Central European Journal of Botany

3-9

Authors: Ivan A. Ermachkov

The German-born Russian scientist Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (1793–1831) became famous in the field of natural sciences: zoology, entomology, botany, medicine. This manuscript is dedicated to the 230th anniversary of the scientist's birth. The material was the works of Eschscholtz himself, as well as bibliographic studies about him. In the course of our research, such methods of historical and biographical research as content analysis, biographical method and synthesis method were applied. Eschscholtz was a very versatile person; having received a medical education, he was engaged in it only on duty, devoting all his free time to science, publishing his research and teaching. Eschscholtz published his works in Russia in Latin and German. He made a number of discoveries in the study of the musculoskeletal system of higher animals, insects, ray animals, and also discovered a new genus of mollusks Auchinia. He has great achievements in the systematization and classification of entomological knowledge. A genus of poppies, a bay in the Chukchi Sea, an atoll in the Marshall Islands, and a species of Pacific salamander Ensatina eschscholtzii are named in Eschscholtz's honor.

14-19

Authors: Natal'ya A. Shevchenko

This article discusses the biography and scientific legacy of the renowned German botanist and breeder Georg A. Arends (1863–1952). Our research was based on his autobiography “Mein Leben als Gärtner und Züchter” (1951) and other online sources covering his life. To conduct our historical investigation, we applied the content analysis, biographical, and synthesis methods. Arends, a hereditary gardener and breeder, began his career in crop production from a young age, and breeding was his true passion. He also excelled in botanical illustration and photography, achieving significant success. The indomitable nature, innovative spirit, and dedication of Georg Adalbert Arends benefited not only his team and the field of plant breeding in general, but also all of humanity. Decorative flowers, such as Astilba “Bride's Veil”, common ochre, and toothed bouzulnik “Othello”, hosta “Elegans”, Hubei anemone “Praecox”, and badan “Morgenröte”, ochitnik “Herbstfreude”, bathing suit “Alabaster”, Saxifraga Аrendsii, Aconitum Аrendsii, and Phlox Arendsii and many others grow in flower gardens around the world; all of them belong to the authorship of Arends.

3-6

Authors: Iliyasu A.A. Ibrahim, H.S. Sulaiman, Abdulkadir Abbas Ibrahim, Habibu Musa

The date palm tree (phoenix dactylifera) is one of the most popular fruit trees of the world. It has religious values as well as cultural importance. Fungi are a source of fruit rot, produce mycotoxins and reduce the economic values of date fruit. The study aimed to isolate and identify the fungi associated with the contamination of different varieties of date palm fruit sold in Bauchi metropolis Nigeria, to isolate and identify the fungi associated with the date’s contamination and to microscopically characterize the isolated fungi. Results showed that sample A had 11 organisms, 13 were found from B, 5 from C, 6 from D and 7 were isolated E. Results also showed the fungal count for sample A was 2.36X103, that of sample B was 1.23X103, C had 1.75X103; D, 1.12X103 while E had a count of 1.32X103. Number and percentages of occurrence of R. stolonifer, A. niger, P spp, M spp and C. candida were 12 and 28.57; 08 and 19.05; 07 and 16.67; 05 and 11.90; 10 and 23.81 respectively.

11-37

Authors: Talip Şahin, Ömer Kılıç

People have employed numerous natural materials to cure ailments and to improve their health throughout history. For thousands of years, nature has provided medicinal agents, and an impressive number of modern medications have been isolated from natural sources, many of which are based on their use in traditional medicine. Ethnobotany is a larger discipline which is interested in all studies about the relationship between plants and people. Indigenous peoples have established their localized knowledge of medicinal plant use, management, and conservation through millennia. Medicinal and aromatic plants are being used for the treatment of various stomach ailments by the local peoples since earliest times. This paper consists of 287 plant taxa which are used for treatment stomach ailments in Turkey ethnobotany or traditional medicine. It is expected that this study will contribute to other studies on the subject.

3-8

Authors: Huda Dhaher Al-Marsomy, Qudus Wamidh Jamal, Zainab Abed Muhsin AL-Haboobi

Parasitology is a branch of biology that studies the interaction of two microorganisms, one of whom benefits and the other threatens. Previously include Bacteria, Fungi and viruses, now are limited to parasitic protozoa, helminthis, arthropods and species of arthropods serve as a vector for parasite. Six important human tropical illnesses are known and five are parasitic diseases. Parasitic diseases are high prevalence in developing countries where poverty and poor hygiene are predominant. As a result, using chemical drugs is costlier. For thousands of years humans used herbal plants for treatment as a science named herbal medicine (botanical medicines or phytomedicine). Because of their efficacy, safety, low cost, and lesser side effects, traditional herbal medicine is often used as the first line of protection in disease treatment by 80 percent of the world's population. Nigella sativa has been used for medicinal purposes and food from ancients , both as a herb and oil. N. sativa belong to the genus Nigella. This review aims to investigate the possibility of using black seeds as a therapeutic agent in protozoal and helminthic disease based on published data.

13-25

Authors: Ömer Kiliç, Meryem Kök, Şinasi Yildirimli

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases globally, it leads to hyperglycemia and prolonged hyperglycemia can cause severe immortalities every system of the human body; change in the metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and in the long term, with eye, kidney, cardiovascular, and neurological complications. In spite of the developments in medicinal chemistry, traditional medicine is still a common practice for the treatment of diabetes. The number of studies on plants used by the public in diabetes is few. Conventionally there are some medicines to treat diabetes mellitus but desired effective treatment is still not to be achieved. Thus, it is essential to look for more effective antidiabetic agents with fewer side effects like natural medicinal and aromatic plants. However some medicinal and aromatic plant derived products have proven to be effective and safe in the treatment of various types of diabetes mellitus. So researches are going on for the development of alternative effective therapy against this common disease. In Turkey ethnobotany, some medicinal and aromatic plants have been used as blood sugar lowering agents. Turkish flora with more than 13.000 plant taxa and medicinal plants are widely used traditionally for the prevention and cure of diabetes and many of them are used for different purposes. This article consists of 147 plant taxa which are reported to have good antidiabetic property and 39 plant taxa from Çelikhan (Adıyaman-Turkey) provinces which have potential antidiabetic property. In addition this study focuses on diabetes mellitus and the role of plants in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Turkey, in order to provide additional information for healthcare professionals.

3-6

Authors: Iliyasu A.A. Ibrahim, Muhammad Chindo

The research was piloted to establish the hepatotoxic potentials of the leaf extract of Vitex dodiana on liver enzymes of apparently healthy albino rats. A total of sixteen (16) albino rats were clustered into four (4) groups of four (4) rats each designated as group A – D, Group A served as control while groups B, C and D were treated with 200 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg, and 400 mg/kg aqueous leaves of extract of Vitex dodiana respectively for a period of two weeks. The liver enzymes were determined using spectrophotometric methods. The activity of AST was slightly decreased to 6.5±0.20 in the rats treated with 200 mg/kg body weight of the extract and slightly decreased to 5.2±0.12 and 5.0±0.33 in the rats treated with 300 and 400 mg/kg body weight of the extracts respectively when compared with untreated group (5.6±0.15) with no significant (P > 0.05) differences. The activity of ALT was slightly decreased to 2.5±0.11 in the rats treated with 300mg/kg body weight of the extracts and slightly increased to 2.64±0.17 and decreased to 2.4±0.04 in the rats treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight of the extracts respectively when compared with untreated group (2.8±0.31) with no significant (P > 0.05) difference. The result of ALP also showed no significant (P < 0.05) difference of serum ALP activity, though it was observed in the rats treated with 400 mg/kg body weight of the extracts the serum concentration decreased to 100.06±0.66, and 102.44±2.34 at 300 mg/kg body weight and 104.56±1.20 at 200 mg/kg body weight of the extracts, but no significant (P > 0.05) difference was observed when compared with untreated group (106.26±8.51). The results revealed no significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the activity of serum liver enzymes of the rats treated with the three different doses of Vitex dodiana extract when compared with control rats. In conclusion, acute oral administration of aqeous extract of Vitex dodiana was found to be relatively safe.

12-17

Authors: Muhammad Zafar, Omer Kılıç, Mushtaq Ahmad, Lubna

The present study is insight into foliar epidermal anatomy for characterizing species and their utility in the taxonomic separation of certain taxa of family of Vitaceae from Pakistan. The studied foliar micromorphology of 5 species; Parthenocissus semicordata (Wall.) Planch, Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Siebold & Zucc.) Planch, Ampelopsis vitifolia (Boiss.) Planch. subsp. hazaraganjiensis Nazim & Qaiser, Cissus trifoliata (L.) L., and Cissus quadrangularis L. was analysed and documented using Light microscopy (LM) for both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Epidermal cells observed were either polygonal or irregular shaped, with straight or undulate anticlinal walls. Two types of stomata observed were paracytic and anomocytic with elliptical shaped guard cell all the studied species except adaxial surface of Parthenocissus semicordata, Parthenocissus tricuspidata and Ampelopsis vitifolia subsp. hazaraganjiensis. Trichomes were conical shaped, non-glandular either unicellular or multicellular. The quantitative parameters studied were size (length and width) of stomata, subsidiary cell, guard cells, stomatal pore, stomatal complex, trichomes. There was much variation in the size of all the parameters investigated. These anatomical features may help in the discrimination of studied taxa and are of much significance for the plant taxonomist in the correct identification of taxa.

3-21

Authors: Fazal Hadi, Muhammad Ibrar a, Ömer Kiliç

Kalash valley is famous all over the world for its inhabitants having indigenous culture, religion, language and considered to be the descendants of Alexander the Great living in this rigged mountainous series of Hindukush range. Frequent field visits were carried out during 2013−2016 years for the collection of plant samples and documentation of related data. Then the collected plants samples were properly pressed and identified with the help of different volumes of Flora of Pakistan and other available literature. The study showed 389 species belong to 237 genera and 88 families including 62 dicots, 11 monocots, 7 pteridophytes, 4 bryophytes, 3 gymnosperms and 1 fungi family. Species distribution indicated 307 dicots, 55 monocots, 12 pteridophytes, 10 gymnosperms, 4 bryophytes and 1 fungi species. Asteraceae was detected dominant (49 taxa) family followed by Poaceae (36 spp.), Brassicaceae (25 taxa), Lamiaceae (22 spp.), Rosaceae (22 spp.), Fabaceae (16 spp.) and Apiaceae (13 spp.). The remaining families had 12 or less species. The life form classes indicated 205 therophytes, 56 geophytes and 46 hemicryptophytes species while nanophylls (178 spp.) mesophylls (72 spp.) and leptophylls (53 spp.) were dominant leaf spectra classes. The present study is first ever record of floristic diversity of Kalash valley and includes some new reports. The findings will be helpful in future detail studies on plant resources of the area.