Spring_2016

Helleborus viridis (green hellebore), family Ranunculaceae.

Leucojum vernum (spring snowflake),  family Amaryllidaceae.

Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae.

Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae.

Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae.

Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae.

Crocuses_February/ March_Germany 2016

Bees_February_Germany 2016

Crocus In The Rain_Munich_Germany 2016

Crocuses are spring flowers that belong to the family Iridaceae. Did you know that the most expensive spice on earth, saffron, is derived from the stigmas of the Crocus sativus? ;) The red color of saffron originates from the crocin, which is a carotenoid dye. Besides its culinary benefits, saffron is also used to color the clothes (e.g. by Buddist monks), and possesses cosmetic and medicinal properties. Saffron was used already in ancient times; it seems that Cleopatra knew its beneficial properties as according to some historical documentations she used saffron for the warm baths ;)

An interesting fact about crocin is that it has antitumor properties. During the ´´International Cancer Study & Therapy Conference´´ that is going to be held in April 4-6, 2016 in Baltimore (USA), Professor Amr Amin from the UAE University, will give a talk ´´Crocin (saffron’s biomolecule) is a potent preventive agent against liver cancer´´.

Spring, Botanical Garden Munich, Germany, February 2016

Hamamelis x intermedia Mittlere Zaubernuss 'Rot Bruns'

Helleborus orientalis ‘White Lady’

Snowdrops in bloom_Munich, Germany, February 2016

     Last days the weather in Munich was variable. Some days were sunny, other rainy or snowy, but temperature during the day did not drop below 0°C. Today it was amazingly beautiful day with a lot of sun. I realized that there are more and more flowers in bloom ;) Today I was admiring the snowdrops that were growing in a small forest ;)

    Snowdrops (Galanthus) belong to the family Amaryllidaceae and they are native to central Europe. An interesting fact about the snowdrops is that their seeds contain special structures known as elaisomes that are rich in lipids and proteins. Why do the snowdrops produce such elaisomes? Well, it is a kind of business ;) Ants like elaisomes. These insects are eating the elaisomes, however they do not harm the seeds. So basically snowdrops provide the food to ants, and what the plants are gaining is seed dispersal ;)

    Another interesting fact about the snowdrops is that they contain a lot of chemicals from which some possess medicinal properties. An example is galantamine, a phenanthrene alkaloid, that was for the first time isolated from the snowdrops. Besides the snowdrops, this compound is also present in some other plants such as snowflakes (Leucojum), daffodils (Narcissus) and Lycoris. In medicine galantamine is used to treat dementia in Alzheimer’s disease. Mechanistically, galantamine inhibits acetylcholinesterase and as a result the levels of acetylcholine (neurotransmitter) increase, which slows down the neurological degeneration.

Nature wakes up! Munich, Germany, February 2016

Today in Munich it was a sunny and warm day (~ 11°C). There were already some signs of the early spring such as singing birds and some blooming flowers ;)

One of the blooming plants I observed today were hazelnut trees (Corylus avellana, family Betulaceae). Blooming hazelnut trees contain yellow male flowers (catkins) and red female flowers that are growing on the same tree. Therefore, hazelnut trees represent so called monoecious species, in contrast to dioecious species that produce male and female flowers on separate plants. Male flowers I saw today were ~5–10 cm long, whereas female flowers were extremely small (~3 mm long) and bud-like. Interestingly, a windy day is beneficial for the hazelnut trees (and people who like hazelnuts ;) because this enables the pollination.

Male (yellow) and female (red) flowers of the Corylus avellana.