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Veratrum Californicum
''Veratrum californicum'' (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is an extremely poisonous plant native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet. It grows 1 to 2 meters tall, with an erect, unbranched, heavily leafy stem resembling a cornstalk. It prefers quite moist soil, and can cover large areas in dense stands near streams or in wet meadows. Many inch-wide flowers cluster along the often-branched top of the stout stem; they have 6 white tepals, a green center, 6 stamens, and a 3-branched pistil (see image below). The buds are tight green spheres. The heavily veined, bright green leaves can be more than a foot long. ''Veratrum californicum'' displays mast seeding; populations bloom and seed little in most years, but in occasional years bloom and seed heavily in synchrony. The species usua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias Durand
Elias Durand (January 25, 1794 – August 15, 1873), born Élie Magloire Durand, was an American pharmacist and botanist.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 He was born in France. Durand was born in Mayenne, France, apprenticed as a chemist and pharmacist in Mayenne from 1808–1812, studied pharmacy in Paris, and on his graduation in 1813 joined the medical corps of Napoleon's army. He served for 14 months, and was present at the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, Hanau, Katzbach, and Leipzig. In 1814 he resigned his commission, and became an apothecary in Nantes where he studied botany intensively for two years. After Napoleon's downfall, he was suspected of Napoleonic tendencies, and sailed to New York City in 1816. After intervals in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, he ultimately settled in Philadelphia, where he established a drugstore employed by many of the most eminent physicians of the day. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclopamine
Cyclopamine (11-deoxojervine) is a naturally occurring steroidal alkaloid. It is a teratogenic component of corn lily ('' Veratrum californicum''), which when consumed during gestation has been demonstrated to induce birth defects, including the development of a single eye (cyclopia) in offspring. The molecule was named after this effect, which was originally observed by Idaho lamb farmers in 1957 after their herds gave birth to cycloptic lambs. It then took more than a decade to identify corn lily as the culprit. Later work suggested that differing rain patterns had changed grazing behaviours, which led to a greater quantity of corn lily to be ingested by pregnant sheep. Cyclopamine interrupts the sonic hedgehog signalling pathway, instrumental in early development, ultimately causing birth defects. Discovery and naming In 1957, Idaho sheep ranchers contacted the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) after their sheep gave birth to lambs with a fatal singular eye deformity. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of The Rocky Mountains
Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora'' for purposes of specificity. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of California
California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European colonialism, European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three Phytochorion, phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic Province, a geographical area that covers most of California, portions of neighboring Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, and is regarded as a "world hotspot" of biodiversity. Introduction In 1993, ''The Jepson Manual'' estimated that California was home to 4,693 native species and 1,169 native subspecies or varieties, including 1,416 endemic species. A 2001 study by the California Native Plant Society estimated 6,300 native plants. These estimates continue to change over time. Of California's total plant population, 2,153 species, subspecies, and varieties are endemism, endemic and native to California alone, according to the 1993 Jepson Manual study. This botanical diversity stems not only from the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of The Western United States
Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora'' for purposes of specificity. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veratrum
''Veratrum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in damp habitats across much of temperate and subarctic Europe, Asia, and North America. ''Veratrum'' species are vigorous herbaceous perennials with highly poisonous black rhizomes, and panicles of white or brown flowers on erect stems. In English they are known as false hellebores, false helleborines, and corn lilies. However, ''Veratrum'' is not closely related to hellebores, helleborines, maize, or lilies. File:Veratrum nigrum Ciemiężyca czarna flowers 01.jpg, '' Veratrum nigrum'' flowers, Poland File:Veratrum album subsp. oxysepalum 0807.JPG, '' Veratrum album'' subsp. ''oxysepalum'', Fukushima Prefecture, Japan File:VeratrumViride-pousses-1.jpg, ''Veratrum viride'' shoot emerging, Quebec, Canada File:Veratrum stamineum 06.jpg, '' Veratrum stamineum'' in the mountains of Japan Linguistics Veratrum is from the Latin word for "hellebore", of uncertain origin; Anatoly Liberman believes t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hedgehog Signaling Pathway
The Hedgehog signaling pathway is a signaling pathway that transmits information to embryonic cells required for proper cell differentiation. Different parts of the embryo have different concentrations of hedgehog signaling proteins. The pathway also has roles in the adult. Diseases associated with the malfunction of this pathway include cancer. The Hedgehog signaling pathway is one of the key regulators of animal development and is present in all bilaterians. The pathway takes its name from its polypeptide ligand, an intracellular signaling molecule called Hedgehog (''Hh'') found in fruit flies of the genus '' Drosophila''; fruit fly larvae lacking the ''Hh'' gene are said to resemble hedgehogs. ''Hh'' is one of Drosophila's segment polarity gene products, involved in establishing the basis of the fly body plan. The molecule remains important during later stages of embryogenesis and metamorphosis. Mammals have three Hedgehog homologues, Desert (DHH), Indian (IHH), and Son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclopia
Cyclopia (named after the Greek mythology characters cyclopes), also known as alobar holoprosencephaly, is the most extreme form of holoprosencephaly and is a congenital disorder (birth defect) characterized by the failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the Orbit (anatomy), orbits of the eye into two cavities. Its incidence is 1 in 16,000 in born animals and 1 in 200 in miscarriage, miscarried fetuses. Signs and symptoms Typically, the nose is either missing or not functional. This deformity (called Proboscis (anomaly), proboscis) forms above the center eye and is characteristic of a form of cyclopia called rhinencephaly or rhinocephaly. Most such embryos are either naturally miscarriage, miscarried or are stillbirth, stillborn upon childbirth, delivery. Although cyclopia is rare, several cyclopic human babies are preserved in medical museums (e.g. The University of Amsterdam, Vrolik Museum, Amsterdam, Trivandrum Medical College). Some extreme cases of cycl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holoprosencephaly
Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a cephalic disorder in which the prosencephalon (the forebrain of the embryo) fails to Prenatal development, develop into two Cerebral hemisphere, hemispheres, typically occurring between the 18th and 28th day of gestation. Normally, the forebrain is formed and the face begins to develop in the fifth and sixth weeks of human pregnancy. The condition also occurs in other species. Holoprosencephaly is estimated to occur in approximately 1 in every 250 conceptions; most cases are not compatible with life and result in fetal death Uterus, in utero due to deformities to the skull and brain. However, holoprosencephaly is still estimated to occur in approximately 1 in every 8,000 live births. When the embryo's forebrain does not divide to form bilateral cerebral hemispheres (the left and right halves of the brain), it causes Congenital abnormality, defects in the development of the face and in brain structure and function. The severity of holoprosencephaly is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muldamine
Muldamine is a phytosterol alkaloid isolated from ''Veratrum californicum''. It is the acetate ester of the piperidine steroid teinemine. See also * Veratrum ''Veratrum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in damp habitats across much of temperate and subarctic Europe, Asia, and North America. ''Veratrum'' species are vigorous herbaceous perennials with highly poiso ... * Veratridine References Steroidal alkaloids Piperidines Phytosterols Acetate esters {{Steroid-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poisonous Plant
Plants that cause illness or death after consuming them are referred to as poisonous plants. The toxins in poisonous plants affect herbivores, and deter them from consuming the plants. Plants cannot move to escape their predators, so they must have other means of protecting themselves from herbivorous animals. Some plants have physical defenses such as thorns, spines and prickles, but by far the most common type of protection is chemical. Over millennia, through the process of natural selection, plants have evolved the means to produce a vast and complicated array of chemical compounds to deter herbivores. Tannin, for example, is a defensive compound that emerged relatively early in the evolutionary history of plants, while more complex molecules such as polyyne, polyacetylenes are found in younger groups of plants such as the Asterales. Many of the known Plant defense against herbivory, plant defense compounds primarily defend against consumption by insects, though other anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
