Binding Affinity

analgesicrhymes:

kidsneedscience:

Lupinus is a genus of flowering plants in the Legume family. Also known as lupin or lupine, lupins comprise almost 300 species found mostly in North and South America. Common also in Europe, Lupins were known to the Romans as lupinus not for their often furry tops and seed pods resembling wolves, but rather because the plant is so successful that it often takes over a landscape, much like wolves. The name lupinus derives from the Latin word lupus meaning wolf for this rapacious and overwhelming tendency to dominate a landscape. The modern name Lupinus was given to the genus by Linneaus.

Image of Lupinus courtesy of David Hoffman, used with permission under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

 Like many Legumes, Lupine also have the ability to fix nitrogen. Lupines form an endosymbiosis with a root nodule forming rhizobium bacteria that has the ability to convert molecular atmospheric N₂ into ammonia (NH₃), and then this is further converted to NH₄^{+  .} When they die, the nitrogen (in the form of amino acids) returns to the soil and is converted into nitrate (NO₃^-) which is useable by other plants.

Nitrogen fixing plants are sometimes referred to as pioneer plants because of their ability to live in nutrient poor soils and add nitrogen to them over time. This makes barren areas more hospitable for other plants. They frequently can be seen along road sides and on disturbed ground in urban areas from the Midwest to the West Coast. They make great companion plants for flower gardens and vegetable gardens, though other legumes like Fava beans (Vica faba) are more often used for this purpose.

Habitat
Chemical reaction
Lupine

^{Yes yes, I know I could of found better sources but these match up with what I have read elsewhere. If anything is wrong, please send me a message correcting me!}

Another fun fact about lupines: they’re edible (and often eaten as a snack in various Mediterranean cultures), but they contain very toxic quinolizidine alkaloids (lupinine and sparteine primarily; sparteine is particularly dangerous because it affects the rhythm of the heart) which require a multi-day soaking process to remove before they become edible. These alkaloids are synthesized from lysine via a polyamine pathway (wikipedia has a great graphic on this).

laboratoryequipment:

Researchers Solve Darwin’s ‘Abominable Mystery’

Research by Indiana Univ. paleobotanist David Dilcher and colleagues in Europe sheds new light on what Charles Darwin famously called “an abominable mystery:” the apparently sudden appearance and rapid spread of flowering plants in the fossil record.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers present a scenario in which flowering plants, or angiosperms, evolved and colonized various types of aquatic environments over about 45 million years in the early to middle Cretaceous Period.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/researchers-solve-darwin%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98abominable-mystery%E2%80%99

nikkisbotany:

Interestingly, the cacti seedlings emerged with “true leaves” but they are merging and thickening quite quickly into a single modified stem

Interesting. Haven’t seen much info on developmental biology of cacti, but they are eudicots so I guess I should have expected something like this to happen. I’ve never had luck growing them from seed either, but maybe someday it’ll happen.

lawsoffateherbal:

Ruta graveolens (Rue)

Family: Rutaceae

Common names: Bashoush, Common Rue, Garden Rue, German Rue, Herb of grace, Herbygrass, Hreow, Mother of the Herbs, Rewe, Ruta

Description: Rue is a hardy evergreen that is grown as an herb. The lower stem is somewhat woody at the base and the leaves are blue green in color with bipinnate or tripinnate form. The plant produces small yellow flowers from June through September. 

Planting: Rue prefers a poor soil in a sunny location. Direct sow seed outdoors in the fall for growth the following spring. Gloves should be worn when handling Rue, as even the seeds can cause skin irritation.

Harvesting: Gather the herb in May before it flowers, the whole herb is used but the young shoots have the greatest virtue. Gloves should be worn when handling Rue, as it’s oils can cause skin irritation.

Read more…

Thought I’d drop in a few links about the alkaloids and other active compounds in rue:

• how to dope rue plants to produce more alkaloids
• anticholinesterase activity of rue extracts
• potential of rue to cause multi-organ toxicity
• photosensitive effects of furoquinoline alkaloids in rue
• antiserotonergic effects of furoquinolines
• phototoxic effects of furanocoumarins (there’s a lot more literature on this; I just pulled an article that was rue-specific)
• anti-leishmaniasis activities of acridone alkaloids
• cathepsin V, whatever the hell that is
• acridone alkaloids against tumors

I make no guarantees about the actual quality of these articles. But they’re food for thought.

lawsoffateherbal:

Ferns (by Helefran)

“Ferns are a very ancient family of plants: early fern fossils predate the beginning of the Mesozoic era, 360 million years ago. They are older than land animals and far older than the dinosaurs. They were thriving on Earth for two hundred million years before the flowering plants evolved.

As we know them now, most ferns are leafy plants that grow in moist areas under forest canopy. They are “vascular plants” with well-developed internal vein structures that promote the flow of water and nutrients. Unlike the other vascular plants, the flowering plants and conifers, where the adult plant grows immediately from the seed, ferns reproduce from spores and an intermediate plant stage called a gametophyte.”

lawsoffateherbal:

Passionflower

Passiflora Incarnata

Family;

Passifloraceae

Folk Names;

Apricot-Vine, Maypops, Passionblume, Purple-passion flower, Passion Vine

Description;

Vigorous perennial woody vine growing up to thirty foot. Passionflower bears large vibrant aromatic flowers in abundance from June to August. The flowers are from 2-3 inches across, last only one day, then fade in the evening and are replaced with new blooms each dawn. The fruit when ripe is yellow-green and between 1-2 inches in length. The pulp is sweet and edible.

Habitat;

Found growing in open fields, roadsides and waste places. A native to Eastern North America.

Planting;

Passionflower is easily cultivated by root division or by seed. Seeds will take several weeks to germinate. For best results use the ‘nick and soak, method and use bottom heat. Propogation may be done by cuttings with much success. Simply cut about six inches from plant when it’s growth is vigorous, before it slows and begins to bloom, and plant directly in sandy soil, nursing until established. 

easily cultivated from seed? 4 weeks?!? either I fail at germinating seeds (which, I’ve successfully germinated seeds of other species before so it shouldn’t be this hard) or this is a bit… optimistic.

also don’t forget the beta-carbolines! (actually, does anyone have any hard statistics on prevalence of beta-carbolines in different Passiflora species? cause I’ve looked for that data but can’t seem to find it.)