Economic Botany

Four o’clock, (Mirabilis jalapa): Distribution, Description, and Medicinal Uses

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Mirabilis jalapa Linn. (M. Jalapa) is a member of the Nyctaginaceae family and is known in English as Beauty of the Night, Four O’clock, Sweet Marvel of Peru. Four O’clock are tall herbaceous climbing plants with opposite leaves, enormous spectacular flowers, coriaceous obovoid fruits, and noticeable tuberous roots that are grown as ornamental plants all over the world. The blooms of this species are grown for their bright colour and pleasant odour, and they are used in food colouring. The leaves can also be cooked and consumed, but only as a last resort. The flower of M. Jalapa is known as “Four O’clock” since it blooms in the late afternoon. It has pink, red, yellow, white, and some bi-colour flowers with a little vanilla aroma.
Mirabilis is a genus of herbaceous shrubs endemic to North America and known as “four o’clock” (The wealth of India, Raw materials, 1998). Mirabilis himalaica is a Himalayan species (Kirtikar and Basu, 1991). Some species are ornamental and are grown in warmer climates. The plant’s blossoms emit a powerful odour at night that is both stupefying and capable of driving mosquitos away.

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Watpan (Tussilago farfara): Distribution, Habitat, Morphology, Economic Importance and Extracts

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Tussilago farfara L., sometimes known as coltsfoot, is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family that is widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The yellow flowers bloom in the early spring, but the leaves appear after the seeds have ripened. Coltsfoot flower buds are a traditional Chinese medicine that has been used to treat respiratory tract ailments for generations, as well as more recently, as a cough suppressant, expectorant, and soothing agent for mucosa, skin illnesses, wounds, and pimples.

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Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): History, Characteristics, Chemical Composition, Medicinal, and Traditional uses

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The Asteraceae family includes Taraxacum officinale, also known as dandelion. Dandelion gets its name from the French word Dent de Leon, which means “lion’s tooth.” In many Indo-European countries, the herb is known as “lion’s tooth,” as well as “lion’s tooth” in German and Spanish (diente de Leon). The serrated margins of the leaves allow this to happen. Eurasia is the origin of this plant. Its range includes Asia, Europe, North America, and the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate zone (Grieve, 1931). It’s been seen in India on Alpine meadows and slopes all across the Himalayas. It is found in altitudinal ranges of 1000-4000 m amsl, both extensively and narrowly dispersed (Hajra et al., 1995) It’s also known as Dudal, Radam, Bathur, and Haend in the Indian Himalayan region.

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Drumstick Tree: Classification, Distribution, Characteristics, Planting, Care and Uses

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Drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam) is a tropical perennial tree that goes by several names in different parts of the world, including Benzolive, Drumstick tree, kelor, Marango, French Jasmine, Acacia, Sajna, Horse-Radish tree.
It is primarily grown for the fruit (pod), which is a valuable commodity that is used in sambhar, vegetable curries, and pickles, among other dishes. In the same way, leaves can be utilised as a fresh leafy vegetable (better if not wilting) or as a dried leaf powder. It can also be used for windbreaks, green manure, green feed, and hog gum production.
It’s a drought-resistant, fast-growing perennial that adapts well to a variety of environments and farming systems. Almost every component of the tree is edible and has been for a long time. Moringa is grown in Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka. Many uses of the Moringa tree have been described by Fuglie (1999), including biomass production, animal forage, biogas, domestic cleaning agent, in feeding programmes to combat malnutrition, especially in African countries, as a blue dye, for fencing purposes, as fertiliser, green manure, for gum extraction and honey juice-clarifier, various medicines, as ornamental plantation, as bio-pesticide against seedling damping-off, rope making, tanning hides, and water purification.

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BOX PLANT: Distribution, Characteristics, Culture Use, Management Boxwood Pests

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Boxwood is a fine-textured plant that most gardeners and non-gardeners are familiar with. Boxwood develops slowly into a billowing mound of soft foliage, eventually reaching a height of 6 to 8 feet (ancient examples can be considerably taller). Flowers bloom in the leaf axils and are hardly visible, but they have a particular perfume that annoys some people.

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Codiaeum variegatum plant: Classification, Characteristics, Propagation and Uses

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Croton, or Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume is a beautiful shrub that grows in tropical forests (Govaertset al., 2000). Breeders, landscapers, horticulturists, and gardeners have been captivated by the vast range of leaf form and colouration variations, and a large number of cultivars have been fixed for commercial production. In the ornamental horticulture sector, there are over 300 varieties to choose from. Crotons, together with Ficus benjamina, have become one of the most popular ornamental tropical shrubs in Europe and the United States. The leaf shapes of crotons vary greatly. Leaf morphologies range from ovate to linear, whole to highly lobed, and appendiculate in the centre, with a midrib connecting them. Each cultivar is distinguished by its leaf colouration and pattern. Because almost all varieties of leaf morphology can be found in one species, the phenotypic diversity observed in croton leaves is of tremendous interest in plant science; leaf phenotypic plasticity is highly high (Shimoji et al., 2006).

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Arrowhead Duck Potato: Distribution, Characteristics, Environmental Benefits, and Values

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Sagittaria latifolia is common in freshwater tidal marshes and swamps, especially in the intertidal zone. It’s frequently seen with arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), and, to a lesser extent, bultonge (Sagitteria falcata), but it’s not as common as arrow arum or pickerelweed.

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ARROWHEAD PLANT: Classification, Characteristics, Morphology, Pathological Issues, and Control

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Goosefoot Vine (Syngonium podophyllum), commonly known as arrowhead vine, is a fast-growing vine found in tropical woods throughout North and South America, as well as Mexico. Its lovely leaves make it an excellent houseplant, but it has also been planted in gardens in warmer parts of South Africa, where it has become invasive. When planted indoors, the leaves are normally variegated green with white, but when grown outdoors, they get greener and larger, reaching up to 30 cm.

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Shame Plant: Classification, Characteristics, Management, Reproduction and Uses

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Mimosa pudica is formed from the words “mimic,” which means “to allude,” and “pudica,” which means “bashful, shy, or shrinking.” Mimosa mimics animal sensitivity, such as sensitivity to light, time of day, gravity, or insect touch, as seen in sundew drosera. Mimosa is also known as the sensitive plant, the modest plant, the shame plant, the sleeping grass, the touch me not plant, the lajjalu plant in Ayurveda, and the namaskari plant in Sanskrit. Mimosa pudica is an indoor plant with a unique personality.

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Small-Leaf Spiderwort Plant: Classification, Distribution, Taxonomy, Characteristics, and Reproduction

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Small-leaf spiderwort, Tradescantia fluminensis, is a perennial subsucculent herb native to Brazil and Argentina’s tropical and subtropical climates (Maule et al. 1995). The species has been introduced to Florida, California, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. It has also been imported into at least 13 other nations, where it is frequently regarded as invasive. The species thrives in damp environments, where it develops thick monocultures that restrict native plant recruitment. When compared to non-invaded areas, Tradescantia fluminensis modifies the decomposition rate of leaf litter and is capable of modifying nutrient availability, moisture regime, and invertebrate fauna. Preventative measures should be included in a strong management approach, and any occurrences of this plant should be eliminated before it spreads.

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