Greater plantain (Plantago major)

Daun sendok or greater plantain (Plantago major) is a plant species in the Plantaginaceae, annual herb with rosette leaves, 15-30 cm in diameter, oval-shaped leaves, 5-20 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, pointed tip, smooth edges, stalk and 5-9 veins along the leaf.

P. major has small, greenish-brown flowers with purple stamens, dense thorns 5-15 cm long on stems 13-15 cm high. Seeds are attached to long spikes that soar high above the leaves. Each plant can produce up to 20,000 seeds, very small and oval in shape.

Greater plantains grow in grasses and fields, along roadsides and in other areas that have been disturbed by humans. Young leaves are eaten raw, older, more fibrous leaves are boiled in stews and eaten. Mature leaves contain flexible and strong fibers for making small ropes, fishing line, stitches.

Plants contain phytochemicals allantoin, aucubin, ursolic acid, flavonoids, and asperuloside. The leaves are commonly used in traditional medicine for wounds, or insect stings. The root is used for fever and respiratory infections.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Tribe: Plantagineae
Genus: Plantago
Species: Plantago major
Subspecies: Plantago major ssp. intermedia, Plantago major ssp. major

Laniger bat tick (Ixodes lanigeri), new hard tick species (Ixodidae) from mouse-eared bats (Myotis) in Vietnam

NEWS - Researchers have identified Ixodes ticks from Vietnam based on morphological and molecular characteristics of females, nymphs and larvae as a new species, laniger bat tick ( Ixodes lanigeri ), which like other members of the Ixodes ariadnae complex appears to show a preference for vesper bats as a typical host. Historically, for more than a century and a half, only one species has been called the “long-legged bat tick”: Ixodes vespertilionis Koch. However, over the past decade, it has been molecularly recognized that long-legged ixodid ticks associated with bats may represent at least six species. Host associations and geographic separation may explain the evolutionary divergence of the new species from its closest living relative Murina hilgendorfi Peters in East Asia, Japan, as no Myotis or Murina spp. have overlapping distributions between Vietnam and the Japanese mainland. On the other hand, assuming that I. lanigeri may be present in other myotine bats and knowing that s...

Four new species and four newly recorded species of Omphale Haliday 1833 (Eulophidae) from China

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Kemadih (Schultesianthus coriaceus)

Kemadih ( Schultesianthus coriaceus ) is a species of plant in the Solanaceae family. It grows as a climber and covers host trees. It is a perennial, multi-branched, hardwood plant with hard, brown bark and dark green young bark. S. coriaceus has thick leaves, 15 cm long and 8 cm wide. A central vein is linear, with a pointed tip and base. The upper surface is dark green and the lower surface is bright green. The petiole is 3 cm long. The flowers are fan-shaped with 5 inflorescences. The base is narrow, whitish-yellow or bright green, and 8 cm wide. Four inflorescences with brownish-white tips and one inflorescence with a green tip grow in the center. The fruit is green, 3.5 cm long, and the stalk is 2 cm long. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Solanaceae Subfamily: Solanoideae Tribe: Solandreae Genus: Schultesianthus Species: Schultesianthus coriaceus

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