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Abrus precatorius leaves, flowers and seeds.
Source publication
Abstract
Although ornamental for humans, Abrus precatorius is not so when it comes to livestock. Plant bears feather like leaves with active ingredient concentrate in the seed mostly. Poisoning in both humans and animals are common due to the attractive appearance of the seed, shiny red color with black eye at the top. Malicious poisoning in cattle...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... alternate, compound, feather-like leaves, with small oblong leaflets while the flowers are numerous and appear in the leaf axils along the stems [1] . The flowers are also small and occur in clusters 1-3 inches long, usually red to purple, or occasionally white. The fruit is a legume about 3 cm long containing hard ovoid seeds about 1 cm long 2 (Fig. 1). The plant contains a toxic ingredient, abrin which is composed of two chains. Chain A is responsible for halting protein synthesis by inhibiting the normal functioning of ribosome while chain B facilitates entry of chain A inside the target cell. The A- chain attacks the 60S subunit of the ribosome and by cutting out elongation factor ...
Citations
One of the biggest natural disasters in the world is undoubtedly earthquakes. Destructive earthquakes
have attracted the interest of scientists for a long time. They have tried various methods for the
prediction of earthquake. These attempts, which had started in the ancient times, has been continuing
to increase. Despite all these efforts, however, no complete success has been achieved so far.In this research, discussions on the earthquake prediction that started in Istanbul after the 1894
earthquake were discussed. Such discussions were initiated by Josef Nowack, who was an Austrian
professor of chemistry and also had studies on the atmosphere. Nowack sent a letter and a report to
the Ottoman embassy in Vienna and claimed that he knew in advance the 1894 Istanbul earthquake.
The report was transmitted to Sultan Abdülhamid II and the sultan requested that the scientific basis
of these claims be investigated. One of the main sources of this study is the aforementioned report in
the Ottoman Archive. Monsieur Nowack has conducted research in many European cities, particularly
in London. His observations were reported in many newspapers and his studies were referred in
scientific articles.
Monsieur Nowack’s claims were based on his observations in two fields. The first one was the
sunspots. The second one was the physical change on the leaves and stems of a plant called abrus
precatorius. According to Monsieur Nowack, the change on the mentioned plant could also be used
for estimates of local weather as well as such natural phenomena as storms and volcano eruptions. In
this study, the allegations have been elucidated and counter-opinions in the European press have been
included. The transcribed version of the report was annexed to the study.
Rahmawati N, Mustofa FI, Haryanti S. 2020. Diversity of medicinal plants utilized by To Manui ethnic of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 375-392. The present study reports the utilization of medicinal plants as medicines for the treatment of various diseases among the people of To Manui tribe in Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. Data collecting was conducted based on purposive random sampling to five selected traditional healers who fulfilled some inclusion criteria. The results showed as of 89 species of medicinal plants distributed in 50 families and 80 genera have been documented to have any pharmacological effects against 37 diseases and illnesses. Curcuma longa L. was determined as the most frequent medicinal plant used by traditional healers in To Manui for treating diabetes mellitus as well as after-birth treatment. However, conservation of some medicinal plants needs to be initiated in the study area especially Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br. as it is recognized in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as Least Concern (LC) of conservation status.
