Gadis perindu (Sphagneticola calendulacea)

Gadis perindu (Sphagneticola calendulacea) is a species of flowering plants, spread using seeds, living near water in an open place, getting lots of sunlight, growing fast in the rainy season and strong in all weather conditions in tropical climates.

S. calendulacea is commonly found wild in Indonesia, especially in habitats around irrigation channels and rice fields that live together with grass. Plants grow wild and quickly spread during the rainy season on agricultural lands and farmers consider them weeds.

These wild grasses have fiber roots, green woody stems, grow to as high as 0.5 meters, green leaves and yellow flowers. The stem generally spreads sideways and grows on the ground, although some stalks go upwards.

The leaves grow along the stalk, green, the upper surface has hair and have wavy contours following the arterial lines. The tip of the leaf is pointed, the sides are jagged and has two wings on the left and right. The bottom surface is light green.

Flowers come from each end of the stem, the petals are green and face up. Compound crowns, usually composed of nine parts in a circular structure and bright yellow which are very striking among the surrounding grasses.

Compound pistils, stemmed and lined tightly to form a circle in the middle of the crown. Seeds spread using insects including butterflies, grasshoppers, ants, etc., although wind is also possible. The famous S. calendulacea produces wedelolactone and demethylwedelolactone.

Traditional Javanese medicine uses S. calendulacea to treat respiratory problems, headaches, toothache, bronchitis, menstrual disorders, hemorrhoids and hair fertilizers. Javanese traditionally consider these plant extracts from various types of solvents to have antioxidant and antibacterial activity.

Kingdom: Plantae
- : Angiosperms
- : Eudicots
- : Asterids
- : Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Sphagneticola
Species: S. calendulacea

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha)

Sembung rambat or bitter vine ( Mikania micrantha ) is a plant species in Asteraceae, crawling or wrapped around trees, perennial that grows up to 27 mm per day in tropical climates, branched stems where heart-shaped or triangular leaves are arranged in pairs and a plant can cover more than 25 square meters in a few months. M. micrantha has square-shaped stems or longitudinal bones, light green, many branches and has fine hairs. The stems have segments for lengths of 75-215 mm, each segment has a pair of leaves, new shoots and flowers. New roots grow when the segments come in contact with the soil. The leaves are in pairs and facing each other. Strands do not have hair, heart-shaped or triangular with jagged edges, length 30-125 mm, width 15-60 mm. Petiole is 1-6 cm long and has fine hairs. The flower panicle grows from the armpit of the leaf and the tip of the stem, having 3-15 mm long stems. Each flower head has 4 minor flowers. The crown is greenish-white, tubular and measures ...

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Alang-alang or cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grass, sharp leaf, long buds and scaly, creeping under the ground, very adaptive and grows in all climates which often become weeds on agricultural land. I. cylindrica has a sharp pointed tip of the bud and emerges from the ground, height of 0.2-1.5 m but in other places it may be more, short stems, rising up to the ground and flowering white or purplish, often with wreath of hair under the segment. Leaf strands in the form of long ribbons, lancet-tipped with a narrow base and gutter-shaped, 12-80 cm long, very coarse edge and jagged sharply, long hair at the base with broad, pale leaf bones in the middle. The flowers are panicles, 6-28 cm long with long-haired and white-colored ears for 1 cm which are used as a tool to blow off the fruit when ripe. Cogon grass breeds quickly with seeds that spread quickly with the wind or through rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. Alang-alang does...

Dlium