lunes, 17 de diciembre de 2012

Honor The Giants

http://youtu.be/vycnMZ2uf3w

Vintage pictures from the Land of the Giants. Oregon, Washington and California. These pictures represent those that we will not see again, the Old Growth Timber.

genus Dalbergia

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_retusa
misartefactos.blogspot.com/2012/12/cocobolo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia

Commons-emblem-notice.svg
 
Dalbergia
Dalbergia sissoo Bra24.png
Siso (Dalbergia sissoo), madera rosa de la India
Clasificación científica
Reino: Plantae
División: Fanerógama Magnoliophyta
Clase: Dicotiledónea Magnoliopsida
Subclase: Rosidae
Orden: Fabales
Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Faboideae
Tribu: Dalbergieae
Género: Dalbergia
L.f. 1782
Especies
Ver texto.
Dalbergia es un gran género de pequeños a medianos árboles, arbustos y lianas de la familia de leguminosas, Fabaceae, subfamilia Faboideae.
Tiene amplia distribución, nativa de regiones tropicales de América Central y de Sudamérica, África, Madagascar y sur de Asia. La cantidad de especies del género está disputada, con diferentes autoridades citando entre 100 a 600 spp.; ILDIS acepta 159 spp.
Especies selectas de importancia económica

Usos

Muchas especies de Dalbergia son importantes árboles maderables, valuadas por su decorativa figura y la fragancia de su madera, rica en aceites aromáticos. La más famosa de ellas es la Dalbergia nigra madera rosa, así llamada debido a su aroma, y muchas otras especies tienen semejante característica.
D. nigra Río, Bahía, madera rosa brasileña, Palisander de Río Grande, o Jacarandá; excesivamente explotada en el pasado, está ahora citada por el CITES. La 2ª más deseada madera rosa en occidente es Dalbergia latifolia conocida en Oriente como "madera rosa india" o Sonokeling. La mayoría de las especies de madera rosa tienen un color amarronado. Y notar que solo pocas especies de Dalbergia dan madera rosa.
La brasileña "tuli" Dalbergia decipularis es color cremosa con líneas rojas o salmón. No confundir con "tuli" Liriodendron tulipifera, usada en cajones descartables.
Otra similarmente usada (pero púrpura con tiras negras), y también de Brasil, es la Dalbergia cearensis, todas son pequeños árboles de no más de 10 m. Otro notable productor de madera es el Cocobolo, Dalbergia retusa, de América Central, con un espectacular anaranjado decorativo. [1]
El granadillo negro (Dalbergia melanoxylon) tiene una madera intensamente negra muy demandada para construir instrumentos musicales de viento.
Las especies de Dalbergia son alimento de larvas de algunas especies de Lepidoptera incluyendo a Bucculatrix mendax que solo come Dalbergia sissoo.
Las especies de Dalbergia son notorias por causar reacciones alérgicas debido a la presencia de quinonas sensibilizantes en la madera.

Enlaces externos

================================
Dalbergia is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The genus has a wide distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia. The size of the genus is disputed, with different authorities citing between 100–600 species; ILDIS accepts 159 species.

Selected species (Rosewood)

viernes, 7 de diciembre de 2012

Horticultural Myths

Looking for the newest myth-information? Check out our blog The Garden Professors. You'll find science-based information from four horticultural professors from around the country. 
Fertilizers
Phosphate
How plants work
Maintaining trees and shrubs
Mulches
Wood chips
Pesticides
Compost tea
Part 1Part 2 
Part 3 (EPA statement about pesticidal use of compost tea) 
Part 4 (Literature)
Planting techiques
Scientific literacy
Soil amendments
Organic matter
Polyacrylamide gels
A recently transplanted tree that failed due to following a horticultural myth. The native soil was removed and replaced with organic matter, leading to drought and other stresses that killed the tree (L. Chalker-Scott).

viernes, 23 de noviembre de 2012

The world's oldest clove tree

Gamalama volcano
Indonesia's "Spice Islands" produced more nutmeg, mace, pepper and cloves than anywhere else in the world and on the island of Ternate, one particular tree has an extraordinary history.
"Bule, Bule," shout the children excitedly, as our jeep threads its way up a steep road on the side of the volcano. "White man, White man."
I am on Ternate, one of Indonesia's fabled Spice Islands.
The midday call to prayer mingles with the mosquito-whine of motorcycles. Above us, smoke seeps from the side of Gamalama, the pyramid-shaped volcano that dominates the island.
It had erupted only a month earlier, sending a tongue of molten lava pouring down the mountain into the sea. This part of the world is not called "The Ring of Fire" for nothing.
I am searching for the world's oldest clove tree. Why it is called Afo, no one knows. Neither is it exactly certain when Afo was planted. But estimates suggest it is between 350 and 400 years old.
For millennia, Ternate and the neighbouring island of Tidore were the world's only source of those fragrant, twig-like herbs that love to hide at the back of our kitchen cupboards.
Cloves from Ternate were traded by Arab seafarers along the maritime Silk Route as far afield as the Middle East, Europe and China.
A Han dynasty ruler from the 3rd Century BC insisted that anyone addressing him chew cloves to sweeten their breath. Their origin was a fiercely-guarded secret until the Portuguese and Spanish burst into the Java Sea in the 16th Century.
Our hip, young Indonesian driver is clearly baffled as to why anyone should want to see an old tree.
And he clearly has no idea where Afo is. At a roadside stall selling everything from basketballs to fruit, we stop to ask directions.
The stallholder points back down the hill. With great difficulty, and reeking brake pads, we turn round and drive back down the volcano.
After a few hundred yards, we spot a signboard pointing to some steps cut into the hillside.
The path winds upwards through groves of clove trees and bamboo.
Simon Worrall stands next to Afo - the world's oldest clove tree Afo survived the destruction of clove trees in the 1700s
We are at nearly 1,800m (6,000ft) above sea level. Below us, through the foliage, I can just make out the sea and, beyond it, the island of Tidore.
Huffing and puffing up one last flight of steps I find myself under a tree that was probably here when Shakespeare was alive.
Afo was once 40 metres tall and four metres round. Sadly, today, all that remains is a massive stump and some bare branches.
A few years ago, villagers hungry for firewood even attacked Afo with machetes. A brick wall now surrounds it.
If the Dutch had had their way, Afo would not have survived at all.
The Netherlands United East India Company, or Voc, was the world's first multinational corporation.

Find out more...

(File photo) Clove buds
  • Cloves are the dried flower buds of a tree belonging to the Myrtaceae family
  • The trees can grow up to 12m height
  • Cloves are used in cooking, either whole or in a ground form
  • They are also used in some cigarettes, incense and perfume
And just as corporations today seek to monopolise plant genes in the developing world, the Voc set about seizing total control of spice production.
In 1652, after displacing the Portuguese and Spanish, the Dutch introduced a policy known as extirpatie: extirpation.
All clove trees not controlled by the Voc were uprooted and burned.
Anyone caught growing, stealing or possessing clove plants without authorisation faced the death penalty.
On the Banda Islands, to the south - the world's only source of nutmeg - the Dutch used Japanese mercenaries to slaughter almost the entire male population.
Like Opec today, the Voc also limited supply to keep prices high. Only 800-1,000 tonnes of cloves were exported per year. The rest of the harvest was burned or dumped in the sea.
Somehow, Afo managed to slip through the net. A rogue clove. A guerrilla plant waging a secret war of resistance.
Afo would eventually bring down the Dutch monopoly on cloves.
In 1770, a Frenchman, appropriately named Poivre, stole some of Afo's seedlings.
This Monsieur Pepper took them to France, then the Seychelles Islands and, eventually, Zanzibar, which is today the world's largest producer of cloves.
As I stand looking up into its branches, I wonder who planted Afo - and kept its location secret all those years.
Or did it just survive because of its remoteness high on the slopes of Gamalama?
Either way, this ancient clove tree remains a symbol of the ultimate folly of empire - and the stubborn refusal of nature to be controlled.

sábado, 20 de octubre de 2012

Pin et Sapin

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinaceae
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinaceae

http://www.lesarbres.fr/pin.html
pino, Kiefer, Douglas-fir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudotsuga
Because of their distinctive cones, Douglas-firs were finally placed in the new genus Pseudotsuga (meaning "false hemlock") by the French botanist Carrière in 1867
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudotsuga

http://www.lesarbres.fr/sapin.html
abeto, Weiß-Tanne, fir
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abies_alba
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abies_alba
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abies_alba

miércoles, 15 de agosto de 2012

Alpinia nutans -Colonia


Alpinia speciosa (Wendl.) K. Schum.
Nombres relacionados: Boca de dragón (castellano), Cajate (castellano), Colonia (castellano), Degonfle (Martinica), Pepei (Cuba), Shell plant flower (inglés), Zingiberaceae (familia).
Floración: Primavera
Indicaciones, contraindicaciones: Usada en dolores de cabeza y catarros
Commons-emblem-notice.svg

Colonia
Alpinia nutans
Clasificación científica
Reino: Plantae
División: Magnoliophyta
Clase: Liliopsida
Orden: Zingiberales
Familia: Zingiberaceae
Subfamilia: Alpinioideae
Tribu: Alpinieae
Género: Alpinia
Especie: A. nutans
Nombre binomial
Alpinia nutans
K.Schum. 1889
Sinonimia
  • Alpinia speciosa K.Schum.
  • Amomum compactum Roem. & Schult.
  • Catimbium nutans Juss.
  • Costus zerumbet Pers.
  • Globba nutans L. 1771
  • Languas speciosa Small
  • Renealmia nutans Andrews
  • Zerumbet speciosum H.Wendl

Alpinia nutans (colonia) es una especie de planta del sudeste asiático de la familia del jengibre (Zingiberaceae), con frecuencia usada como planta medicinal.
Descripción
Es una planta herbácea que alcanza 9 a 14 dm de altura. Sus flores tienen aspecto de porcelana, con forma de concha, y florece prolíficamente en una vara floral de 3 dm de largo. El único estambre fértil tiene anteras masivas. Los estigmas globosos, blancos, del pistilo se extienden debajo de la antera.
Tiene follaje siempreverde en áreas sin severas heladas. Tiene un fuerte aroma a cardamomo cuando se frota o corta, pero por supuesto no es la especie que produce la esencia con ese nombre.
Usos
Diurético y para la hipertensión.1
Indicaciones: usada en dolores de cabeza y catarros.
Referencias
Enlaces externos
============================
Alpinia nutans
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Alpinioideae
Tribe: Alpinieae
Genus: Alpinia
Species: A. nutans
Binomial name
Alpinia nutans
K.Schum.
Synonyms
  • Alpinia speciosa K.Schum.
  • Amomum compactum Roem. & Schult.
  • Catimbium nutans Juss.
  • Costus zerumbet Pers.
  • Languas speciosa Small
  • Renealmia nutans Andrews
  • Zerumbet speciosum H.Wendl
Alpinia nutans (Shellflower, Dwarf cardamom) is a Southeast Asian plant of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), which is often used as a medicinal plant.[citation needed]
Characteristics
Its flowers have a porcelain look, are shell-like and bloom prolifically on a 30-cm stalk. The flower's single fertile stamen has a massive anther. The globose white stigma of the pistil extends beyond the tip of the anther. The foliage of Alpinia nutans is evergreen in areas that do not have a hard freeze. It has a very distinctive cardamom fragrance when brushed or rubbed, but this is not the plant that produces the spice by that name.
Chemistry
The rhizome oil of Alpinia speciosa K. Schum. contains some fatty acids with an odd number of carbon atoms, which are less common in nature than fatty acids with even numbers of carbon atoms. The major one is pentadecanoic acid (C-15, 21.9%) and others are tricosylic acid (C-23, 5.7%), tridecylic acid (C-13, 1.9%), undecylic acid (C-11, 3.1%) and pelargonic acid (C-9, 0.1%). Among the fatty acids containing even number of carbon atoms, the main constituents are linolenic acid (C-18:3, 27.4%) and arachidic acid (C-20, 22.4%). The total saturated fatty acids constitute 65.7% and unsaturated 34.3%.[1]
References
  1. ^ Indrayan A.K., Agrawal N.K., Tyagi D.K. (2009). "Naturally occurring odd number fatty acids in the rhizome oil of Alpinia speciosa K. Schum". Journal of the Indian Chemical Society 86 (11): 1246–1248.
External links
=====================0

COLÔNIA

Alpinia speciosa

Descrição : da família das Zingiberaceae. Também conhecida como alpinia, cana-do-brejo, cana-do-mato, cardamomo, cardamomo-do-mato, cardamomo-falso, colônia, falso-cardamomo, flor-do-paraíso, lírio-de-santo-antônio, jardineira, macaçá, macassá, noz-moscada, pacová, paco-seroca, vindi-caá helicondia. Herbácea rizomatosa, bem robusta, sempre agrupada em touceiras. As folhas são lanceoladas, oblongas, bem compridas, pontudas, de margens ciliadas, de coloração verde-brilhante e invaginantes. As , de cor alaranjada, nascem nas axilas das folhas e são dispostas em cahcos terminais pendentes. A planta toda é ligeiramente aromática. Reproduz-se por pedaçoas de rizomas em solos úmidos e permeáveis, de preferência em locais de climas quentes. É uma planta extremamente invasora. A colheita deve ser feita no início da floração.

Partes utilizadas : Rizomas, flores e sementes.
Habitat: E dada como nativa do e outros autores dao-na como nativa da India, de onde muitas especies hoje endemicas no pais tambem vieram.
História: Tem tradição de uso medicinal pelos tupis-guaranis. E cultivada também como planta ornamental.

Origem : Índia oriental. No brasil é encontrada como planta ornamental.

Princípios Ativos: alcalóides, flavonóides (cardamonin, isalpinin etc.), catequina, epicatequina, óleos essenciais (canfeno, cânfora etc.), rutina e dois derivados glicosídicos do kaempferol, taninos. .

Propriedades medicinais: abortiva, antibacteriana (em conjuntivites), antiedematosa, anti-hipertensiva, anti-histérica, antiulcerogênica, anti-stress, bloqueiador neuromuscular, calmante, depressora do sistema nervoso central, digestiva, diurética, estomacal, estimulante da motilidade intestinal, hipotensor, inibidora da musculatura lisa, inibidora da secreção gástrica, purificador sangüíneo, relaxadora vascular, inibidora da atividade da proteína kinase e da fosfodiesterase nucleotídeo cíclica (controla a patofisiologia das doenças coronarianas, que envolve fluxo sangüíneo e vasoconstrição), sedativa, tônica, vermífuga.


Indicações: afecção da pele, artrite, asma, catarro, cistite, diarréia, dor de cabeça, febre, gastralgia; hipertensão, micose de pele, pêlos e unhas; taquicardia, tosse, úlcera. .

Contra-indicações/cuidados: é abortiva . Reduz os movimentos peristalticos.

Modo de usar:

Digestivo; estado de excitação nervosa; dores em geral : em 1 xícara de chá, coloque 1 colher de chá de rizoma fatiado e adicione água fervente. Abafe por 10 minutos e coe. Tome 1 xícara de chá, de 1 a 2 vezes ao dia.
Afcções respiratórias; amigdalite; rouquidão : coloque 1 colher de sopa de rizoma fatiado em 1 xícara de café de água em fervura. Desligue o e coe. Adicione 1 xícara de café de açúcar cristal e leve novamente ao fogo, até dissolver o açúcar Tome uma colher de sopa de 1 a 3 vezes ao dia. Para crianças dar somente meia dose.
Afecções estomacais, intestinais e renais; reumatismo : coloque 2 colheres de sopa de rizoma e flores fatiados em 1 xícara de chá de álcool de cereais a 70%. Deixe em maceração por 8 dia e coe. Tome 1 colher de café, diluído em um pouco de água renais e a, 15 minutos antes das principais refeições.
Cólicas intestinais; reumatismos; nevralgia; dores lombares e musculares : coloque 3 colheres de sopa de rizomas, folhas e flores fatiados em 1 litro de água em fervura. Desligue o fogo, abafe, espere amornar e coe. Adicione à água do morna, e faça banho de imersão, por 15 minutos.
Farmacologia:Planta ainda não estudada convenientemente, atribui-se sua atividade vermicida aos óleos voláteis. Sabe-se que possui atividade anf-espasmodica, reduzindo os movimentos peristalticos, e relaxante muscular, anti-inflamatória, diurética, anti-fungica e anti-hipertensiva, não estando claros os mecanismos. Seu repertório de príncípios ativos da margem a estas indicações.

Posologia:Adultos: 5 a 7,5ml de tintura divididos em 2 ou 3 doses diárias, diluídos em água  para uso interno em Afecções estomacais, como anti-espasmodico e em dores reumáticas; 2g de erva fresca (1 colher de chá para cada xícara de água) de rizomas em decocto ate 2 vezes ao dia, com intervalos menores que 12hs. Para excitação nervosa, como estomaquica e anti-espasmódica; O Dr. Panizza recomenda o infuso para Afecções respiratórias, devendo ser acrescido de mel preferencialmente; Extrato seco: ate 1,2g ao dia em uso interno ou aplicado topicamente em lesões da pele; Crianças de 2 a 5 anos: 2ml 3 vezes ao dia, as refeições; O decocto da planta inteira há proporção de 20g para cada litro de água se presta a compressas e banhos em dores reumáticas e espasmo-dicas, em banhos. Não encontramos referências sobre a posologia na indicação como anti-ofidica. Crianças: tomam de 1/3 a 1/2 dose de acordo com a idade.
Referência :
A Cura pelas Ervas e Plantas Medicinais Brasileiras - Ricardo Lainetti e Nei R. Seabra de Britto - Editora Ediouro. 1979.
Plantas que Curam - Cheiro de Mato. Sylvio Panizza - IBRASA. 1997.
CIAGRI - Banco de plantas medicinais, aromáticas e condimentares da Universidade do Estado de São Paulo.
Plantamed - Grande cadastro de plantas e ervas medicinais.
da Universidade do Estado de São Paulo.         
=============
=============
Alpinia
Alpinia purpurata, red ginger
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Monocots
(unranked):Commelinids
Order:Zingiberales
Family:Zingiberaceae
Subfamily:Alpinioideae
Tribe:Alpinieae
Genus:Alpinia
Roxb., 1810
Species
See text.
Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) flowers
Alpinia is a genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). It is named for Prospero Alpini, a 17th-century Italian botanist who specialized in exotic plants.[1]

Contents

 

[edit]Description

These plants grow from large rhizomes. The stem consists of closely folded blades, such as in banana trees. The flowers grow on longracemes. They are popularly grown as ornamentals for their flashy flowers.
Distribution
They occur in tropical and subtropical climates of Asia and the Pacific.Taxonomy
DNA sequence-based methods have shown this genus is polyphyletic.[2]It is represented by six clades distributed across the tribe Alpinieae, that do not correspond to Smith's (1990) classification of the genus.[3] Further research is needed to specify the taxa in this genus.

Common species:
Less common species:
[...]