Category: Plants & Medicine
-
Landscape Tonic
A native holly tree called yaupon can be used to make a drink similar to green tea… the ornamental holly is the only plant in the United States that produces substantial amounts of caffeine. It grows wild throughout the Southeast.
-
More In A Pitcher Plant Than Dead Bugs
To avoid sharing precious food resources with other micro-organisms such as fungi, the carnivorous plant has developed a host of agents that act as natural anti-fungal agents, …The idea that liquid from a plant pitcher could stave off infection has been documented in the folk literature of India, where people drink carnivorous plant pitcher juice as a general elixir.
-
Plant-based Pharmaceuticals After The Plants Are Gone
Devil's claw extracts are in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of hip and knee arthritis. Other promising uses are not far behind. But while the demand for these beneficial compounds is increasing, the supply of natural Devil's claw is dwindling.
-
New Class of AIDS Drugs From Sunflowers
Sunflowers can produce a substance which prevents the AIDS pathogen HIV from reproducing, at least in cell cultures.
-
A Walk In Nature Heals The Mind
When we compared the scores for the walks in different environments, we found that after the walk in the park children generally concentrated better than they did after a walk in the downtown area or the neighborhood area. The greenest space was best at improving attention after exposure.
-
Plants Take Their Own Aspirin
Plants in a forest respond to stress by producing significant amounts of a chemical form of aspirin, scientists have discovered.
-
Trees To Protect Us From Ticks And Mosquitos
This newly-discovered repellent can be prepared inexpensively from pine oil feedstock in ton quantities for large-scale commercial application.
-
A Green Office Is A Happy Office
Findings indicated that people who worked in offices with plants and windows reported that they felt better about their job and the work they performed.
-
Does Mistletoe Therapy Help Cancer Patients?
Mistletoe proponents believe it strengthens the immune system while minimizing the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, thereby improving survival and increasing quality of life during treatment.
-
Birds Select Healthy Diets
Our study shows for the first time that flavonoids are beneficial compounds that can boost the immune system in a living organism. We also found that wild birds actively select food containing flavonoids. Our results have important implications for the study of ecology and immunity in birds, and for the evolution of the relationship between plants and the birds and animals they rely on to disperse their seeds.