Cantaurea maculosa, the spotted knapweed, is a common wild plant, aqueous extracts of which demonstrate antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Of 13 species of Centaurea screened for antibacterial activity by Osborn (1943), only three yielded extracts that were inhibitory to the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and none was active against Escherichia coli. Our C...

Knapweeds (Centaurea spp.) are among the most invasive of non-indigenous plant species that have colonized western North America over the last century. We conducted a 4-year experiment in a reconstructed grassland to test hypotheses related to the ability of grasslands to resist the invasion of diVuse knapweed (C. diVusa). We experimentally invaded C. diVusa and three native species into areas ...

An ethnobiological field study on food plants and medicinal foods traditionally consumed in three Arbëresh (ethnic Albanian) communities in northern Lucania (southern Italy) document approximately 120 botanical taxa used for these purposes. Non-domesticated food vegetables (liakra), mostly gathered during the spring season, play a central role as traditional functional food. Quantitative ethnob...

The host range of the knapweed nematode, Subanguina picridis (Kirjanova) Brzeski, under controlled environmental conditions was extended to include, in addition to Russian knapweed, Acroptilon repens (L.) DC., plant species within the Centaureinae, and Carduinae subtribes of the Cynareae tribe of the Asteraceae family. Examination of host response to nematode infection revealed that Russian kna...

In this study the in vitro cytotoxic properties of ethanol extracts from the herbs, inflorescents and roots of selected Asteraceae species: Arctium lappa, Artemisia absinthium, Calendula officinalis, Centaurea cyanus, Tanacetum vulgare and Tragopogon pratensis on J-45.01 human acute T leukemia cell line was examined. All tested samples possess antileukemic properties and induce cells death via ...

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