Phytotelmata, the water-filled habitats in pitcher plants, bromeliad tanks, and tree-holes, host multitrophic food webs that are model experimental systems for studying food-web structure dynamics. However, plant usually is considered simply as an inert container, not interacting part of web. We used a manipulative field experiment with response-surface design to determine effects nutrient enri...

BACKGROUND The purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea L., is a widely distributed species in North America with a history of use as both a marketed pain therapy and a traditional medicine in many aboriginal communities. Among the Cree of Eeyou Istchee in northern Québec, the plant is employed to treat symptoms of diabetes and the leaf extract demonstrates multiple anti-diabetic activities in...

The goal of this study was to determine whether extracts and isolated alkylamides from Echinacea purpurea would be useful for prevention of the inflammatory response that accompanies infections with H1N1 influenza A. Seventeen extracts and 4 alkylamides were tested for the ability to inhibit production of cytokines, chemokines, and PGE₂ from RAW 264.7 macrophage-like cells infected with the H1N...

Echinacea has gained considerable attention because of its increasing economic value and use as a medicinal plant. The genus Echinacea, Asteraceae, is represented by eleven taxa found in the United States and in south central Canada. Echinacea purpurea is the most widespread species (McGregor 1968) and the most widely cultivated medicinal species of the genus (McKeown 1999). Echinacea species h...