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Mucuna
''Mucuna'' is a genus of around 110 accepted species of vines and shrubs of the Family (biology), family Fabaceae: tribe Phaseoleae, typically found in tropical and subtropical forests in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, southern, southeastern, and eastern Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. The leaves are trifoliolate, alternate, or spiraled, and the flowers are pea-like but larger, with distinctive curved petals, and occurring in racemes. Like other legumes, ''Mucuna'' plants bear pods. They are generally bat-pollinated and produce seeds that are buoyant sea-beans. These have a characteristic three-layered appearance, appearing like the eyes of a large mammal in some species and like a hamburger in others (most notably ''Mucuna sloanei, M. sloanei'') and giving rise to common names like deer-eye beans, donkey-eye beans, ox-eye beans, or hamburger seed. The name of the genus is derived from ''mucunã'', a Tupi–Guarani languages, Tupi–Guarani word for these ...
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Itching Powder
Itching powder is a Powder (substance), powder or powder-like substance that induces itching when applied onto human skin. This is usually done as a Practical joke device, practical joke or prank to an unsuspecting victim. Description and uses The cause of the irritation can be mechanical, such as products containing ground rose hips.Albert MR. Novelty shop "itching powder." ''Australasian J Dermatology''. 1998 Aug;39(3):188–89. Another common ingredient is ''Mucuna pruriens'',G.V. Joglekar, M.B. Bhide J.H. Balwani. An experimental method for screening antipruritic agents. ''British Journal of Dermatology''. Volume 75 Issue 3 p. 117. March 1963 a type of legume that produces seedpods coated with thousands of detachable spicules (needle-like hairs). The spicules contain an enzyme, mucunain, that causes severe itching, and they have been sold commercially as itching powder. ''Mucuna pruriens'' has been used to test the efficacy of antipruritic, anti-itch drugs. The term "itching p ...
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Mucunain
The proteolytic enzyme mucunain is a protein in the tissues of certain legumes of the genus ''Mucuna'', especially velvet bean (''Mucuna pruriens''). In these species the mucunain is found in stiff hairs, or trichomes, covering the seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ... pods. When the hairs rub off and come in contact with skin they cause severe itching and irritation. References Plant proteins Enzymes {{plant-physiology-stub ...
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Mucuna Holtonii
''Mucuna holtonii'' is a species of plant in the bean family, which is pollinated by bats. Bats are able to detect if the flowers have nectar using echolocation.*D. von Helversen and O. von Helversen. "Object recognition by echolocation: a nectar feedingbat exploiting the flowers of a rain forest vine". in Journal of Comp. Physiol. A. (2003) 189: 327-336.von Helversen & von Helversen (1999Acoustic guide in bat-pollinated flower''Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...'' 398:759-760. After an initial bat visit during which nectar is removed, the petals are arranged in a different manner (altering the shape of the flower). As a result, the unique "echo fingerprint" of petal arrangement informs the bat whether nectar is present or absent. It is thought that the p ...
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Sea-bean
__NOTOC__ Drift seeds (also sea beans) and drift fruits are seeds and fruits adapted for long-distance dispersal by water. Most are produced by tropical trees, and they can be found on distant beaches after drifting thousands of miles through ocean currents. This method of propagation has helped many species of plant such as the coconut colonize and establish themselves on previously barren islands. Consequently, drift seeds and fruits are of interest to scientists who study these currents. In botanical terminology, a drift fruit is a kind of diaspore, and drift seeds and fruits are disseminules. Sources of drift seeds * '' Caesalpinia bonduc'' – grey nickernut * '' Caesalpinia major'' – yellow nickernut * ''Carapa guianensis'' – crabwood (New World tropics) * ''Entada gigas'' – seaheart, (New World tropics) * '' Entada rheedii'' – snuff box sea bean, from the tropics of the Indian Ocean * ''Erythrina fusca'' – bucayo (pantropical) * '' Erythrina variegata'' †...
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Phaseoleae
The plant tribe (biology), tribe Phaseoleae is one of the subdivisions of the legume subfamily Faboideae, in the unranked Non-protein amino acid-accumulating clade, NPAAA clade. This group includes many of the beans cultivated for human and animal food, most importantly from the Genus, genera ''Glycine (plant), Glycine'', ''Phaseolus'', and ''Vigna''. Taxonomy Although the tribe as defined in the late 20th century does not appear to be monophyletic, there does seem to be a monophyletic group which roughly corresponds to the tribe Phaseoleae (with some changes). The earlier concept of Phaseoleae is Paraphyly, paraphyletic relative to the tribes Abreae and Psoraleeae, plus most of Millettieae and parts of Desmodieae. The following subtribes and genera are recognized by the USDA: [follow tribe links and genera lists for the accepted genera in each tribe] ;Cajaninae * ''Adenodolichos'' Harms * ''Bolusafra'' Kuntze * ''Cajanus'' Adans. * ''Carrissoa'' Baker f. * ''Chrysoscias'' E. ...
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Astraptes Fulgerator
''Telegonus fulgerator'', the two-barred flasher, is a species of spread-wing skipper butterfly in the family Hesperiidae which may constitute a possible cryptic species complex. It ranges all over the Americas, from the southern United States to northern Argentina. Description ''Telegonus fulgerator'' is a mid-sized skipper butterfly with the wing shape typical of this group. The upperside is black, with basal to postbasal blue corners which are more extensive on the forewings. There is one discal-tomal and one apical band on the forewing; these are usually off white to light blue but the former may be quite white towards the costal margin. The thorax has bluish hair on the back, the underside is yellow to orange.Hebert ''et al.'' (2004) The caterpillars and pupae show a wide range of colors and patterns, and the caterpillars also vary in food preference. Last-instar caterpillars are black with a pattern consisting of light to bright yellow dots along the sides, or rings of ...
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Raceme
A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows in height, with no predetermined growth limit. Examples of racemes occur on mustard (genus ''Brassica''), radish (genus ''Raphanus''), and orchid (genus ''Phalaenopsis'') plants. Definition A ''raceme'' or ''racemoid'' is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing pedicellate flowers (flowers having short floral stalks called ''Pedicel (botany), pedicels'') along its axis. In botany, an ''axis'' means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In indeterminate inflorescence-like racemes, the oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows in height, with no predetermined growth limit. A plant that flowers on a showy raceme may hav ...
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Specific Name (botany)
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (ICNCP). The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, including blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), chytrids, oomycetes, slime moulds and photosynthetic protists with their taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups (but excluding Microsporidia)." The purpose of a formal name is to have a single name that is accepted and used worldwide for a particular plant or plant group. For example, the botanical name ''Bellis perennis'' denotes a plant species which is native to most of the countries of Europe and the Middle East, where it has accumulated various names in many languages. Later, the plant was introd ...
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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 ...
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Protease
A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. They do this by cleaving the peptide bonds within proteins by hydrolysis, a reaction where water breaks Covalent bond, bonds. Proteases are involved in numerous biological pathways, including Digestion#Protein digestion, digestion of ingested proteins, protein catabolism (breakdown of old proteins), and cell signaling. In the absence of functional accelerants, proteolysis would be very slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteases can be found in all forms of life and viruses. They have independently convergent evolution, evolved multiple times, and different classes of protease can perform the same reaction by completely different catalytic mechanisms. Classification Based on catalytic residue Proteases can be classified into seven broad ...
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Mycosphaerella Mucunae
''Mycosphaerella'' is a genus of ascomycota. With more than 10,000 species, it is the largest genus of phytopathology, plant pathogen fungi. The following introduction about the fungal genus ''Mycosphaerella'' is copied (with permission) from the dissertation of W. Quaedvlieg (named: Re-evaluating ''Mycosphaerella'' and allied genera). Species belonging to the fungal genus ''Mycosphaerella'' (1884) (''Capnodiales'', ''Dothideomycetes'') have evolved as endophytes, saprotrophs and symbionts, but mostly ''Mycosphaerella'' species are foliicolous plant pathogens which are the cause of significant economical losses in both temperate and tropical crops worldwide. The generic concept of Mycosphaerella is based on the type species of the genus, ''M. punctiformis'', which was introduced 130 years ago in order to describe small loculoascomycetes with few distinct morphological traits. Species belonging to ''Mycosphaerella'' were characterised as having pseudothecial ascomata that can be ...
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