Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) is a subtropical tree crop that belongs to the Angiosperm family Annonaceae, which also includes sugar apple and soursop. Cherimoya flowers are pollinated by beetles and characterized by a marked protoginous dichogamy. In regions where cherimoya is now cultivated, the lack of native efficient pollinators forces the implementation of hand-pollination, thus incr...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS To date, the structure of the nectary spur of Aeridinae has not been studied in detail, and data relating to the nectaries of ornithophilous orchids remain scarce. The present paper compares the structural organization of the floral nectary in a range of Aeridinae species, including both entomophilous and ornithophilous taxa. METHODS Nectary spurs of Ascocentrum ampullaceu...

Differences in carotenoid accumulation between tissues and cultivars is common in plants. White-fleshed loquat cultivars had low levels of carotenoids in the flesh, but accumulated carotenoids in peel when ripe, and the leaves accumulated similar carotenoids to those in the red-fleshed loquat cultivars. The catalytic activity and expression patterns of four phytoene synthase (PSY) genes, EjPSY1...

Virtual geographic environments (VGEs) have been regarded as an important new means of simulating, analyzing, and understanding complex geological processes. Plants and light are major components of the geographic environment. Light is a critical factor that affects ecological systems. In this study, we focused on simulating light transmission and distribution within a three-dimensional plant c...

Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (Loquat) (EJ) has been used as a medicinal plant to treat chronic bronchitis, coughs, phlegm, high fever and gastro-enteric disorders. Since the traditional use of EJ is related to modulating inflammation processes, our earlier studies on EJ leaves were performed on the water extract to investigate specific cytokines' modulation. These earlier studies, howeve...

The biodegradable inhibitors, which could effectively reduce the rate of corrosion of carbon steel, were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The mixed-type inhibitors extracted from Eriobotrya japonica Thunb. leaf exhibited excellent inhibition performance, and the inhibition efficiency for carbon steel reached 90.0% at 298 K in hydroch...

Antioxidant capacities of 56 selected Chinese medicinal plants were evaluated using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, and their total phenolic content was measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The strong correlation between TEAC value and FRAP value suggested that the antioxidants in these plants possess free radical scaveng...

Loquat fruits, highly valued by consumers for their characteristic aroma and pleasant taste, have a short post-harvest life are susceptible to mechanical damage, loss of firmness, initial organoleptic characteristics. The aim this work was develop drying method suitable storing loquat fruits in polyamide/polyethylene (PA/PE) bags containing two gaseous mixtures (treatments): MAPN2 (100% N2) MAP...

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) and olive leaves (Olea europaea) were investigated for their safety, anti-oxidant, and anti-hypercholesterolemic properties. Therefore, a fixed combination of dry extracts of Eriobotrya japonica and Olea europaea was prepared into so called Cholevel tablets and tested for safety and efficacy in vitro and in vivo tests. No sign of toxicity (LDH-release) was observed ...