Both plants and animals make decisions in response to the environment to maximize their fitness. Plants use dormancy in seeds to move through time and space, and timing of the transition to germination is influenced by external cues, including temperature. Here, we report the presence of a decision-making center within …
It is unlikely that many of us will ever see Phragmipedium kovachii in the flesh. Discovered only seven years ago, the stunning pink orchid grows on inhospitable limestone cliffs in Peru's tropical cloud forest. But visitors will now be able to see the orchid at the world's first gallery dedicated …
It will be more greenery for Lalbagh Botanical Gardens as the horticulture department has embarked upon a special tree exchange programme, to add to the parks existing diversity on the lines of animal exchange plans undertaken by zoos of the country. Though the City's lung space is shrinking, the silver …
The habitat loss, increasing air pollution, changes in the microclimatic conditions and uncontrolled harvest have become the major detrimental factors for lichen diversity in India. Propagation of lichens by means of tissue culture method proved to be uneconomical and their re-introduction into the field has been unsuccessful. Hence declaring lichen-rich …
The University of Peshawar (UoP) and the provincial wildlife department have locked horns over the acquisition of the Azakhel Park, Nowshera, which was allotted by the district government to the varsity for establishing a botanical garden. The Nowshera district government had allotted 83 acres of land of Azakhel Park to …
Medicinal plants harvested from the wild remain of immense importance for the well-being of millions of people around the world. Providing both a relief from illness and a source of income, over 70,000 plant species are thought to be medicinal. Loss of habitat combined with over-harvesting threatens the survival of …
The present paper documents the wealth of 62 medicinal plant species used by the indigenous Nath community of Assam in different types of health treatment. The botanical name, family name, vernacular name, parts used and their application has been provided in the present paper. Jan 2008
food production in plants is still not optimum because their slow adaptation to changes in the environment such as higher levels of carbon dioxide. Due to this, photosynthesis is still below par. So, how can plants enhance photosynthesis? Many biotechnologists have tried to increase the production by altering genes in …
An ethnomedicinal survey was undertaken to collect the information about medicinal plants in two villages (Utpalta and Kwarka) of Chakrata Forest Division, Uttarakhand. Common plants with medicinal value were catalogued based on the collection during the field trips and the information was gathered through oral interviews conducted with local knowledgeable …
Botany students might soon have a revealing amphibian in their labs. Masayuki Sumida, a professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology at Japan's Hiroshima University, has bred a diaphanous frog. "You can watch its organs without dissection,' Sumida told the news agency Agence France-Presse. Dissecting animals for science has sparked …
Jatindra Sarma, a forest officer in Assam has compiled a book on the medicinal value of plants in the state. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Assam with Special Reference to Karbi Anglong lists around 450 medicinal plants. The book should be a ready reckoner for scholars of the various Indian …
problem drug: Pediatric ritalin use may affect developing brain in children, says a new study. Use of the attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder drug may cause long-term changes in the brain, suggests a study on very young rats by researchers from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Ritalin
Book>>Trees of Delhi A Field Guide by Pradip Krishen Penguin Books India>> Dorling Kindersley 2006 Concrete jungle is a phrase often used to describe a lot of urban areas. Delhi is no exception. It's certainly not the archetypal naturalist's delight. But Pradip Krishen is no archetypal naturalist: he is a …
It's quite well-known that indigenous communities share an intricate relationship with their environments. Their understanding of plants, also called ethnobotanical knowledge, is crucial to the health of these communities. Researchers from four different universities
an endangered medicinal plant has been rediscovered in Arunachal Pradesh after about a century. Scientists of the Botanical Survey of India came upon the Begonia tessaricarpa in the Ligu village of Upper Subansiri district while cataloguing the flora of the district. "The leaves of this plant are used by the …
Baobab trees are often cited in the literature as water-storing trees, yet few studies have examined this assumption. We assessed the role of stored water in buffering daily water deficits in two species of baobabs (Adansonia rubrostipa Jum. and H. Perrier and Adansonia za Baill.) in a tropical dry forest …
The Great Wall of China, built to hinder marauding tribes, hampers the flow of plant genes too. Members of the same species growing on either side are genetically quite different, indicates a new study of the Juyong Guan region. The alterations in the plants' genetic make-up are likely to have …
In 1994, P Pushpangadan, then director, Tropical Botanical Research Institute, Vellore, visited the botanical garden in Warsaw, Poland. A board indicating a
THE DAPURI DRAWINGS, ALEXANDER GIBSON AND THE BOMBAY BOTANIC GARDENS H J Noltie . Published by Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad in association with the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh . 2002 . 240 pages This is a coffee table book with beautiful watercolour drawings, wherein the author has made an effort to …
Vanda griffithii, an orchid species that was last spotted in Bhutan in 1843 have been rediscovered by two botanists. Phillip Cribb and Nicholas Pearce of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, the UK, said they also found 12 species of orchids that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. …
