Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is an emerging high-grade cut flower worldwide, which is usually used in wedding bouquets and known as the "wedding flower". However, abundant lateral branches appear frequently in some excellent cultivars, and a lack of a method to remove Paeonia lactiflora lateral branches other than inefficient artificial methods is an obstacle for improving the qu...

The Paeonia genus, an important source of crude drugs, has been extensively used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat cardiovascular and female-related diseases. Although many peony species have been investigated, the study of Paeonia rockii is still quite limited, especially its chemical composition. Here, an advanced ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) analytical te...

Phylogenies of Adh1 and Adh2 genes suggest that a widespread Mediterranean peony, Paeonia officinalis, is a homoploid hybrid species between two allotetraploid species, Paeonia peregrina and a member of the Paeonia arietina species group. Three phylogenetically distinct types of Adh sequences have been identified from both accessions of P. officinalis, of which two types are most closely relate...

A new glycoside of salicylic aldehyde, paeonicluside, was isolated from the roots of the Greek endemic species Paeonia clusii subsp. clusii and identified as alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1-->6)-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside of salicylic aldehyde (1). In addition, one characteristic monoterpene and two monoterpene glycosides were identified as paeoniflorigenone, paeoniflorin and benzoyl paeoniflorin, re...

The genus Paeonia, also known as the "King of Flowers" in China, is an important source of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Plants of this genus have been used to treat a range of cardiovascular and gynecological diseases. However, the potential pharmacological activity of one particular species, Paeonia rockii, has not been fully investigated. In the first part of the present study, 2,2-dip...

BACKGROUND Plant derived components have attracted particular attention as an alternative source to battle several diseases including cancer. The variation in the climate, the geographical location and the rich ethnomedicinal traditions has made the Darjeeling Himalayas an abode of invaluable repository of traditional medicinal plants. In this study, we explored the in vitro anticancer properti...

Baillonella toxisperma, Pentaclethra macrophylla and Trichoscypha abut are important foods for communities living around forests in Cameroon. Information on the nutritional value and bioactive content of these foods is required to establish their contribution to the nutrition and health of the communities. Samples of the three foods were obtained from four villages in east and three villages in...

Gentiana macrophylla, a medicinal plant with significant pharmacological properties, contains the bioactive compound gentiopicroside. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is an effective elicitor for enhancing the production of such compounds. However, little is known about MeJA-mediated biosynthesis of gentiopicroside. We investigated this phenomenon as well as gene expression profiles to determine the mol...

The flowers of ZhaoFen and RouFurong may contain essential oils with natural aromatic ingredients. In the present work, the chemical compositions of essential oil of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews from the flowers of ZhaoFen and RouFu-rong grown only in China were investigated by GC-MS analysis. The results indicate that there are 27 constituents in ZhaoFen and 29 constituents in RouFurong, which...