passion flower

Based on a careful examination of the onset of violet colored dots along the filaments in the developing floral bud stage and the formation of alternating bands of violet and white color in the matured flowers of Passiflora incarnata (Passion flower), it is concluded that the pattern arises from a competition between the production of violet colored anthocyanin and the colorless flavonols along the filaments. The activator-inhibitor model of Gierer and Meinhardt along with the reaction diffusion theory of Turing is used to explain the formation of concentric rings in the flower...

Because of their extraordinary flower and leaf morphology, passion flowers (Passifloraceae) have fascinated naturalists since their discovery. Within the large, diverse (600 species) genus Passiflora is an especially enigmatic and species-rich (120 spp.) subclade, Section Decaloba, which occurs in the Neotropics and has its center of diversity in Andean montane forests. A recent phylogenetic study of Passifloraceae showed that Section Decaloba was monophyletic, but was unable to resolve relationships within the clade, thus preventing inferences of evolutionary history and biogeography...

UNLABELLED: The present study is a mechanistic validation of 'proof-of-technology' for the effective topical delivery of chrysin nanoemulgel for localized, efficient treatment of melanoma-affected skin. BACKGROUND: Currently available treatments for skin cancer are inefficient due to systemic side effects and poor transcutaneous permeation, thereby presenting a formidable challenge for the development of novel nanocarriers. METHODS: We opted for a novel approach and formulated a nanocomplex system composed of hydrophobic chrysin dissolved in a lipid mix, which was further nanoemulsified in Pluronic® F-127 gel to enhance physicochemical and biopharmaceutic characteristics...

PURPOSE: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial joint disease and inflammatory processes contribute to joint destruction. Isovitexin (IVX) is a flavone component found in passion flower, Cannabis and, and the palm that is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study investigated in vitro the role and underlying mechanism used by IVX in its regulation of OA development. Effects of IVX on the viability of chondrocytes were measured by CCK-8 assays...

A pollinator's efficacy is the result obtained from a single visit by a species and is often used to measure the importance of different species of floral visitors as pollinators. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the efficacy of fruit and seed set in Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Deg. (Passifloraceae) by manual cross-pollination, natural pollination and by Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) frontalis (Olivier 1789), performed through a single and two visits, to evaluate if there is occurrence of pollen limitation and pollinators' limitation in the studied crop fields...

Exploration of new drugs targeting anxiety treatment is a major concern worldwide. Medicinal plants are being used as a potential source of novel drugs for anxiety disorders. The objective of this review is to provide information about the healing outcomes of anxiety treatment with natural products. Valeriana officinalis, Citrus aurantium, Commelina benghalensis, Achyranthes aspera, Mimosa pudica, Achillea millefolium, Nymphaea alba, Leonurus cardiac, Camellia sinensis, Turnera aphrodisiaca, Crataegus oxyacantha and Piper methysticum showed promising effects on anxiety in animal models...

The present wellbeing worry to the whole world is the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also called COVID-19. This global health crisis first appeared in Wuhan, China around December 2019 and due to its extremely contagious nature it had spread to almost 187 countries. Still now no effective method of treatment or vaccine is developed for controlling the disease. Therefore, the sole obliging strategy is to take precautionary measures by repurposing drugs from the pre-existing library of therapeutically potent molecules...

Passiflora edulis Sims (passion fruit) is an economically important fruit crop. However, a new flower dry rot has occurred in orchards located in Zhanjiang, China, and has led to serious production loss. Its disease incidence is approximately 30 to 40%. A total of 221 isolates of Fusarium sp. were obtained from samples of three types of symptomatic flowers. Three representative single-spore isolates (PaB-1, PaB-2, and PaB-3) from each type were used for pathogenicity tests, multilocus phylogenetic analyses, and morphological descriptions...

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), an important tropical and subtropical fruit, has a high edible and medicinal value. Stem rot disease is one of the most important diseases of passion fruit. An effective way for control and prevention of this disease is to identify the genes associated with resistance to this disease. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) has mainly been widely applied to detect gene expression because of its simplicity, fastness, low cost and high sensitivity. One of the requirements for RT-qPCR is the availability of suitable reference genes for normalization of gene expression...

This paper estimates the economic value of ecosystem services provided by Brazilian native bee, Xylocopa spp. Latreille (Hymenoptera: Apidae), pollination on a scale relevant to individual smallholder farmers that produce yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims). The study areas are located in the vicinity of Pedro de Toledo and Itariri (Sao Paulo State-Brazil), in the Atlantic Forest region. The local economy is based on family farms, small stores, and ecotourism. The value was obtained using the ecological economics Avoided Cost Method, also known as replacement cost...

Recently, there have been reports that chronic insomnia acts as an insult in the brain, causing memory loss through the production of ROS, inflammation, and, Alzheimer's disease if persistent. Insomnia remains the leading cause of sleep disturbance and as such has serious implications for public health. Patients with Alzheimer's disease are also known to suffer from severe sleep disturbance. Meanwhile, vitexin is a key ingredient in Passiflora incarnata L (passion flower, PF) extract, which is known to help with sleep...

There is a very large diversity in plant architecture in nature. Over the past few years, novel theoretical concepts and analytical methods have emerged as powerful tools to understand important aspects of plant architecture. Plant architecture depends on the relative arrangement of three types of organs: leaves, shoots, and flowers. During plant development, the architecture is modulated by the balance of two homologous proteins: FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1). The FT/TFL1 balance defines the plant growth habit as indeterminate or determinate by modulating the pattern of formation of vegetative and reproductive structures in the apical and axillary meristems...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: There are insufficient safe and effective treatments for chronic pain in pets. In cases such as osteoarthritis there is no commercially available cure and veterinarians use NSAIDs to manage pain. Pet owners may have to plan for a lifetime of plant-based treatment for the conditions that lead to chronic pain in pets. Phytopharmacotherapies have the advantage of being less toxic, cheap or free, readily available, are more likely to be safe for long-term use and have the potential to reset the immune system to normal functioning...

CONTEXT: Nicotine, a bioactive component of tobacco, is highly addictive. Numerous therapies have been developed for smoking cessation, and all have met with limited success. Our laboratory has previously shown that an extract of Passiflora incarnata Linn. (Passifloraceae) antagonized the expression of nicotine locomotor sensitization in rats. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the ability of vitexin, a flavonoid found in P. incarnata, to ameliorate the signs of nicotine sensitization in rats...

Several studies on cytogenetic characterisation of passion flowers are helpful to elucidate doubts about taxa relationships, delimitation and classification into more coherent groups based on karyomorphological data. Molecular and conventional cytogenetic techniques were applied to three Passiflora species with red flowers, P. coccinea, P. vitifolia and P. tholozanii, for species karyotype relationships. Additionally, for descriptive morphology, were used flowers, leaves and seeds. Results describe for the first time the karyomorphological and chromosome number (2n = 18) for P...

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) is considered the "father" of impressionism and even of twentieth century modern art. Manet's genius involved getting away from the classical narrative or historical topics and replacing them by the banality of daily life. Technically, he erased volumes into flat two-dimensional coloured planes, and distorted conventional perspective with often gross brushstrokes intentionally giving an "unfinished" aspect to the work. It is little known that Manet had a very painful second part of his life, due to excruciating limb and chest pains, which developed in parallel with proprioceptive ataxia and gait imbalance...

Large carpenter bees (the genus Xylocopa), as an important group of bees (Apidae), are common visitors to flowering plants in tropics and subtropics. Their foraging behavior is characterized by long season of activity, high diversity of foraging plants, tolerance of high temperatures, activity under low illumination levels, and buzz pollination. These traits make them to be attractive pollinators for agricultural pollination in hot climates, especially in greenhouses, night-blooming plants, and some Solanum...

Chrysin is a natural compound derived from honey, propolis, or passion flowers and has many functional roles, such as antiinflammatory and antiangiogenesis effects. Although endometriosis is a benign gynecological disease, there is a need to identify the pathology and develop a therapy for endometriosis. Elucidating the biological mechanism of chrysin on endometriosis will improve the understanding of endometriosis. In this study, we confirmed the apoptotic effects of chrysin in human endometriotic cells using End1/E6E7 (endocervix-derived endometriotic cells) and VK2/E6E7 (vaginal mucosa-derived epithelial endometriotic cells)...

Mahomet Allum was a flamboyant philanthropist and herbalist who worked in South Australia in the early part of last century, whose herbal therapies generated some controversy at the time. Two of his preparations have survived to the present day, a general tonic and a treatment for liver and kidney dysfunction. Given the frequent use of pharmaceutical drugs in "tonics" at the time, toxicological analysis was undertaken at Forensic Science SA, Adelaide with liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass-spectrometer (LC-QTOF MS), liquid-chromatography/ diode array detector (LC/UV) and gas chromatography/ nitrogen phosphorous- detector/mass-spectrometer (GC-NPD/MS), to look for common drugs...

BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy is common among older adults, with increasing numbers also using prescription drugs with herbal medicinal products (HMPs) and dietary supplements. There is no reliable evidence from the UK on concurrent use of HMPs and dietary supplements with prescription drugs in older adults. AIM: To establish prevalence of concurrent prescription drugs, HMPs, and dietary supplements among UK community-dwelling older adults and identify potential interactions...