The aim of this study was to find out the nutritional value of some selected plants of family Zygophyllaceae and Euphorbiaceae which are traditionally used in different parts of Pakistan. The five plants Fagonia cretica L., Peganum harmala L., Tribulus terrestris L., Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) Raf. and Ricinus communis L., were collected from Peshawar and Attock Hills during winter, 2009. In th...

We isolated and characterized As-resistant endophytic bacteria (AEB) from two arsenic hyperaccumulators. Their plant growth promoting traits and the relation between As tolerance and transformation were evaluated. A total of 41 and 33 AEB were isolated from Pteris vittata (PV) and Pteris multifida (PM) respectively. PV AEB represented 2genera while PM AEB comprised of 12 genera, with Bacillus s...

Plants used in traditional medicine are potential sources of new biologically active compounds many of them with antibacterial and antifungal activity. Plants can serve as a source of model compounds for synthetic or semi synthetic structure modification (Balandrin et al., 1993). Potential natural and synthetic substances with biocidal activity are considered candidates for developing new drugs...

Phylogenetic relationships within Fagonia were inferred from analyses of plastid trnL intron and nuclear ribosomal ITS DNA sequences. Sampling of the genus was nearly complete, including 32 of 34 species. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using parsimony, and Bayesian model averaging. The latter method allows model-based inference while accounting for model-selection uncertainty, and is her...

BACKGROUND Plants have proved to be an important source of anti-cancer drugs. Here we have investigated the cytotoxic action of an aqueous extract of Fagonia cretica, used widely as a herbal tea-based treatment for breast cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using flow cytometric analysis of cells labeled with cyclin A, annexin V and propidium iodide, we describe a time and dose-dependent a...

Background: Maize plants are infested with many insect pests. The corn borer, namely: the greater sugarcane borer (the pink borer), Sesamia cretica Led. is one of most injurious insects infesting maize in Egypt and all over world. Results: Results illustrated that mortality percentage within 48 hours S. after feeding 4th instar larvae on leaves treated various plant extracts alcohol or petroleu...

Intensive botanical exploration of the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) for the Vascular Flora of the Marquesas Islands and Flore de la Polynésie française projects has resulted in numerous additional new collections from these islands. Study of these collections has brought to light 11 new species of pteridophytes (ferns and lycophytes) which are described herein: Blechnum pacificum Lorenc...

The effect of alcoholic extracts of the aerial parts of fagonia cretica on estrous cycle and implantation in female albino rats was studied, It induced random omission of heat phase in eh estrous cycle and exhibited 100% anti implantation activity without exhibiting any toxic manifestation, However it was found to have some strong androgenic antiprogestational activity, and immunostimulating pr...