Bluemink (Ageratum houstonianum)

Bluemink (Ageratum houstonianum) is a species of plant in the Asteraceae, an annual herbaceous shrub, cylindrical stems, branching, and green or reddish, white-haired, 0.3-1 meter high, leaves oval to triangular, 2-7 cm long, wide 2-5 cm, green, serrated margins and white hairs.

A. houstonianum has bright blue or red or purple or white flower heads. Flower heads in dense corymbs. The flowers are thread-like and have fine hairs. The lanceolate bracts are narrow, pointed, serrated at the top and glandularly hairy.

This species grows to form dense colonies in grasslands, moist forest clearings and bushes up to an elevation of 1000 meters, prefers cool soil and full sun.

This plant produces a methoprene-like compound that disrupts the normal function of the corpus allatum in insects, the organ responsible for secreting hormones and making insects sterile. This plant is toxic to grazing animals causing liver damage.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Eupatorieae
Subtribe: Ageratinae
Genus: Ageratum
Species: Ageratum houstonianum
Vareity: Ageratum houstonianum var. angustatum, Ageratum houstonianum var. muticescens, Ageratum houstonianum var. tipikal
Form: Ageratum houstonianum f. isokroom, Ageratum houstonianum f. luteum, Ageratum houstonianum f. niveum, Ageratum houstonianum f. normal, Ageratum houstonianum f. versikolor

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations, ...

Perlis fairy lantern (Thismia perlisensis) resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm.

NEWS - Perlis fairy lantern ( Thismia perlisensis Besi & Rusea sp. nov.) was discovered during a scientific expedition in a wetland forest at the foot of a limestone hill, Perlis State Park, resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley (1905) and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm. (1910), but has a prominent reddish dome-shaped annulus. Thismia perlisensis can be easily distinguished from T. arachnites and T. javanica by its blood-red dome-shaped annulus (vs. ring-like with a rim, orange annulus), prominent trilobed stigma with bifid and subulate lobes 1.8 mm long (vs. oblong, truncated stigma), and claviform apex of inner tepal appendage (vs. subulate apex of inner tepal appendage). Stenoendemic to northern Peninsular Malaysia, Perlis State and possibly Langkawi Island. Although there have been sightings of the plant on Langkawi Island, this location is based solely on photos posted on social media. There are currently no specimens or additional information to confirm. The new species grows in...

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