Garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina)

Balsam or rose balsam or touch-me-not or spotted snapweed or garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina) is a plant species in the Balsaminaceae, annual plant, fibrous roots, 20-75 cm high, stems thick but soft, cylindrical, bright green or red and has many branches.

I. balsamina has leaves arranged spirally, oblong-ovate in shape, 2.5-9 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, scalloped edges, sharp tip, a main vein in the center with many small veins pinnate and green.

Flowers are bright red or red or mauve or purple or lilac or white, 2.5-5 cm in diameter and have long stalks. The seed capsule is elliptical in shape, green in color and has white hair. The mature seed capsule undergoes explosive dehiscence. Flowers are pollinated by bees, insects and nectar-feeding birds.

Various parts of the plant are used as traditional medicine for rheumatism, broken bones, constipation, gastritis and skin diseases. The juice from the leaves is used to treat warts, snake bites and fish poison. Flowers are used for burns. Plant extracts to stimulate hair growth.

The seed pods are active against antibiotic-resistant strains of Helicobacter pylori. It is also an inhibitor of 5α-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (the active form of testosterone), thereby reducing the action of testosterone in the body.

The leaves are crushed to color the nails. The flowers are ground and mixed with alum to produce an orange dye that can be used to color semi-permanent nails, so colored nails must grow over time to remove traces of the color.

Naphthoquinones lawone or hennotannic acid, lawone methyl ether and methylene-3,3'-bilawsone are some of the active compounds in the leaves. It also contains kaempferol and some of its derivatives. Baccharane glycosides have been found in Chinese herbal medicine made from the seeds.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Balsaminaceae
Genus: Impatiens
Subgenus: Impatiens
Section: Uniflorae
Species: Impatiens balsamina

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Purwaceng (Pimpinella pruatjan)

Purwaceng or purwoceng or antanan gunung or Viagra of Java ( Pimpinella pruatjan or Pimpinella priatjan ) are small termas growing horizontally in Apiaceae, growing in villages on Dieng Plateau, Central Java Province, Indonesia, at 1,500 to 2,000 meters above sea level, the roots have medicinal properties for aphrodisiacs and are usually processed in powder form for a mixture of coffee or milk. P. pruatjan grows flat on the ground but does not propagate, small leaves are reddish green for 1-3 cm in diameter. This plant is only found in Java and grows in high mountain areas. A low population where industrial demand is very high results in increasingly scarce. Another place that is likely to become a purwaceng habitat is the Iyang Mountains and the Tengger Mountains in East Java Province. Efforts to multiply and cultivate have a big problem where these plants have difficulty producing seeds. In vitro propagation research through tissue cultivation has been carried out to overcome ...

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