Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa)

Kencana ungu or pletesan or popping pod or minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa) is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae, an upright herb, up to 2 meters high and has many branches. The leaves are oval, with a pointed base, blunt tip, thin, flat surface, green, flat edges and pinnate veins.

R. tuberosa has leaves up to 13 cm long, 7 cm wide and stalks up to 4 cm long. Trumpet-shaped flowers, 4-5 cm in diameter and up to 6 cm long. The thin crown is purple or blue, five strands and fused downwards to form a tube.

The fruit is tubular with a pointed tip and 2-3 cm long. Young fruit is green, old fruit is brown. If the ripe fruit is exposed to water it will burst, detach and be thrown from the stalk. The seeds are round, flat and brown. Minnieroot uses taproots and tubers.

This plant contains active chemical compounds including alkaloids, triterpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins, coumarin and quinone dyes. Roots contains apigenin and luteolin. Seed oil contains myristic, capril and lauric acid.

Traditional treatment uses R. tuberosa as an antidiabetic, antipyretic, analgesic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. The leaves are ground into paste and used to treat wounds, itching, insect bites, venereal disease, wounds, tumors and rheumatic complaints.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Acanthaceae
Subfamily: Acanthoideae
Tribe: Ruellieae
Subtribe: Ruelliinae
Genus: Ruellia
Species: Ruellia tuberosa

Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar (Amanita javanica)

OPINION - Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar ( Amanita javanica ) is a mysterious fungus species and has been enigmatic since it was first reported by Boedijn in 1951 and after that no explanation or reporting of specimens is believed to be the same as expected. Boedijn (1951) described A. javanica which grew on Java island as having the characteristics covered in the Amanita genus. Corner and Bas in 1962 tried to describe Javan mocca and all species in Amanita based on specimens in Singapore. Over time some reports say that they have found A. javanica specimens in other Southeast Asia including also China, Japan, India and Nepal. But there is no definitive knowledge and many doubt whether the specimen is the same as described by Boedijn (1951). I was fortunate to have seen this species one afternoon and soon I took out a camera for some shots. In fact, I've only met this mushroom species once. Javan mocca is an endangered species and I have never seen in my experience in...

Purhepecha oak (Quercus purhepecha), new species of shrub oak endemic to the state of Michoacán, Mexico

NEWS - In Mexico, several Quercus shrubby species are taxonomically very problematic including 8 taxa with similar characteristics. Now researchers report the purhepecha oak ( Quercus purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla, S. Valencia & Coombes sp. nov.) as a new tomentose shrubby white oak species with a distribution only in the Cuitzeo basin in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Quercus Linnaeus (1753) subdivided into 2 subgenera and 8 sections of which section Quercus (white oaks) has the widest distribution in the Americas, Asia and Europe. This section is very diverse in Mexico and Central America with phylogenomic evidence indicating recent and accelerated speciation in these regions. The number of shrubby oak species in Mexico is still uncertain. De Luna-Bonilla of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues found at least 3 taxa in the TMVB, specifically Quercus frutex Trelease (1924), Quercus microphylla Née (1801) and Quercus repanda Bonpland (1809). In 2016,...

Tekijem (Cyperus cyperoides)

Tekijem ( Cyperus cyperoides ) is a plant species in Cyperaceae, annual grasses that grow in seasonal wetlands, open or shaded fields, swamps, ponds, rice fields, roadsides, open forests, secondary forests and shrubs at altitudes up to 1,800 m in the tropics. C. cyperoides has an upright, triangular shape, 20-75 cm tall from a very short rhizome and has no stolon. The lanceolate-shaped leaves are narrow and long, the tips are pointed, slippery, shiny, green and grow at the bottom and at the top of the stem. The terminal flower appears on the tip of the stem, cylindrical spiklet shaped and green. Each stem has two to seven flowers, each of which has a short or long stem that grows at the end of the stem together with the leaves. Tekijem grows solitary or in small groups at a distance. Propagating using vegetative and generative methods using seeds. At least three sub-species are Cyperus cyperoides cyperoides , Cyperus cyperoides flavus and Cyperus cyperoides pseudoflavus . Th...

Dlium