer. The rooted shoots acclimatized successfully to field conditions. Conclusion: A method for successful micropropagation of the valuable medicinal plant was established which will provide a better source for continuous supply of plants for manufacturing drugs.

Herbal medicines used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Arunachal Himalaya, northeast, India

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Medicinal plants have played an important role in treating and preventing a variety of diseases throughout the world. Khampti tribal people living in the far-flung Lohit district of the Eastern Arunachal Himalaya, India still depend on medicinal plants and most of them have a general knowledge of medicinal plants which are used for treating a variety of ailments. This survey was undertaken in Lohit district in order to inventory the medicinal plants used in folk medicine to treat diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods: Field investigations were conducted in seventeen remote villages of Lohit district starting from April 2002 to May 2004 through interviews among 251 key informants who were selected randomly during our household survey. To elucidate community domains and determine differences in indigenous traditional knowledge of medicinal plants with anti-diabetic efficacy, we repeated our field survey starting from April 2008 to May 2010 with one hundred traditional healers locally called as ``Chau ya'' in Khampti of Lohit district. ``Chau ya'' traditional healers who know and use medicinal plants for treating diabetes mellitus were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: This study reports an ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh reputed for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Forty-six plant species were identified in the study area to treat diabetes mellitus by the Khamptis ``Chau ya'' traditional healers. Comparative published literature survey analysis of this study with other ethnobotanical surveys of plants used traditionally in treating diabetes mellitus suggests that eleven plant species make claims of new reports on antidiabetic efficacy. These plant species are Begonia roxburghii, Calamus tenuis, Callicarpa arborea, Cuscuta reflexa, Dillenia indica, Diplazium esculentum, Lectuca gracilis, Millingtonia hortensis, Oxalis griffithii, Saccharum spontaneum, and Solanum viarum. Some of the plants reported in this study have an antidiabetic effect on rodent models but none have sufficient clinical evidence of effectiveness. Conclusions: The wide variety of medicinal plants that are used to treat diabetes mellitus in this area supports the importance of plants in the primary healthcare system of the rural people of Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh. The finding of new plant uses in the current study reveals the importance of the documentation of such ethnobotanical knowledge. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measures of Plant Surface-areas for Eurasian Watermilfoil and Water Stargrass

Plant surface areas were measured from samples of two common submersed aquatics with widely diverging morphologies: Eurasian watermilfoil ( Myriophyllum spicatum L.) and water stargrass ( Heteranthera dubia (Jacq.) MacM.). Measures for the highly dissected leaves of Eurasian watermilfoil involved development of a regression equation relating leaf length to direct measures of a subsample of leaf parts. Measures for the simple leaves of the stargrass were sums of measured triangles. Stem surfaces for both species were calculated as measured cylinders. Though the means of the stem length and leaf length were larger for stargrass samples, their mean surface area was 95 cm 2 which was less than the 108 cm 2 recorded for Eurasian watermilfoil samples. Relating surface area to dry weight for the stargrass was straightforward, with 1 mg of dry weight yielding an average 0.678 cm 2 of surface area. Biomass measures for the water milfoil were confounded by the additional weight of epiphytic algae persisting on cleaned samples. The results suggest that a lesstime consuming method for surface area measures of plants with highly dissected leaves and a caveat for using biomass measures to estimate surface area in such plants.

Evaluation of macrophyte control in 38 Florida lakes using triploid grass carp

Florida’s large number of shallow lakes, warm climate and long growing season have contributed to the development of excessive growths of aquatic macrophytes that have seriously interfered with many water use activities. The introduction of exotic aquatic macrophyte species such as hydrilla ( Hydrilla verticillata ) have added significantly to aquatic plant problems in Florida lakes. The use of grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella ) can be an effective and economical control for aquatic vegetation such as hydrilla. Early stocking rates (24 to 74 grass carp per hectare of lake area) resulted in grass carp consumption rates that vastly exceeded the growth rates of the aquatic plants and often resulted in the total loss of all submersed vegetation. This study looked at 38 Florida lakes that had been stocked with grass carp for 3 to 10 years with stocking rates ranging from < 1 to 59 grass carp per hectare of lake and 1 to 207 grass carp per hectare of vegetation to determine the long term effects of grass carp on aquatic macrophyte communities. The median PAC (percent area coverage) value of aquatic macrophytes for the study lakes after they were stocked with grass carp was 14% and the median PVI (percent volume infested) value of aquatic macrophytes was 2%. Only lakes stocked with less than 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation tended to have higher than median PAC and PVI values. When grass carp are stocked at levels of > 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation the complete control of aquatic vegetation can be achieved, with the exception of a few species of plants that grass carp have extreme difficulty consuming. If the management goal for a lake is to control some of the problem aquatic plants while maintaining a small population of predominately unpalatable aquatic plants, grass carp can be stocked at approximately 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation.

Wide Screening of Phage-Displayed Libraries Identifies Immune Targets in Planta

Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns and virulence effectors are recognized by plants as a first step to mount a defence response against potential pathogens. This recognition involves a large family of extracellular membrane receptors and other immune proteins located in different sub-cellular compartments. We have used phage-display technology to express and select for Arabidopsis proteins able to bind bacterial pathogens. To rapidly identify microbe-bound phage, we developed a monitoring method based on microarrays. This combined strategy allowed for a genome-wide screening of plant proteins involved in pathogen perception. Two phage libraries for high-throughput selection were constructed from cDNA of plants infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, or from combined samples of the virulent isolate DC3000 of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and its avirulent variant avrRpt2. These three pathosystems represent different degrees in the specificity of plant-microbe interactions. Libraries cover up to 26107 different plant transcripts that can be displayed as functional proteins on the surface of T7 bacteriophage. A number of these were selected in a bio-panning assay for binding to Pseudomonas cells. Among the selected clones we isolated the ethylene response factor ATERF-1, which was able to bind the three bacterial strains in competition assays. ATERF-1 was rapidly exported from the nucleus upon infiltration of either alive or heat-killed Pseudomonas. Moreover, aterf-1 mutants exhibited enhanced susceptibility to infection. These findings suggest that ATERF-1 contains a microbe-recognition domain with a role in plant defence. To identify other putative pathogen-binding proteins on a genome-wide scale, the copy number of selected-vs.-total clones was compared by hybridizing phage cDNAs with Arabidopsis microarrays. Microarray analysis revealed a set of 472 candidates with significant fold change. Within this set defence-related genes, including well-known targets of bacterial effectors, are over-represented. Other genes non-previously related to defence can be associated through this study with general or strain-specific recognition of Pseudomonas.

Ecological study of the River Lambourn. Report for the period October 1970 to September 1973

Few detailed studies have been made on the ecology of the chalk streams. A complex community of plants and animals is present and much more information is required to achieve an understanding of the requirements and interactions of all the species. It is important that the rivers affected by this scheme should be studied and kept under continued observation so that any effects produced by the scheme can be detected. This need has been recognised by the Thames Conservancy and the Water Resources Board who jointly sponsored this investigation on one of the chalk streams involved in the scheme. The present investigation has two main objectives both of which depend on obtaining a detailed picture of the ecology of the river at the present time. First, it will provide basic information on the state of the river prior to the development of the pumping scheme which will be available for comparison at any later date. Secondly, it may be possible to use some of the data to predict the ecological changes which may occur if the flow of the river is altered by the pumping scheme. The study covers suspended solids, invertebrates, fish.This report is part of a series of fives studies on the River Lambourn which were undertaken between 1970 and 1979. [PDF contains 24 pages]

Ecological study of chalk and limestone streams. Annual Report October 1974 to September 1975

Few detailed studies have been made on the ecology of the chalk streams. A complex community of plants and animals is present and much more information is required to achieve an understanding of the requirements and interactions of all the species. It is important that the rivers affected by this scheme should be studied and kept under continued observation so that any effects produced by the scheme can be detected. The report gives a brief synopsis of work carried out during the second year of a four year ecological study sponsored jointly by the Thames Water Authority and the Central Water Planning Unit. It assumes some familiarity with the investigations carried out on the River Lambourn during the preceding three years which was sponsored jointly by the Thames Conservancy and Water Resources Board (immediate predecessors of the present sponsoring organisations). (PDF contains 31 pages)

Ecological study of chalk and limestone stream. Annual report October 1975 to September 1976

Few detailed studies have been made on the ecology of the chalk streams. A complex community of plants and animals is present and much more information is required to achieve an understanding of the requirements and interactions of all the species. It is important that the rivers affected by this scheme should be studied and kept under continued observation so that any effects produced by the scheme can be detected. The report gives a brief synopsis of work carried out during the third year of a four year ecological study sponsored jointly by the Thames Water Authority and the Central Water Planning Unit. It assumes . It assumes some familiarity with the investigations carried out on the River Lambourn during the preceding three years which was sponsored jointly by the Thames Conservancy and Water Resources Board (immediate predecessors of the present sponsoring organisations). (PDF contains 35 pages)

Ecological study of chalk streams. Lambourn project. Interim report October 1977 to April 1979

Few detailed studies have been made on the ecology of the chalk streams. A complex community of plants and animals is present and much more information is required to achieve an understanding of the requirements and interactions of all the species. It is important that the rivers affected by this scheme should be studied and kept under continued observation so that any effects produced by the scheme can be detected. The report gives a synopsis of work carried out between 1971 and 1979 focusing on the present phase 1978-1979. It assumes some familiarity with the investigations carried out on the River Lambourn during the preceding years. The aims of the present phase of the project may be divided into two broad aspects. The first involves collecting further information in the field and includes three objectives: a continuation of studies on the Lambourn sites at Bagnor; comparative studies on other chalk streams; and a comparative study on a limestone stream. The second involves detailed analyses of data previously collected to document the recovery of the Lambourn from operational pumping and to attempt to develop simple conceptual and predictive models applicable over a wide range of physical and geographical variables. (PDF contains 43 pages)

Survey of the lesser silver water beetle Hydrochara caraboides in Cheshire

This is the report on the Survey of the Lesser Silver Water Beetle Hydrochara caraboides in Cheshire 1997 by the English Nature Research Reports. The three surveyed areas were the ponds at Reaseheath, Mickle Trafford and Brookhouse Farm. The report goes through the method of survey and individual results for each location/pond, aspects of the breeding sites considered favourable to Hydrochara caraboides as depth, vegetation, predators and prey species, surrounding land. It comes with suggestions for further work and appendixes. Appendix A contains tabulated lists of plants and invertebrates found in the various ponds, Appendix B shows grid references and a brief description of ponds at Brookhouse Farm, pond diagrams are plotted in Appendix C.

我国重要成煤植物的解剖学研究

本研究工作在研究华夏植物区重要成煤植物的解剖学特征的基础上，重点讨论了华夏植物区科达植物的地质地理分布特征以及科达植物的起源和演化问题，并根据煤巾植物残体研究成果，讨论了我国不同地质时代几种特殊煤的成因问题，把古植物学研究与国民经济的发展联系起来。 本研究工作的主要成果概括如下： 1 华夏植物区的科达植物主要分布于华北植物地理区，其起源时间可能与欧美植物区的科达植物一样早，但其繁盛期却比欧美植物区的要晚、而且其生存的历程要长. 2 华夏植物区的科达植物除了Mesoxylon和Pennsylvanioxylon(=Cordaixylon)二个自然属外，还有第三个自然属存在，即Shanxioxylon属。其茎和生殖器官的解剖构造与前二个属明显不同。 在茎的解剖构造上，Shanxioxylon介于Mesoxylon和Pennsylvanioxylon之间，但在生殖器官的构造上Shanxioxylon显然要比后二者进化。 3 山西太原西山煤田早二叠世早期太原组上部7号煤层煤核中的一种观音座莲目生殖器官一山西虫囊蕨（新种）Scolecopteris shanxiensis sp．nov.是华夏植物区目前发现的第二种具解剖构造的晚古生代观音座莲目生殖器官化石，与虫囊蕨属已有的29个具解剖构造的种相比，本新种具有较进化特征。 4 产于华南晚二叠世的举世闻名的“乐平煤”巾的“树皮体”组分不是来源于鳞木类周皮或辉木类小根皮层，而可能是来源于一种裸子植物的根的木栓组织，这种根很有可能是大羽羊齿类的根一刺根茎。 5 我国北方侏罗纪煤中，主要由银杏类植物形成的煤具有形成石油的很大潜力，而主要由松杉类或苏铁类植物形成的煤形成石油的希望不大。 6 我国云南晚第三纪特殊煤种一浅色褐煤（白泡煤）的主要成煤植物不是泥炭藓植物，而是草本被子植物。