Sambucus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, elderflower or elderberry.
Passiflora edulis, commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy fruit.
Passiflora, known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants, the type genus of the family Passifloraceae.
Pyracantha is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to Southeast Asia. They resemble and are related to Cotoneaster, but have serrated leaf margins and numerous thorns.
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. These can be activated by enzyme hydrolysis, which causes the sugar part to be broken off, making the chemical available for use. Many such plant glycosides are used as medications. Several species of Heliconius butterfly are capable of incorporating these plant compounds as a form of chemical defense against predators. In animals and humans, poisons are often bound to sugar molecules as part of their elimination from the body.
Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, sharinga tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pantropical in distribution due to introductions. It is the most economically important member of the genus Hevea because the milky latex extracted from the tree is the primary source of natural rubber.
Passiflora caerulea, the blue passionflower, bluecrown passionflower or common passion flower, is a species of flowering plant native to South America. It has been introduced elsewhere. It is a vigorous, deciduous or semi-evergreen tendril bearing vine growing to 10 m (33 ft) or more. Its leaves are palmately lobed, and its fragrant flowers are blue-white with a prominent fringe of coronal filaments in bands of blue, white, yellow, and brown. The ovoid orange fruit, growing to 6 cm (2 in), is edible, but is variously described as having a bland, undesirable, or insipid taste. In South America, the plant is known for its medicinal properties, and is used by both the Toba and the Maka peoples.
Lotus corniculatus is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefoil. It has a wide distribution and is a favored forage for livestock.
Heliconius charithonia, the zebra longwing or zebra heliconian, is a species of butterfly belonging to the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae. The boldly striped black and white wing pattern is aposematic, warning off predators. It is the state butterfly of Florida.
Dryas iulia, commonly called the Julia butterfly, Julia heliconian, the flame, or flambeau, is a species of brush-footed butterfly. The sole representative of its genus Dryas, it is native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida, and in summer can sometimes be found as far north as eastern Nebraska. Over 15 subspecies have been described.
Achariaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of 31 genera and about 155 species of tropical herbs, shrubs, and trees. The APG IV system has greatly expanded the scope of the family by including many genera previously classified in Flacourtiaceae. Molecular data strongly support the inclusion of this family in the order Malpighiales.
Heliconius erato, or the red postman, is one of about 40 neotropical species of butterfly belonging to the genus Heliconius. It is also commonly known as the small postman, the red passion flower butterfly, or the crimson-patched longwing. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Sambucus canadensis, the American black elderberry, Canada elderberry, or common elderberry, is a North American species of elderberry.
Sambucus nigra is a species complex of flowering plants in the family Viburnaceae native to most of Europe. Common names include elder, elderberry, black elder, European elder, European elderberry, and European black elderberry. It grows in a variety of conditions including both wet and dry fertile soils, primarily in sunny locations. The plant is widely grown as an ornamental shrub or small tree.
Heliconius melpomene, the postman butterfly, common postman or simply postman, is a brightly colored, geographically variable butterfly species found throughout Central and South America. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Its coloration coevolved with another member of the genus, H. erato as a warning to predators of its inedibility; this is an example of Müllerian mimicry. H. melpomene was one of the first butterfly species observed to forage for pollen, a behavior that is common in other insect groups but rare in butterflies. Because of the recent rapid evolutionary radiation of the genus Heliconius and overlapping of its habitat with other related species, H. melpomene has been the subject of extensive study on speciation and hybridization. These hybrids tend to have low fitness as they look different from the original species and no longer exhibit Müllerian mimicry.
Gynocardia is a genus of dioecious evergreen tree belonging to the Achariaceae family, containing the sole species Gynocardia odorata. The trees grow up to 30 m tall. The species is found in moist forests of mountain valleys in South Asia - India, South-east Tibet and Yunnan in China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.
Secondary metabolism produces a large number of specialized compounds that do not aid in the growth and development of plants but are required for the plant to survive in its environment. Secondary metabolism is connected to primary metabolism by using building blocks and biosynthetic enzymes derived from primary metabolism. Primary metabolism governs all basic physiological processes that allow a plant to grow and set seeds, by translating the genetic code into proteins, carbohydrates, and amino acids. Specialized compounds from secondary metabolism are essential for communicating with other organisms in mutualistic or antagonistic interactions. They further assist in coping with abiotic stress such as increased UV-radiation. The broad functional spectrum of specialized metabolism is still not fully understood. In any case, a good balance between products of primary and secondary metabolism is best for a plant’s optimal growth and development as well as for its effective coping with often changing environmental conditions. Well known specialized compounds include alkaloids, polyphenols including flavonoids, and terpenoids. Humans use many of these compounds for culinary, medicinal and nutraceutical purposes.
(R)-prunasin is a cyanogenic glycoside related to amygdalin. Chemically, it is the glucoside of (R)-mandelonitrile.
The passion fruit is the fruit of several plants in the genus Passiflora.
Roslyn M. Gleadow is an Australian plant scientist, who leads the Plant Ecophysiological and Cyanogenesis Groups at Monash University, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024. Gleadow is Emerita Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University. She is also Honorary Professor The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation University of Queensland and a Visiting Fellow, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions Australian National University.
