| preliminary screening of plants used in south africa as traditional herbal remedies during pregnancy and labour. | agapanthus africanus, pentanisia prunelloides and gunnera perpensa are indigenous plants which are used in traditional herbal remedies during pregnancy and childbirth. a crude decoction of each plant was tested on isolated rat uterus and ileum for pharmacological activity. agapanthus africanus and pentanisia prunelloides exhibited direct smooth muscle activity on the uterus and ileum preparations, while gunnera perpensa showed direct smooth muscle activity on the uterus only. all the plant extra ... | 1997 | 9080339 |
| pharmacological effects of agapanthus africanus on the isolated rat uterus. | the agapanthus africanus plant is used by south african traditional healers as a phytomedicine in herbal remedies to treat pregnancy-related ailments and to augment labour. it has already been shown that an aqueous extract of a. africanus causes smooth muscle contractions in the isolated uterus and ileum preparations. in the present study, the effects of an aqueous extract of a. africanus leaves was examined on receptor systems involved in contraction of the uterine smooth muscle in order to det ... | 1999 | 10473170 |
| screening of zulu medicinal plants for angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) inhibitors. | twenty plants used by traditional healers in south africa for the treatment of high blood pressure were investigated for their anti-hypertensive properties, utilizing the angiotensin converting enzyme assay. a hit rate of 65% was achieved, with the highest inhibition (97%) obtained by adenopodia spicata leaves. a further seven plants exhibited an inhibition greater than 70% and five more over 50%. the leaves of the plants showed the greatest levels of inhibition. there was little difference in t ... | 1999 | 10624863 |
| the effects of herbal oxytocics on the isolated "stripped" myometrium model. | decoctions of agapanthus africanus and clivia miniata are used as oxytocic agents in south african traditional herbal medicine. aqueous extracts of a. africanus and c. miniata leaves have been shown to possess similar uterotonic activities in the isolated whole uterus preparation. the uterus however, comprises a myometrial and an endometrial layer and the activity of both oxytocin and the prostaglandins differs in these layers. the aim of this study was to determine the uterotonic activity of th ... | 2000 | 10972206 |
| discrimination between the functional and biochemical effects of two herbal oxytocics on the rat myometrium. | this study on the rat myometrium is the first report where the effects of herbal extracts used as oxytocics in traditional medicine have been systematically analysed in the same preparation at the level of functional (contractile) and biochemical (second messenger generation) responses. extracts of agapanthus africanus and clivia miniata (used in south african traditional medicine) were compared with other uterotonic agents with regard to their ability to stimulate phosphoinositide metabolism in ... | 2001 | 11518025 |
| development of a toxic bait for control of eastern lubber grasshopper (orthoptera: acrididae). | this study assessed baits for eastern lubber grasshopper, romalea guttata (houttuyn). when offered a choice among several grain-based baits (rolled oats, wheat bran, oat bran, yeast, corn meal, cornflakes) and vegetable oils (canola, corn, peanut, soybean), eastern lubber grasshopper adults preferred bait consisting of wheat bran carrier with corn oil as an added phagostimulant. other carriers were accepted but consumed less frequently. discrimination by eastern lubber grasshoppers among oils wa ... | 2003 | 12852592 |
| complete nucleotide sequence of nerine virus x (nvx-j) isolated from the african lily plant (agapanthus campanulatus) in japan. | | 2006 | 16155730 |
| antifungal activity of agapanthus africanus extractives. | the ethanolic extract of the rhizomes of agapanthus africanus showed antifungal activity. in bioassay guided fractionation, n-butanol fraction exhibited significant activity against human pathogens. a saponin, (25r)-spirost-7-en-2alpha,3beta,5alpha-triol-3-o-[alpha-l-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)-[beta-d-galactopyranosyl (1-->3)] beta-d-glucopyranoside (1), responsible for the antifungal activity and having mic value of 15.6 microg/ml against trychophyton mentagrophytes and sporothrix schenekii, was is ... | 2008 | 18343601 |
| seeking a way to promote the use of constructed wetlands for domestic wastewater treatment in developing countries. | the aim of this study was to evaluate the domestic wastewater treatment efficiency as well as the survivability of commercially valuable ornamental plants in subsurface flow wetlands (ssfw) for domestic wastewater (dww) treatment in laboratory and pilot wetland studies. the laboratory scale study included five different species (zantedeschia aethiopica, strelitzia reginae, anthurium andreanum, canna hybrids and hemmerocallis dumortieri) that were evaluated in horizontal flow subsurface treatment ... | 2011 | 21330710 |
| rdna mapping, heterochromatin characterization and at/gc content of agapanthus africanus (l.) hoffmanns (agapanthaceae). | agapanthus (agapanthaceae) has 10 species described. however, most taxonomists differ respect to this number because the great phenotypic plasticity of the species. the cytogenetic has been an important tool to aid the plant taxon identification, and to date, all taxa of agapanthus l'héritier studied cytologically, presented 2n = 30. although the species possess large chromosomes, the group is karyologically little explored. this work aimed to increase the cytogenetic knowledge of agapanthus afr ... | 2016 | 27556330 |
| fusarium agapanthi sp. nov., a novel bikaverin and fusarubin-producing leaf and stem spot pathogen of agapanthus praecox (african lily) from australia and italy. | this study was conducted to characterize a novel fusarium species that caused leaf and stem spot on agapanthus praecox (agapanthus, african lily) in northern italy and leaf rot and spot on the same host in melbourne, australia. formally described as fusarium agapanthi, this pathogen was analyzed using phenotypic, phytopathogenic, secondary metabolite, molecular phylogenetic and genomic data. five strains were characterized, including one isolated in 1999 from symptomatic a. praecox in saluzzo, i ... | 2016 | 27474520 |
| fungal planet description sheets: 107-127. | novel species of microfungi described in the present study include the following from australia: phytophthora amnicola from still water, gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi from castanea sp., pseudoplagiostoma corymbiae from corymbia sp., diaporthe eucalyptorum from eucalyptus sp., sporisorium andrewmitchellii from enneapogon aff. lindleyanus, myrmecridium banksiae from banksia, and pilidiella wangiensis from eucalyptus sp. several species are also described from south africa, namely: gondwanamyces wingfi ... | 2012 | 23105159 |
| isolation of an acyl-glucose-dependent anthocyanin 7-o-glucosyltransferase from the monocot agapanthus africanus. | a cdna encoding an acyl-glucose-dependent anthocyanin 7-o-glucosyltransferase (aaaa7gt) was isolated from agapanthus africanus petals; this is the first aagt identified in a monocot. peak expression of aaaa7gt in developing a. africanus petals occurred before the flowering stage, and was later than found previously for other anthocyanin biosynthetic genes. analysis of recombinant proteins showed aaaa7gt had strict substrate preference for anthocyanidin 3-o-glycosides. the aaaa7gt amino acid had ... | 2012 | 22673029 |
| isolation and synthesis of a dimeric dihydrochalcone from agapanthus africanus. | a new dimeric dihydrochalcone, rel-(1beta,2alpha)-di-(2,4-dihydroxybenzoyl)-rel-(3beta,4alpha)-di-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-cyclobutane, accompanied by its apparent precursor, the known chalcone isoliquiritigenin, have been isolated from the roots of agapanthus africanus (liliaceae). the structure is based on spectroscopic methods including extensive nmr analyses, mass spectrometry and circular dichroism. conclusions regarding the structure and relative configuration are supported by synthesis of the di ... | 2005 | 15907963 |
| rodent pollination in the african lily massonia depressa (hyacinthaceae). | field studies in the semiarid succulent karoo region of south africa showed that flowers of massonia depressa (hyacinthaceae) are visited at night by at least four rodent species, including two gerbil species. live-trapped rodents were found to carry massonia pollen on their snouts; they also had large quantities of massonia pollen in their feces as a result of grooming their fur. visits by insects to the flowers were infrequent at one site and apparently absent at another site. plants enclosed ... | 2001 | 21669608 |