People customarily use the extracts of plants known to have antidiarrhoeal effects without any scientific base to explain the action of the extract. For this reason, an investigation was undertaken with a view to determining the efficacy of the effects of the brute aqueous extract (BAE) of the leaves of Psidium guajava (guava), Stachytarpheta cayenensis (bastard vervain), Polygonum punctatum (w...

The antimicrobial activity of methanol and acetone extracts of Butomus umbellatus, Polygonum amphibium, and two species of the genus Sparganium (S. erectum and S. emersum)against three Gram-positive, five Gram-negative bacteria and one fungus was assessed by the disk diffusion method. The microorganisms used were Staphylococcus aureusATCC-29740, Escherichia coli ATCC-25922, Pseudomonas aerugino...

The different responses of plant species to resource stress are keys to understand the dynamics of plant community in a changing environment. To test the hypothesis that nitrogen (N) increase would benefit N competitive species, rather than N stress-tolerant species, to compete with neighbours, we conducted an experiment with neighbour removal, N addition and soil moisture as treatments in an a...

Laboratory studies were conducted with leaf powder of three plants to show the preservative effect for maintaining the quality of lentil seeds in storage. After processing and drying, seeds were preserved with different botanicals and stored them in earthen pots for eight months. Botanicals, such as whole leaf powder of neem (Azadirachta indica), dholkalmi (Ipmoea sepiara), and bishkatali (Poly...

We tested the generalist annual plant Polygonum persicaria (Polygonaceae) for adaptive differentiation in drought responses. Populations from one consistently moist and two variably dry sites were grown in moist and drought conditions in a greenhouse. Physiological, morphological, and reproductive data were collected. All three populations maintained similar levels of fitness in both drought an...

Polydatin and resveratrol, as major active components in Polygonum cuspidatum, have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor functions. However, the effect and mechanism of polydatin and resveratrol on enterovirus 71 (EV71) have not been reported. In this study, resveratrol revealed strong antiviral activity on EV71, while polydatin had weak effect. Neither polydatin nor resveratrol exhibit...