Orthosiphon is medical flowers

Orthosiphon is a medicinal plant native to South East Asia and some parts of tropical Australia. It is an herbaceous shrub which grows to a height of 1.5 meters. Orthosiphon is a popular garden plant because of its unique flower, which is white and bluish with filaments resembling a cat's whiskers. In the wild, the plant can be seen growing in the forests and along roadsides.

Common names in Southeast Asia are Misai Kucing (Malaysia), Kumis Kucing and Remujung (Indonesia), and Yaa Nuat Maeo (Thailand). The scientific names are Orthosiphon stamineus Benth, Ocimum aristatum BI and Orthosiphon aristatus (Blume).

Medicinal uses

Orthosiphon is used for treating the ailments of the kidney, since it has a mild diuretic effect. It is also claimed to have anti-allergenic, anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory properties, and is commonly used for kidney stones and nephritis. Orthosiphon is sometimes used to treat gout, diabetes, hypertension and rheumatism. It is reportedly effective for anti-fungal and anti-bacterial purposes.

Research

Orthosiphon began to interest researchers early in the 20th century, when it was introduced to Europe as a popular herbal health tea.

Commercial products

Orthosiphon is available in many products treating for detoxification, water retention, hypertension, obesity or kidney stones. It comes in tablets, capsules, tea sachets, bottled drinks, raw herbs, dried leaves or extracts.

Orthosiphon stamineus, originates from tropical East Asia, is a pretty plant you can find in some people's gardens. Featuring long white or purple flowers with long stamens that looks just like a cat's whiskers . Easy to grow, quick to bloom, ethereal flowers and a real eye-catcher. It really makes a great addition for your garden. But the best part of this plant is not the flowers. This pretty plant is well known in south east asia as remedy for urinary system ailments and high blood pressure.

White Orthosiphon stamineus

In Indonesia, Malaysia and India this plant is long known as a medicinal herb. You can find it in easily in people's gardens ( and bushes too ) and they grow it for a good reason. This herb can help regulate blood sugar level. It's also mild diuretic which help to decrease blood pressure and improve removal of toxin from body. Ortoshiphon stamineus can also prevent and cure gout by flushing away acids accumulated in joints

Bladder stone, diabetes, gout rheumatism, kidney & urinary disorders, and high blood pressure are just some ailments this herb can cure. When combined with other herbs it can cure a wider range of ailments.

Indonesian call it kumis kucing and Malaysian named it malai kucing. Both has the same meaning "Cat's Whiskers".

Purple Orthosiphon stamineus

Skeptics of medicinal herb always shout about how dangerous herbs can be. So is this plant dangerous?

Yeah right...

For years thousands of people brewed this plant and drink it in the morning and afternoon just like tea ( thus the "Java Tea" ). I'm sure that will tell you just how "dangerous" this herb is.

If you want to brew your own Java Tea take about 25 grams of fresh leaflet (young leaves). Wash them clean and boil in two glasses of water for 15 minutes until reduced to one glass. Drink twice a day, half a glass in the morning and another in the afternoon. If you prefer you could also add honey or milk for better tasting tea.

If you doesn't have it in your garden or just prefer the simple way you can find quite a number of commercial product derived from cat whisker available in market. They come in sachets, capsule and other packaging. Sometimes they contain the combination cat's whiskers with Strobilanthes crispus (Kejibeling/Red Flame) and Sonchus arvensis (Sow Thistle). The combo attack from these tree herbs can really help getting rid of urinary problems and bladder stones too.

Doesn't have diabetes or urinary problems? You can still drink it too. About once or twice a week. This tea helps your kidney to cleanse your body from toxic and it almost never have any side effect. Just remember not to drink it excessively. Think of all medicinal herbs just like ordinary drugs. You should never drink too much of it.

A little warning here. Though it's very rare drinking this tea may have a slight side effects for some people. If you experience headaches and/or nausea after drinking the tea then stop. You may just drunk too much or your body just doesn't like it. It would be a good idea to see your doctor again and find other methods to cure your ailments.

So, if you could find a space in your garden why not add some cat's whiskers there. It's undoubtly pretty and you will have an everlasting stock of high blood pressure and urinary ailments medicine.

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle)

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle) is a species of Catharanthus native and endemic to Madagascar. Synonyms include Vinca rosea (the basionym), Ammocallis rosea, and Lochnera rosea; other English names occasionally used include Cape Periwinkle, Rose Periwinkle, Rosy Periwinkle, and "Old-maid".

In the wild, it is an endangered plant; the main cause of decline is habitat destruction by slash and burn agriculture. It is also however widely cultivated and is naturalised in subtropical and tropical areas of the world.

It is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant growing to 1 m tall. The leaves are oval to oblong, 2.5–9 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, glossy green, hairless, with a pale midrib and a short petiole 1–1.8 cm long; they are arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are white to dark pink with a darker red centre, with a basal tube 2.5-3 cm long and a corolla 2–5 cm diameter with five petal-like lobes. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2–4 cm long and 3 mm broad.

The species has long been cultivated for herbal medicine and as an ornamental plant. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used to treat numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria and Hodgkin's disease. The substances vinblastine and vincristine extracted from the plant are used in the treatment of leukemia.

This conflict between historical indigenous use, and recent patents on C.roseus-derived drugs by western pharmaceutical companies, without compensation, has led to accusations of biopiracy.

It can be dangerous if consumed orally. It can be hallucinogenic, and is cited (under its synonym Vinca rosea) in the Louisiana State Act 159.

Catharanthus roseus cultivated in Brazil as a garden plant

As an ornamental plant, it is appreciated for its hardiness in dry and nutritionally deficient conditions, popular in subtropical gardens where temperatures never fall below 5 °C to 7 °C, and as a warm-season bedding plant in temperate gardens. It is noted for its long flowering period, throughout the year in tropical conditions, and from spring to late autumn in warm temperate climates. Full sun and well-drained soil are preferred. Numerous cultivars have been selected, for variation in flower colour (white, mauve, peach, scarlet and reddish-orange), and also for tolerance of cooler growing conditions in temperate regions. Notable cultivars include 'Albus' (white flowers), 'Grape Cooler' (rose-pink; cool-tolerant), the Ocellatus Group (various colours), and 'Peppermint Cooler' (white with a red centre; cool-tolerant).

Symptoms of phytoplasma infection

C. roseus is used in plant pathology as an experimental host for phytoplasmas. This is because it is easy to infect with a large majority of phytoplasmas, and also often has very distinctive symptoms such as phyllody and significantly reduced leaf size.

Catharanthus roseus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Gentianales Family: Apocynaceae Genus: Catharanthus Species: C. roseus
Binomial name
Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don
Synonyms
Vinca rosea

EU forest bail out falls short

International — Forest destruction is costing the global economy US $2 to $5 trillion per year — more than Wall Street has lost since the start of the current financial crisis. After stalling for years, the European Commission has finally come out with a proposal for illegal logging legislation and recommendations to tackle deforestation. Unfortunately, the law doesn’t do enough to address deforestation and illegal logging or what it is really costing us.

If the last ancient forests and all the life that’s in them don’t get a little love from the Environmental Ministers they will soon be wiped out.

Over the last few months, more than 125,000 of you wrote to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, asking him to show a little Forest Love and put an end to the EU’s massive contribution to deforestation and illegal logging. Your message got to the EU Commission, their response just doesn’t go far enough.

EU forest footprint not getting any smaller

The proposed law won’t keep illegal timber out of the EU, or help you figure out if the flat-pack wardrobe you bought last Saturday is the result of forest crime. There’s no plan to make sure that businesses prove their wood is legal or to make sure that forest criminals bringing in illegal timber pay for their crimes. And while the commission recognises the damage being caused by the demand for agricultural commodities (such as soy beans, cattle and palm oil) as a major contributor to deforestation, it doesn’t suggest a plan to eliminate the problem. It commits only to more studies and exploring policy options.

The destruction of the world’s rainforests to make way for things like more palm oil plantations is driving climate change and pushing species such as the orang-utan, to the brink of extinction. Every time the rainforest is trashed, huge amounts of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. The destruction of our rainforests accounts for a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than all the planes, trains and cars in the world.

Baby Steps

But it’s not all bad news, there are parts of the recommendations that get forest protection right. We are happy to see a recommendation for the creation of a fund for forest protection under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The plan itself only provides a fraction of the money needed for the fund to succeed, so now the Commission needs to figure out how to make sure the fund can succeed.

The Commission also rightly opposes forest offset credits for the next decade. If forest credits were approved, they could allow the energy sector to buy its way out of necessary reforms and emission cuts. The EU Commission is taking a step in the right direction by rejecting forest credits in the carbon markets.

What’s next?

European environment ministers are expected to discuss deforestation at their Council on 4 December and the first ministerial debate on the timber legislative proposal is expected to take place at the agriculture Council on 17-19 December.


If the last ancient forests and all the life that’s in them don’t get a little love from the Environmental Ministers they will soon be wiped out. If the EU is serious about protecting forests and keeping temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, then Parliament and Council need to step it up on the Commission proposals. We need a strong timber law and new economic incentives and financial resources to put an end to deforestation and illegal logging.

Probe studies Solar System's edge

Nasa's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (Ibex) spacecraft has been launched into Earth orbit to study the edge of our Solar System.

Ibex was launched on Sunday aboard a Pegasus rocket that was dropped from a jet flying over the Pacific Ocean.

It is the first probe to study particle interactions at the boundary where our Solar System meets interstellar space.

The Ibex probe will chart particle interactions at the edge of deep space

The two-year mission should shed light on the decline of the solar wind, which is at its lowest pressure in 50 years.

The interstellar boundary is the point in space at which the particles emitted from the Sun begin to compete with those from elsewhere in the galaxy.

This region serves as a buffer that protects the Solar System's interior from 90% of the cosmic rays heading towards it.

EU 'holds firm' on climate goals

EU leaders will maintain their targets and timetable for tackling climate change, despite objections from some nations, the French president has said.

At a summit in Brussels, Nicolas Sarkozy said "solutions" would be found for those that had expressed concerns.

Some countries have threatened to block a deal agreed last year for EU-wide cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, citing the economic slowdown.

The split over climate change contrasts with EU unity over the banking crisis.

The financial crisis has prompted some countries such as Poland and Italy to argue that they cannot afford to enforce tough emissions targets on their industrial sector.

Mr Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said: "The climate package is so important that we cannot simply drop it, under the pretext of a financial crisis."

Speaking at the close of the meeting, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said "we are not going to let up on the battle against climate change."

Last year, EU leaders vowed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, and to derive 20% of energy from renewable sources.

However, the BBC's Oana Lungescu, in Brussels, says a finalised agreement by December looks like a tall order, amid darkening prospects for Europe's economy.

Concerns

Europe has moved fast to tackle the financial crisis but it is only starting to count the cost for jobs and economic growth, our correspondent says.

The French president said EU nations should consider a co-ordinated rescue plan to tackle the broader economic crisis as with the financial crisis.

All 27 EU states broadly support a bank rescue plan proposed for the bloc and the holding of a summit on world financial reform, Mr Sarkozy said.

Eurozone leaders have agreed on a comprehensive package designed to shore up banks, including making more than a 1,000bn euros ($1,366bn) available for interbank loans.

Mr Sarkozy said the EU wanted to launch "a new Bretton Woods summit" in November, referring to the 1944 meeting which led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions.

Other members of the group of eight industrialised nations (G8) have also signed up to the summit.

With a recession looming, some Eastern and central European countries are unhappy at the burden of cuts they will be expected to bear under the existing climate agreement.

They argue that a legacy of inefficient and coal-dependent industry, dating from the Soviet era, has made it much harder for them to achieve big emissions cuts.

Solutions

Mr Sarkozy said he was pushing hard for an agreement on climate change and energy action by the end of the year.

"On the climate package, we have obtained unanimity... It is now for President Barroso and myself to find solutions for those countries which have expressed concerns," Mr Sarkozy said.

In other summit business, talks on a new EU-Russia partnership treaty were postponed, amid continuing concern about Russia's military presence in Georgia. There were divisions about when to resume them.

A decision to revive the failed Lisbon treaty, meant to give the EU more stable institutions in difficult times, is expected to be put on the back-burner until December.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen promised to come up with an action plan by then on the best way to move ahead next year.

Earliest confirmed TB case found

The 9,000-year-old remains of a mother and her baby discovered off the coast of Israel provide the earliest concrete evidence of human TB, say researchers.

The bones were excavated from Alit-Yam, an ancient Neolithic village near Haifa, which has been submerged in the Mediterranean for thousands of years.

Experts suspect the mother passed the disease to her baby shortly after birth

The experts from University College London and Tel-Aviv University used DNA technology to confirm the bacterium.

Others have found remains that hint at TB dating from about 500,000 years ago.

However, there is no firm proof that the tell tale signs seen in the skeleton of a young man believed to belong to the first human species to migrate out of Africa - Homo erectus - were in fact caused by TB. Some experts doubt it.

Watery grave

The Israel bones, discovered by Dr Helen Donoghue and Dr Mark Spigelman, prove the disease is at least 3,000 years older than previously confirmed in other remains found in Italy. The watery grave provided the ideal environment to preserve the skeleton and its DNA.

The Atlit-Yam site was located within marshland, the graves were encased in clay, eventually covered by thick layer of sand and later by salt water, protecting the bones from decay.

The size of the infant's bones, and the extent of TB damage, suggest the mother passed the disease to her baby shortly after birth.

They lived around the time of the first great transition of man from hunter-gatherers to a settled agriculture-based lifestyle.

One theory is that TB originally spread from cattle to humans.

But these latest findings, published in PLoS One journal, suggest human TB predates bovine TB.

Dr Donoghue said: "What is fascinating is that the infecting organism is definitely the human strain of tuberculosis, in contrast to the original theory that human TB evolved from bovine TB after animal domestication.

"This gives us the best evidence yet that in a community with domesticated animals but before dairying, the infecting strain was actually the human pathogen.

The remains were submerged in the Mediterranean sea

"The presence of large numbers of animal bones shows that animals were an important food source, and this probably led to an increase in the human population that helped the TB to be maintained and spread."

The scientists were also able to show that the DNA of the strain of TB in the skeletons had lost a particular piece of DNA which is characteristic of a common family of strains present in the world today.

"The fact that this deletion had occurred 9,000 years ago gives us a much better idea of the rate of change of the bacterium over time, and indicates an extremely long association with humans," said Dr Donoghue.

Dr Simon Mays, skeletal biologist at English Heritage's Centre for Archaeology, said: "This does predate the other earliest convincing cases of TB from Italy by about 6,000 years.

"It tells us that the human form of TB is quite ancient."

Ultimately, Dr Donoghue's team hope their work will help others find more effective treatments for TB.

About nine million new cases of TB, and nearly two million deaths from TB, are estimated to occur around the world every year.

WWF collaborates with Pemda Nunukan to preserve the elephants of East Kalimantan

It has been known for a long time that elephants occur in the eastern and southern part of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. However, until recently few people knew that there is also a elephant population living in the very north of East Kalimantan. These elephants are confined to the northern part of the district of Nunukan, and historical records indicate that this area is part of their original natural habitat. The indigenous people of the area have always been familiar with these animals that they respectfully refer to as nenek (grandparents).

The elephants of Borneo were always thought to have been introduced to Sabah some 200 years ago. However, recent DNA studies have proven that the elephants of Borneo are in fact an indigenous sub-species, called Elephas maximus borneensis, which split from the other sub-species some 300,000 years ago.

Picture of an elephant from Sebuku area was documented from a survey last year

The elephant herds of Nunukan district moves through a wide area of the upper Sebuku sub-district, from the upper Agison drainage area in the west to the foot slopes of the Mayo hills in the east. They frequently cross the border to move through adjacent areas in Sabah.
The upper Sebuku area is still covered by natural forests, but most forests have been logged or are being logged.

Solitary male elephants occasionally wander much further to the south, all the way to the Tikung River. This is nowadays happening much more often than before, and the number of elephants coming to the south is also larger. It is particularly in this southern area where many new developments are taking place. Large areas have been allocated for oil palm plantations, and many villages have their agricultural fields in this area.
Many conflicts between elephants and human have occurred in the last few years, as elephants enter oil palm plantations, people’s fields and even villages. This has resulted in destruction of crops and infrastructure, which has angered the local people.
WWF in collaboration with the Government of Nunukan, Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of East Kalimantan have documented the recent visits of disturbing elephants into the area, and it has received much media attention during the last two years.

Joint Efforts with the BKSDA and local government

BKSDA Kaltim and WWF want to avoid more conflicts with the elephants, and have therefore facilitated Pemda Nunukan with the establishment of the Elephant Conflict Forum, during a five days workshop in the village of Sekikilan last September. Surveys of the elephant area and analysis of the field data were carried out by WWF and BKSDA Kaltim to obtain more ecological information of the elephants here, which includes a distribution map of the elephant herds and the solitary males.

WWF will now further collaborate with Pemda Nunukan and BKSDA to ensure that the development of the area can coincide with the conservation of the elephants of Sebuku.

Pemda Nunukan is currently in the process of developing a new spatial land use plan (rencana tata ruang kabupaten) and WWF will advise about the elephant habitats and corridors that need to be incorporated in the spatial planning to avoid elephant-human conflicts. These advices will be supported by more ecological data, obtained through additional research and surveys.
The Elephant Conflict Forum of Sebuku will be strengthened and further organized. WWF will donate through Pemda Nunukan the equipment that is needed to anticipate elephant intrusions in fields and plantations, such as communication radios, flashlights and noise cannons. Pemda Nunukan will allocate additional funds to make the Forum fully operational.

Capacity building of the local stakeholders will be further developed by Pemda Nunukan and BKSDA with assistance from WWF. This includes training and learning visits to the elephant project in neighboring Sabah, which will also strengthen trans-boundary collaboration.

The strong commitment of Pemda Nunukan is very encouraging and can through the partnership with WWF, BKSDA and local stakeholders result in the preservation of the unique elephant population of Nunukan, the only elephants in Indonesian Borneo.