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Milkweeds
''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides. However, as with many such plants, some species feed upon milkweed leaves or the nectar from their flowers. A noteworthy feeder on milkweeds is the monarch butterfly, which uses and requires certain milkweeds as host plants for its larvae. The ''Asclepias'' genus contains over 200 species distributed broadly across Africa, North America, and South America. It previously belonged to the family Asclepiadaceae, which is now classified as the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. The genus was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, who named it after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. Flowers Members of the genus produce some of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monarch Butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It is among the most familiar of List of butterflies of North America, North American butterflies and an iconic pollinator, although it is not an especially effective pollinator of milkweeds. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of . A Müllerian mimic, the viceroy butterfly, is similar in color and pattern, but is markedly smaller and has an extra black stripe across each hindwing. The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its annual southward late-summer/autumn instinctive Monarch butterfly migration, migration from the northern and central United States and southern Canada to Florida and Mexico. During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asclepias Syriaca
''Asclepias syriaca'', commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to southern Canada and much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding the drier parts of the prairies. It is in the genus ''Asclepias'', the milkweeds. It grows in sandy soils as well as other kinds of soils in sunny areas. Description ''A. syriaca'' is a clonal perennial forb growing up to tall. Individual plants grow from propagative roots. All parts of common milkweed plants produce a white latex when cut. The simple leaves are opposite, sometimes whorled; broadly ovate-lanceolate. They grow to long and broad, usually with entire, undulate margins and reddish main veins. They have very short petioles and velvety undersides. The highly fragrant, nectariferous flowers vary from white (rarely) through pinkish and purplish and occur in umbellate cymes. Individual flowers are about i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asclepias Incarnata
''Asclepias incarnata'', the swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, rose milkflower, swamp silkweed, or white Indian hemp, is a herbaceous perennial plant species native to North America. It grows in damp through wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has latex containing cardiac glycosides, toxic steroids, a characteristic that repels many species of insects and mammals. Description Swamp milkweed is an upright, tall plant, growing from thick, fleshy, white roots. Typically, its Plant stem, stems are branched and the clump forming plants emerge in late spring after most other plants have begun growth for the year. The oppositely arranged leaves are long and wide and are narrow and lanceolate, lance-shaped, with the ends tapering to a sharp point. The plants bloom in early through mid-summer, producing small, fragrant, pink to mauve (sometimes white) colored flowers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardenolide
A cardenolide is a type of steroid. Many plants contain derivatives, collectively known as cardenolides, including many in the form of cardenolide glycosides (cardenolides that contain structural groups derived from sugars). Cardenolide glycosides are often toxic; specifically, they are cardiac arrest, heart-arresting. Cardenolides are toxic to animals through inhibition of the enzyme Na+/K+-ATPase, Na+/K+-ATPase, which is responsible for maintaining the sodium and Potassium in biology, potassium ion gradients across the cell membranes. Etymology The term derives from ''card-'' "heart" (from Greek language, Greek καρδία ''kardiā'') and the suffix , referring to the lactone ring with double bond at C17. Cardenolides are a class of steroids (or aglycones if viewed as cardiac glycoside constituents), and cardenolides are a subtype of this class (see Wikipedia:MeSH D04#MeSH D04.808.155 --- cardenolides, MeSH D codes list). Structure Cardenolides are C(23)-steroids with methyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asclepiadoideae
The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, it was treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family. They form a group of perennial herbs, twining shrubs, lianas or rarely trees but notably also contain a significant number of leafless stem succulents. The name comes from the type genus '' Asclepias'' (milkweeds). There are 348 genera, with about 2,900 species. They are mainly located in the tropics to subtropics, especially in Africa and South America. The florally-advanced tribe Stapelieae within this family contains several relatively familiar stem succulent genera, such as '' Orbea'', '' Huernia, Stapelia'' and '' Hoodia''. They are remarkable for the complex mechanisms which they have developed for pollination, independently parallel to the unrelated Orchidaceae, such as the grouping of their pollen into pollinia. The "fragrance" (or odor) of the flowers, often called "c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiac Glycoside
Cardiac glycosides are a class of organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart and decrease its rate of contractions by inhibiting the cellular sodium-potassium ATPase pump. Their beneficial medical uses include treatments for congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias; however, their relative toxicity prevents them from being widely used. Most commonly found as defensive poisons in several plant genera such as ''Digitalis'' (the foxgloves) and '' Asclepias'' (the milkweeds), these compounds nevertheless have a diverse range of biochemical effects regarding cardiac cell function and have also been suggested for use in cancer treatment. Classification General structure The general structure of a cardiac glycoside consists of a steroid molecule attached to a sugar (glycoside) and an R group. The steroid nucleus consists of four fused rings to which other functional groups such as methyl, hydroxyl, and aldehyde groups can be attached to influence th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latex
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms) and in some Mushroom, mushrooms (especially species of ''Lactarius''). It is a complex emulsion that coagulation, coagulates on exposure to air, consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, Vegetable oil, oils, tannins, resins, and Natural gum, gums. It is usually exuded after tissue injury. In most plants, latex is white, but some have yellow, orange, or scarlet latex. Since the 17th century, latex has been used as a term for the fluid substance in plants, deriving from the Latin word for "liquid". It serves mainly as Antipredator adaptation, defense against Herbivore, herbivores and Fungivore, fungivores.Taskirawati, I. and Tuno, N., 2016Fungal defense against mycophagy in milk caps ''Science Report Kanazaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Kunkel Small
John Kunkel Small (January 31, 1869 – January 20, 1938) was an American botanist. He studied plants in the southeastern United States and wrote a book about the deterioration of habitats in Florida. Early life and education Small was born on January 31, 1869, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He studied botany at Franklin & Marshall College, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1892. Then he studied at Columbia University, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1895 and a doctorate in science in 1912. Career After his first graduation in 1895, he became a special agent for the Georgia Geological Survey. Then, returning to Columbia University, he became the first Curator of Museums at the New York Botanical Garden, a post at which he served from 1898 until 1906. It was mainly at that time of his life when he issued several exsiccata, exsiccatae, among others the series ''Mosses of the Southern United States, distributed from the Herbarium of Columb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phytochemistry (journal)
''Phytochemistry'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal covering pure and applied plant chemistry, plant biochemistry and molecular biology. It is published by Elsevier and is an official publication for the Phytochemical Society of Europe, the Phytochemical Society of North America, and the Phytochemical Society of Asia. A sister journal ''Phytochemistry Letters'' is published since 2008. Abstracting and indexing ''Phytochemistry'' is abstracted and indexed in: According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 4.072. References External links *{{Official website, http://www.journals.elsevier.com/phytochemistry/ Biochemistry journals Botany journals Elsevier academic journals English-language journals Academic journals established in 1961 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable members of the family include oleander, dogbanes, milkweeds, and periwinkles. The family is native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members as well. The former family Asclepiadaceae (now known as Asclepiadoideae) is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found here. Many species are tall trees found in tropical forests, but some grow in tropical dry ( xeric) environments. Also perennial herbs from temperate zones occur. Many of these plants have milky latex, and many species are poisonous if ingested, the family being rich in genera containing alkaloids and cardiac glycosides, those containing the latter oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was the son of a curate and was born in Råshult, in the countryside of Småland, southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family (, : ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family—or whether a described family should be acknowledged—is established and decided upon by active taxonomists. There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to a lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
