Competitive outcomes among plants can vary in different abiotic and biotic conditions. Here we tested the effects of two phylotypes of Alternaria endophytes on the growth, competitive effects, and competitive responses of the exotic invasive forb Centaurea stoebe. Centaurea stoebe was a better competitor against North American grass species than grasses from its European home range in the absen...

BACKGROUND Historical ethnobotanical studies are useful starting points for further diachronic analysis. The aim of this contribution is to present archival data from the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian borderland, which were collected by Adam Fischer, a Polish ethnographer from Lviv, in the 1930s. These data were originally gathered for publication in the first part of the Lexicon of Slavic belie...

To resist establishment by an invasive plant, a community may require one or more species functionally similar to the invader in their resource acquisition pattern. In this study, communities consisting of native winter annual forbs, non-native annual grasses, native perennials, or a combination of the two native communities were established with and without Centaurea solstitialis to determine ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The Mediterranean region is of prime importance to biodiversity at a global level, mainly due to the abundance of endemic plant species. However, information about these species is still scarce, especially at the genetic level. In this paper the first assessment is reported of the genetic structure of Centaurea horrida (Asteraceae), an endemic, sea-cliff-dwelling plant from ...

Interest to natural medicines is increased for the sake of fewer side effects, microbial resistence and more compatibility to the human body. Centaurea depressa (commonly known "cornflower") belongs to compositeae family, which comprises more than 74 species in Iran. It has been claimed that it can be used in many cases, such as infections, cough, constipation, dermatitis, fever, jaundice, pain...

Phenolic compounds arise from the shikimic and acetic acid (polyketide) metabolic pathways in plants. They are but one category of the many secondary metabolites implicated in plant allelopathy. Phenolic allelochemicals have been observed in both natural and managed ecosystems, where they cause a number of ecological and economic problems, such as declines in crop yield due to soil sickness, re...