Before classification we have to know what is a medicinal plant. There are many definitions.  World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined medicinal plants as plants that contain properties or compounds that can be used for therapeutic purposes or those that synthesize metabolites to produce useful drugs (WHO 2008). We can classify …

Claviceps are member of the pyrenomycetes, fungi which are referred when they form perithecial ascocarp. They are important as the parasites of many endophytes in their life as discussed below- Classification Class: Ascomycetes Sub-class: Hymenomycetidae I, Hymenomycetidae II. Order: Hypocreales Family: Clavicipitaceae Genus: Claviceps Vegetative structure The intercellular hyphae are …

One of the important fungi which influence human life belongs to the order Erysiphales. This fungi causes powdery mildew disease to plants, so named as the infected plant appear to be covered by a white, powdery material. This is none other than due to the powdery conidia, which are blown …

Aspergillus Why do some sexual stages lack active antheridium? What are the conditions favouring sexual reproduction? Good to know The mycelial or ascospore stages are the ones that overwinter in the life cycle. Classification Phylum: Ascomycota (Filamentous ascomyecetes) Class: Ascomycetes Order: Eurotiales Family: Trichocomaceae Genus: Aspergillus Species: A. niger, A. …

Fibre may be defined generally as a strand that is very long in comparison to its width. Or, it is a special type of elongated cells with thick walls corresponding to small cavities with pointed ends. • The walls of the fibre contains lignin and cellulose. • They may occur …

Gymnosperms are seed producing plants that do not produce any covering surrounding the seed i.e. the seed remains naked. The word ‘Gymnosperm’ originates from Gk. ‘gymnos’ meaning ‘naked’ and Gk. ‘sperma’ meaning ‘seeds’. A Greek botanist named Theophrastus first used the term ‘Gymnosperm’ in 300 BC in his book ‘Enquiry …

Pyrrophyta or fire algae is a division of unicellular algae that has a yellow brown color, and has two different flagella which are ribbon-shaped. It contains some pigments (chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, c1, c2 and fucoxanthin) that can photosynthesize. Early botanists classified dinoflagellates as a separate division of algae, which they named …

Ever wondered how your body deals with the harmful pathogens inside you? Yes? No? No matter what your answer is, if you are a student of science you should already know a little bit about this topic because you were forced to learn about it for your exams. Was it …

Euphorbiaceae family is very diversified with mostly monoecious herbs, shrubs, and trees and even sometimes succulent and cactus-like members. It is named from one of its member genus ‘Euphorbia‘. This family has about 300 genus and 7500 species all over the world but more often found in warm and temperate …

Study of chromosome structure is very important in cytotaxonomic studies. It includes chromosome size, shape and position of centromere (i.e. arm-length ratio of each chromosome in the genome) Chromosomal size and shape are also important as taxonomic criteria in taxonomy. For examples, The chromosomal ratio if Mediola and Trillium of …