Germination patterns and seedling growth of congeneric native and invasive Mimosa species: Implications for risk assessment.

Comparisons of plant traits between native and invasive congeners are useful approaches for identifying characteristics that promote invasiveness. We compared germination patterns and seedling growth of locally sympatric populations of native Mimosa himalayana and two varieties of invasive M. diplotricha (var. diplotricha and var. inermis) growing in southeastern Nepal. Seeds were germinated under a 12-h photoperiod or complete dark, low (25/15°C day/night) and high (30/20°C) temperatures, different water stress levels (0, -0.1, -0.25, -0.5, -0.75 and -1.0 MPa), and soil depths (0, 2, and 4 cm). Plant height, biomass allocations, and relative growth rate (RGR) of seedlings were measured. Invasive M. diplotricha had higher germination percentage, rate, and shorter germination time compared with the native species. Germination of both congeners declined as water stress increased, but the decline was more pronounced in native species. Seedling emergence declined with increasing depth in all taxa. The seedlings of invasive species were taller with higher leaf number and allocated greater proportion of biomass to shoot, whereas the native congener allocated greater biomass to root. The RGR was nearly twice as high in invasive species as it was in the native congener. Seedling height and number of leaves were always higher in invasive than in native species, and the native-invasive differences increased over time. Better germination and higher growth performance of invasive species than the congeneric native one suggests that seed germination and seedling growth can be useful traits for the prediction of species' invasiveness in their introduced range during risk assessment process.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica L.): Nutritional Composition, Bioactive Compounds, and Food Functional Properties.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L., Urticaceae) is commonly found in Asia, Africa, and Europe and has a long history of being used as food and traditional medicine. Recently, this plant is gaining attention as a highly nutritious food, where fresh leaves are dried and used as powder or in other forms. Leaves are rich in many bioactive compounds. This review aims to cover the traditional uses in food and medicine, as well as its nutritional composition, including its bioactive chemical constituents and reported food functional activities. Various bioactive chemical constituents have been isolated from stinging nettle to date, such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acid, carotenoids, and fatty acids. Stinging nettle extracts and its compounds, such as rutin, kaempferol, and vitamin A, are also used for their nutritional properties and as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents. Future studies should focus on the proper formulation and stability testing of the functional foods containing stinging nettle and their detailed activities in clinical studies.

Genus Blepharis (Acanthaceae): A review of ethnomedicinally used species, and their phytochemistry and pharmacological activities.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Blepharis is an Afro-Asiatic genus belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It comprises about 126 species that occur in arid and semi-arid habitats. Some species of Blepharis are used in traditional medicines in different countries mainly for their anti-inflammatory, wound healing activities along with treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and bone fractures. AIM OF THE REVIEW: The present review aims to collate and analyze the available data and information on distribution, traditional uses, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Blepharis. METHODS: Scientific information of genus Blepharis was retrieved from the online bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science and Google Scholar and secondary resources including books and proceedings. RESULTS: Seven species of Blepharis were found to be reported frequently as useful in folklore in African and Asian countries. B. maderaspatensis was found to be widely used in Indian traditional medicines whereas the B. ciliaris and B. edulis were common in folklore of Egypt, Jordan, and Arabia. Active phytochemicals of Blepharis are flavonoids from B. ciliaris, alkaloids from B. sindica, phenolic acid derivatives, and phytosterols, and derivatives of hydroxamic acids from B. edulis resulted in possessing diverse biological properties such as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Various species of Blepharis were found to be used in traditional medicine systems in African and Asian countries. Few of these species were studied for their bioactive chemical constituents however the activity guided isolation studies are not performed. Similarly, detailed pharmacological studies in animal models to explore their mechanism of action are also not reported. Future studies should focus on these aspects related to the medicinally used species of Blepharis. The detailed and comprehensive comparative analysis presented here gives valuable information of the currently used Blepharis species and pave the way to investigate other useful species of Blepharis pertaining to ethnobotany, phytochemistry and discovery of new drugs.

Cocculus hirsutus (L.) W.Theob. (Menispermaceae): A Review on Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Activities.

Background:Cocculus hirsutus (L.) W.Theob. (Menispermaceae) is a perennial climber distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas. The main aim of this article is to collect and analyze the scientific information related to traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities. Methods: Scientific information on C. hirsutus was retrieved from the online bibliographic databases (e.g. MEDLINE/PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus). Information regarding traditional uses was also acquired from secondary resources including books and proceedings. Results: Different plant parts of C. hirsutus were reported to be used for the treatment of fever, skin diseases, stomach disorders and urinary diseases. Alkaloids such as jasminitine, hirsutine, cohirsitine and their derivatives along with a few flavonoids, triterpene derivatives and volatile compounds were reported from whole plant or different plant parts. Extracts were evaluated for their antimicrobial, antidiabetic, immunomodulatory and hepatoprotective activities among others. Conclusion: Although widely used in traditional medicines, only a few studies have been performed related to chemical constituents. Most of the biological activity evaluations were carried out using in vitro evaluation methods and only a few studies were carried out in animal models. In the future, properly designed in vivo and clinical studies are necessary to evaluate the pharmacological activities of C. hirsutus along with bioassay-guided studies to isolate and identify the active constituents.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz.: A review on traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae) are widely used as crude drugs in various traditional medicine systems. The aim of this article is to review the available scientific information regarding the traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and the pharmacological activities of T. chebula. Numerous researches conducted on T. chebula have confirmed the presence of wide range of the phytochemicals such as flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids and other bioactive compounds. T. chebula is also widely studied regarding its pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, cytotoxic, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory activities among others. However, more in vivo and clinical studies for mechanism-based pharmacological evaluation should be conducted in future to provide stronger scientific evidences for their traditional uses.

Anti-neuroinflammatory activities of extract and polymethoxyflavonoids from immature fruit peels of Citrus 'Hebesu'.

Chronic neuroinflammation is reported to be associated in the progression of many neurodegenerative diseases and there is an increasing interest for the natural products as neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory agents. In present research, we evaluated the potential inhibitory effects of extract, fractions, and isolated compounds from Citrus 'Hebesu' on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses using BV-2 murine microglial cells. The dried methanol extract (CH) was suspended in water and partitioned with hexane and ethyl acetate to give hexane soluble (CHH), ethyl acetate soluble (CHE), and water soluble (CHW) fractions. The extract (CH) and fractions CHH and CHE inhibited the expression of mRNA encoding pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1ß. CHE and CHH were further purified by various column chromatographic methods to obtain hesperidin (1), tangeretin (2), 5-hydroxy-6,7,8,3',4'-pentamethoxyflavone (3), 3,5,6,7,8,3',4'-heptamethoxyflavone (4), nobiletin (5), 3,4,5-trimethoxy-trans-cinnamic alcohol (6), and meranzin hydrate (7). Among them, three polymethoxyflavonoids, 3, 4, and 5 significantly inhibited the expression of IL-1ß mRNA. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Citrus 'Hebesu' is a local cultivar in Hyuga City, Miyazaki prefecture, Japan and its immature fruits are consumed with different food recipes. Till now, there is no detailed study on the chemical constituents and anti-neuroinflammatory activity of this cultivar. In this study, seven compounds were isolated from the peels of immature fruits. Methanol extract, hexane, and ethyl acetate fractions and three polymethoxyflavonoids showed a significant inhibitory activity against expression of IL-1ß mRNA. Consumption of peels of Citrus 'Hebesu' might play important role in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, however, detailed mechanism based in vivo studies are necessary in future for providing more scientific evidences.

Chemical constituents from the flowers of Satsuma mandarin and their free radical scavenging and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.

Flowers of Citrus plants are used as mild sedatives and for the treatment of insomnia in traditional medicines. In Japan, tea made from the flowers of Satsuma mandarin is consumed as healthy drink. Hesperidin (1), hesperetin (2), rutin (3), quercetin (4), nicotiflorin (5), eriocitrin (6), narirutin (7), phenylethyl glucoside (8) and unshuoside A (9) were isolated from the MeOH extract of fresh flowers. Structure elucidation of these compounds was performed on the basis of NMR spectroscopic data. Among them, rutin (3), quercetin (4) and eriocitrin (6) showed potent free radical scavenging activity, whereas hesperetin (2) and quercetin (4) showed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.

Community perception and prioritization of invasive alien plants in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, Nepal.

The management of invasive species is a complex, yet an essential component of biodiversity conservation and environmental management for sustainable futures. Despite a well-established linkage between biological invasions and human activities, the social dimension of invasive species management is less explored as compared to the ecological aspects. In recent years, the active participation of local communities, such as assessing levels of awareness and the selection of targeted species prioritized by communities, has been considered as a crucial element for managing invasive species. We conducted 32 focus group discussions (FGDs) including 218 participants in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (ChAL) of central Nepal, to assess knowledge and perceptions of agrarian and forest-dependent communities about invasive alien plants (IAPs), document the efforts of the community management of IAPs and prioritize IAPs for management. In the prioritization exercise, participants of each FGD were asked to rank three IAPs using scoring methods and to express their experience about the effects of the selected IAPs on humans and the environment. We found that communities had a living memory of the arrival of some of the IAPs in their locality without knowing the exotic nature of IAPs. Biodiversity loss, livestock poisoning, reduced agricultural production and forage supply, and negative impact on forest regeneration were reported as major negative impacts of IAPs. Communities also reportedly utilized IAPs for medicinal purposes, making compost by using biomass, and controlling floods and landslides. None of the government and non-governmental organizations working in the sectors of biodiversity conservation and environmental management has informed local forest-dependent agrarian communities about the consequences of biological invasions and management of IAPs. However, local communities had already started controlling the spread of some IAPs through manual uprooting. They were able to spot, identify and prioritize IAPs for management and some of the prioritized species were among the world's worst invasive species. Ageratum houstonianum was the top-ranked worst invasive species in agroecosystems while Chromolaena odorata and Ageratina adenophora were the top-ranked worst species in natural ecosystems. Our findings will be useful for guiding community education programs as well as the management of IAPs through formal policy and management plans, such as Nepal's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.