Posts

Showing posts from October, 2011

Sanguinaria canadensis 200c

Image
 Sanguinaria canadensis   - VERMEULEN Frans, Sang. Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words? [Marcel Marceau] Signs Sanguinaria canadensis. Bloodroot. Red Puccoon. N.O. Papaveraceae. CLASSIFICATION Sanguinaria belongs to the Papaveraceae, a plant family that is mainly native to the north temperate zone. The family consists chiefly of herbaceous annuals or perennials, and some shrubs. There are 23 genera [some taxonomic systems recognize 41 genera], of which Papaver is the largest - containing about 100 species - and Sanguinaria and Chelidonium the smallest - both containing 1 species only. FEATURES All members of the Papaveraceae have stems and leaves that contain a well-developed system of secretory canals which produce yellow, milky or watery latex [red in Sanguinaria]. The large and often showy flowers are bisexual and possess two free sepals, which fall off before the flowers open. The four petals are rolled or crumpled when in bud. The...

Sanicula aqua

Image
 By- VERMEULEN Frans, Spring water  Sanicula aqua Sanic. Nothing is permanent but change. [Heraclitus] Signs Sanicula Spring Water. Sanicula aqua. SUBSTANCE Not to be confounded with Sanicula europaea, which is a herbaceous plant in the Umbelliferae, Sanicula aqua is derived from the Sanicula Spring Water of Ottawa, Illinois, USA. An analysis of the water at that time showed it to contain 170 grains of solid matter to the gallon, 92 of which were sodium chloride. The analysis, made by Prof. Silliman in the 1880s, "the highest authority in the land," showed the water to contain the following constituents [in grains per one U.S. standard gallon of 231 cubic inches, which equals 3.785 litres]: sodium chloride [92.7995 grains], calcium chloride [23.5699], magnesium chloride [23.2687], calcium bicarbonate [14.3494], calcium sulphate [9.6236], potassium sulphate [5.1246], sodium bicarbonate [0.9776], silica [0.5394], sodium bromide [0.3220], iron bicarbonate [0.0979...

Sarsaparilla officinalis

Image
Sarsaparilla Sars. Your friend is the man who knows all about you and still likes you. [Elbert Hubbard] Signs Smilax spp. [Smilax regelii. Smilax ornata. Smilax medica. Jamaican sarsaparilla. Honduran sarsaparilla.] N.O. Smilacaceae [Liliaceae]. CLASSIFICATION The four genera and about 375 species of the Smilacaceae are mainly tropical and subtropical climbing shrubs; a few species occur in temperate zones. The vast majority of the family is in a single genus, Smilax, which has 350 species of woody climbers of the tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres. The other genera are Heterosmilax [15 species], Pseudosmilax [2 species], and Rhipogonum [7 species]. Smilax species are usually armed with spines. The taxonomic classification is complex: some taxonomists recognize two genera, others four; some classify the members of the Smilacaceae in the closely allied Liliaceae, although they generally are considered as a separate family because of differences in the leaf characters and...

Secale cornutum 200c

Sec. Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil. [Thomas Carlyle] Signs Claviceps purpurea. Secale cornutum. Ergot. N.O. Pyrenomycetidae. KINGDOM FUNGI Fungi were traditionally classified as a division in the kingdom Plantae. They were thought of as plants that have no stems or leaves and that in the course of becoming food absorbers lost the pigment chlorophyll, which is needed for conducting photosynthesis. Most scientists today, however, view them as an entirely separate group that evolved from unpigmented flagellates and place them either in the kingdom Protista or the kingdom Fungi, according to their complexity of organization. Approximately 100,000 species of fungi are known. The more complex groups are believed to have derived from the primitive types, which have flagellated cells at some stage in their life cycle. CLASSIFICATION Fungi can be divided into three categories based on their relationship to their immediate environment. Parasitic fungi feed ...