Most flowers display distinct colour patterns comprising two different areas. The peripheral large-area component of floral colour patterns attracts flower visitors from some distance and the central small-area component guides flower visitors towards landing sites. Whereas the peripheral colour is largely variable among species, the central colour, produced mostly by anthers and pollen or poll...

Autumn crocus poisoning of cattle is characterized by severe diarrhea caused by alkaloid colchicine. Previously, we examined pathologically this poisoning in cattle and reported that enterotoxic lesions were closely associated with apoptosis. To examine enterotoxicity of autumn crocus more precisely, a reproductive study was performed using guinea pigs and mice, and pathological findings associ...

The genus Crocus L. (Iridaceae) comprises about 80 species distributed mainly in the Mediterranean region. It is widely dispersed in Turkey; at present about 67 taxa (including subspecies and varieties) are recognized there (Mathew, 1984, 1988, 1995, 2000; Kerndorff and Pasche, 2003, 2004). The Turkish Crocus species have received attention by several workers, who have concentrated mainly on mo...

AIM To investigate the anti-proliferative effects of Crocus sativus extract and its major constituent, crocin, on three colorectal cancer cell lines (HCT-116, SW-480, and HT-29). The cell growth inhibition effect was compared to that of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. In addition, Crocus sativus' effect on non-cancer cells was evaluated. METHODS Using high performance liquid chromat...

Crocus (Crocus sativus L.) is a crop species cultivated for its flowers and, more specifically, for its red stigmas. The flower of crocus is bisexual and sterile, since crocus is a triploid species. Its perianth consists of six petaloid tepals: three tepals in whorl 1 (outer tepals) and three tepals in whorl 2 (inner tepals). The androecium consists of three distinct stamens and the gynoecium c...

Callus induction, somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration were initiated in selected five species of Turkish crocus using three diffrent explants (leaf, stem and corm) cultured on four different media (MS, GB5, LS and CHE). The highest frequencies of callus induction (100%) and shoot regeneration (70%, with 7.2 shoots/callus) were found in the crocus species Crocus oliveri ssp. Oliveri, us...

Eight clones of repetitive DNA were isolated from Crocus vernus Hill. The genomic organization of the clones was analyzed by in situ hybridization to C. vernus and Southern hybridization to a range of Crocus and other species. Seven clones were used for in situ hybridization. Sequence analysis showed that all eight clones were nonhomologous, and thus represented eight different sequence-familie...

A unique mannose-binding lectin, highly specific for terminal Man(alpha1,3)Man groups, was isolated from bulbs of crocus (Crocus vernus All.). The lectin failed to bind to a mannose affinity column and was purified by simple gel permeation chromatography (Sephacryl S200). The purified lectin, obtained in crystalline form, had a molecular mass of 44 kDa on gel filtration and showed a single pept...

Among the different species of Crocus, only C. sativus has been extensively studied for the composition and the biological properties of its styles, since these constitute the well-known spice saffron, which is widely used in the Mediterranean, Indian and Chinese diet. With high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV/vis spectroscopy, the presence of hydrophilic carotenoids in the styl...

The structure and physical properties of a snowpack and their temporal evolution may be simulated using meteorological data and a snow metamorphism model. Such an approach may meet limitations related to potential divergences and accumulated errors, to a limited spatial resolution, to wind or topography-induced local modulations of the physical properties of a snow cover, etc. Exogenous data ar...