A Literature Review on Urtica dioica: An Ordinary Creature with Extraordinary Features

Urtica dioica Linn is a popular medicinal plant that is native to Europe and is very commonly found in Temperate Asia, Western and Northern Africa, America and New Zealand. It is a traditional medicine used widely in various kind of treatment as was believed to be galactagogue – a substance that promotes lactation. It is well recognized in Ayurveda due to its multidimensional pharmacological and therapeutic effects as the compress of nettle help to revive Rheumatoid arthritis, Muscle pain, Sciatic and as Rasaan tonic as it constitutes various beneficial phytochemicals. It is popularly known for its stinging action. Its chemical compounds are highly irritating mainly histamine. Traditionally, the leaves and roots are used as a blood purifier, emmenagogue, nasal hemorrhage, eczema and diarrhea.

Ticks, Human Babesiosis and Climate Change

The effects of current and future global warming on the distribution and activity of the primary ixodid vectors of human babesiosis (caused by Babesia divergens, B. venatorum and B. microti) are discussed. There is clear evidence that the distributions of both Ixodes ricinus, the vector in Europe, and I. scapularis in North America have been impacted by the changing climate, with increasing temperatures resulting in the northwards expansion of tick populations and the occurrence of I. ricinus at higher altitudes. Ixodes persulcatus, which replaces I. ricinus in Eurasia and temperate Asia, is presumed to be the babesiosis vector in China and Japan, but this tick species has not yet been confirmed as the vector of either human or animal babesiosis. There is no definite evidence, as yet, of global warming having an effect on the occurrence of human babesiosis, but models suggest that it is only a matter of time before cases occur further north than they do at present.

Spodoptera litura (taro caterpillar).

The tobacco caterpillar, S. litura, is one of the most important insect pests of agricultural crops in the Asian tropics. It is widely distributed throughout tropical and temperate Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands (Feakin, 1973; Kranz et al., 1977). Records of S. litura having limited distribution in (or being eradicated from) Germany, Russian Federation, Russian Far East, the UK and Réunion may in fact refer to S. littoralis. Both S. litura and S. littoralis are totally polyphagous (Brown and Dewhurst, 1975; Holloway, 1989) and therefore have huge potential to invade new areas and/or to adapt to new climatic and/or ecological situations. The Spodoptera group consists of closely related species with similar ecology that are difficult to identify to species level.

The Zierikzee Herbarium: contents and origins of an enigmatic 18th century herbarium

The Municipal Museum of Zierikzee (The Netherlands) houses a loose-leafed herbarium containing 354 plant specimens, of which the provenance, age and maker were until recently unknown. By studying the plant specimens, paper, decorations and labels, an image was conveyed of an early 18th century herbarium that matched the description of a herbarium from the legacy of Jacob Ligtvoet (1684–1752), gardener in the Hortus botanicus of Leiden (The Netherlands) from 1703 till his death in 1752. This herbarium is one of the oldest garden herbaria of its kind and contains 306 unique species, of which 201 are currently native to the Netherlands. Exotic species come from the Mediterranean (81 spp.), South Africa (8), the Americas (10) and tropical Asia (7) and for the larger part from Europe and temperate Asia. Based on our comparison of names on the oldest labels, this collection of dried plants was probably started after publication of the first garden catalogue by the prefect of the Leiden hortus and professor of botany Herman Boerhaave (1710), but before the second edition in 1720. This historic herbarium reflects the state-of-the-art of botanical science and the international network of Dutch botanical gardens in the early 18th century.

Alocasia cucullata (Chinese taro).

Alocasia cucullata is a clumping evergreen herbaceous plant that is grown as a food plant and as an ornamental in areas within and outside its native distribution range of tropical and temperate Asia. This species spreads by seed and vegetatively by root suckers, rhizomes and corm fragments. It is listed as invasive in Cuba, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Micronesia and French Polynesia. It is also listed in the Global Compendium of Weeds. A. cucullata is considered an invasive species with the potential to colonize and become naturalized in the understorey of rainforests and moist areas along streams and riverbanks.

Morphological characterization of diploid and triploid Acorus calamus (Acoraceae) from southern Western Siberia, parthenocarpy in sterile plants and occurrence of aneuploidy

Finding morphological differences between cytotypes that are stable throughout their geographical range is important for understanding evolution of polyploid complexes. The ancient monocot lineage Acorus includes two groups, of which A. calamus s.l., an important medicinal plant, is a polyploid complex with a centre of diversity in Asia. European plants are sterile triploids introduced by humans. An early study suggested that plants from temperate Asia are tetraploids, but subsequent work revealed diploids and triploids rather than tetraploids in Asiatic Russia; however, cytotype diversity in Western Siberia is insufficiently known. We document the occurrence of diploids and triploids in Western Siberia. Triploids that do not differ in genome size from European Acorus are abundant in the valley of the river Ob where the ability for extensive vegetative propagation provides ecological advantages. An isolated population of aneuploid triploids with 33 chromosomes is found outside the Ob valley. Flow cytometry provides an efficient tool for identification of aneuploid plants in Acorus. All triploids are sterile, but their flowers develop uniform parthenocarpic fruits. Fruits of diploids usually vary in size within a spadix depending on the number of developing seeds. In contrast to North America, where the native diploid plants differ from the introduced triploids by the absence of a secondary midrib of the ensiform leaf blade, Siberian diploids are similar to triploids in possessing a secondary midrib. We confirm that diploids differ from triploids in the size of air lacunae in leaves, which is determined by cell number rather than cell size in septa of aerenchyma. A combination of spathe width and spadix length measured after the male stage of anthesis shows different (slightly overlapping) patterns of variation between diploids and triploids in our material.

Identification of wood species used in particleboard production

Wood and wood products including particleboard imported into the European Union (EU) are subject to the EU Timber Trade Regulation (EUTR) since 2013. With regard to the correct and complete required declaration, many such products not produced in the EU are currently investigated independently. The particles processed for the manufacture of particleboard are significantly smaller than solid wood samples. Thus, the preparation for anatomical analysis is more complex, as is their identification. The composition of the taxa identified allows a distinction between certain assortments according to the origin of the processed wood: temperate Europe; plantation-grown (worldwide); tropical and subtropical Asia; temperate Asia; tropical Africa. Important information for the evaluation of EUTR-subjected timbers in particleboard is provided.

The genus Catathelasma (Catathelasmataceae, Basidiomycota) in China

Two new species, Catathelasma laorentou and C. subalpinum, are described on the basis of morphological characters, phylogenetic evidence, host preferences and geographic distributions. A taxonomic key to the known species in China is also provided to facilitate identification. Based on samples from temperate Asia, Europe and North America, the phylogeny of Catathelasma was reconstructed using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the large subunit (LSU) of the ribosomal DNA and the translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1).The phylogenetic results showed that Catathelasma contains two monophyletic clades: the /subalpinum clade and the /imperiale clade. The Asian species C. laorentou and C. subalpinum are closely related to the North American C. sp. (labelled as C. ventricosum in GenBank) in the /subalpinum clade, whereas C. imperiale and C. singeri are closely related in the /imperiale clade.

Taxonomic notes on some photosynthetic species of Neottia (Orchidaceae) from North Temperate Asia

Taxonomy of two species of genus Neottia, N. puberula and N. pinetorum, is discussed. A widely used name Listera savatieri is lectotypified, and by lectotypification, it falls into the synonymy of Neottia pinetorum. A poorly known species from Central Asia, N. tianschanica, is shown to be synonymous to N. pinetorum.