Herbs, medicine, cyclotides & pass the Violet Tea

[Michaelangelica]

SOME NET GLEANINGS ON VIOLET

 

A quirky violet fact?

Viola Odorata–or sweet sented violet, yields to alcohol a rich blue color,

which it imparts in high perfection to paper

FROM: » Your Tips

 

Violet

By support

Viola odorata Part Used: Herb. Violet has a long history of use for the lungs, lymph system and as an aid in some cancers. Chronic lymph congestion, swollen glands. Eczema. Allergies and allergic reactions. .

..

Health Care Benefit Portal - Health Care Benefit Portal

 

Plant of the week > Violets

By grhomeboy

Violets (Viola odorata, Little faces or Johnny Jump Ups) are a perennial member of the Violaceae family, growing to 15cm in woodland and meadows in Europe. A stemless plant with heart shaped leaves bearing violet and yellow centered, ...

a web (not paper) magazine - a web (not paper) magazine

 

VIOLET SUGAR

By stv3(stv3)

1 cup violets (Viola odorata) 3/4 cup caster sugar. Wash flowers and dry. Pulverise flowers in a mortar or food processor. Mix the flowers trough the sugar and spread them onto a foil lined tray. Dry the mixture in the oven at 50C for ...

Jams/Jellies/Marmalades/Preserves

- Jams/Jellies/Marmalades/Preserves

 

SCOP: Protein: Cyclotide k1 from Sweet violet (Viola odorata)

Protein: Cyclotide k1 from Sweet violet (Viola odorata). Lineage:. Root: scop;

Class: Peptides [58231] Peptides and fragments. Not a true class; Fold: NTR,

 

Ohio's Kelleys Island has wealth of glacier-carved limestone

San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

... The Kelleys Island alvar is also home to the state-endangered northern bog violet that in Ohio grows only on Lake Erie islands.

[Michaelangelica]

Strange blog, lots of herb lists

one with this info

ciaere: I take antioxidant pills because they ha

Rutin -

 

First isolted from rue (Ruta gravolens), rutin is widespread in higher plants. It demonstrates many of the general actions of quercetin and other flavones and flavonols.

Rutin has anti-inflammatory activity because of an ability to inhibit the action of the enzyme lipoxygenase.

It is specifically recognized as a free radical scavenger and has been used clinically against capillary fragility and varicosities.

In vitro studies show that is also has antiviral and antibacterial properties.

 

Herbs containing Rutin -

(long list including

Salix alba (white willow) - bark

Sambcus nigra (black elder) flower, leaf

Spinacia oleracea (spinach) - leaf

Viola odorata (sweet violet) - flower

V. tricolor (pansy) - flower

also here

You Can't Fight the Moonlight - Violet

&

‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 29th July 2006. http://delta-intkey.com’.

Angiosperm Families - Violaceae Batsch.

Quotations

 

Violet is for faithfulnesse

Which in me shall abide;

Hoping likewise that from your heart

You will not let it slide

(from a popular songbook, ‘A Handfull of Pleasant Delites’, first published in 1566)

 

Lay her in the earth,

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh

May violets spring

(‘Hamlet’, v., 1)

 

. . . violets dim,

But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes

Or Cyatherea’s breath

(‘The Winter’s Tale’, iv., 3)

 

When daisies pied, and violets blue,

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,

And Lady-smocks all silver-white,

Do paint the meadows with delight

(‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’)

 

Beautiful drawings

http://delta-intkey.com/angio/images/viola01.jpg

[Michaelangelica]

Increase Vitality, Even Prevent Cancer:

 

The leaves of Violets and the blossoms of both Honeysuckle and Red Clover are renowned as safe, life-enhancing tonics. In addition to enhancing vitality and rejuvenating fertility, they have proven effectiveness against pre-cancerous conditions. Red Clover especially is noted for its ability to reverse in situ breast cancers, cervical dysplasia, and pre-cancerous polyps of the colon. Violet, whether drunk in infusion or applied as a poultice, has a reputation as a dissolver of breast lumps and a protector of the lungs, even checking the growth of tumors.

 

Anti-Cancer Agents:

 

The most amazing thing about these seven humble plants is that each of them has been associated with cancer prevention.

Plantain is an important Latin-American folk remedy against cancer. Burdock as a specific cure for breast cancer dates back to at least 1887 in the Ukraine.

Around the world, Red Clover is a widely used folk remedy against cancer and is known as "The herb of immortality."

Dandelion is known to stop the promotion of oncogenes. (When damaged or turned on, an oncogene initiates cancer).

Violet slows tumor growth. Honeysuckle is a popular anti-cancer agent in China.

Yellow dock is one of the original plants in the Native American anti-cancer brew now known as Essiac.

Susun Weed herbal medicine articles on women's health: menopause, fertility, breast cancer / breast health, and much more...

 

Royalty free stock image | Violet | iStockphoto.com

[Michaelangelica]

Anyone subscribing to this thread or am I talking to myself?

 

QUOTE]Home Remedies for Tonsillitis.

By John Hank(John Hank)

Banafsha flowers, botanically known as Viola odorata, are beneficial in the treatment of tonsillitis. About 12 gm of these flowers should be boiled in 50 ml of milk. This milk should be taken hot after being filtered. ...

Home Natural Remedies - Home Natural Remedies-Home Remedy, Natural Cure,Prevention from Diseases

[InfiniteNow]

Anyone subscribing to this thread or am I talking to myself?

Are the two mutually exclusive? I don't subsribe to threads anymore, but do stay read on those which are updated.

[Chacmool]

Anyone subscribing to this thread or am I talking to myself?

Please carry on; I find it very interesting. I just haven't yet had anything equally interesting to add.

[Michaelangelica]

A well written comprehensive article on violets as a medicine, mostly historical.

Stormsong.org- > R'Chel Enterprises > Herbs & Supplies > Herbs > Blue Violet Leaf 1oz-Premier retail supplier for all witches, pagans and wiccans.

[Michaelangelica]

Pages of photos of some of the very many varieties of Violet

Image Gallery Results | USDA PLANTS

[Michaelangelica]

Viola odorata - Plants For A Future database report

When added to soup they thicken it in much the same way as okra[62, 85, 159].

Also used as a flavouring in puddings etc.

A tea can be made from the leaves[85]. Flowers - raw. Used to decorate salads and desserts[5, 9, 85].

A sweet mild flavour with a delicate perfume, the flowers are an especially welcome decoration for the salad bowl since they are available in late winter[K]. The flowers are also used fresh to flavour and colour confectionery[238].

A soothing tea can be made from the leaves and flowers[85, 183]. A leaf extract is used to flavour sweets, baked goods and ice cream[183].

. . .

All members of this genus have more or less edible leaves and flower buds, though those species with yellow flowers can cause diarrhoea if eaten in large quantities[62, 85, 159].

 

Violet Society Journal Index

 

Sweet Violets the home of Violets

 

Stir fried violets

Violet Society Summer 2000 Culinary Page by Jill Ann Williams

 

[Michaelangelica]

Sorry about the above "cut and paste". I thought i was just getting pictures.

Still it is a great website if you are interested in violets

 

Please no more death threats from moderators!:)

 

I just found a double mauve parma violet pop up in my garden. It was like finding a new baby in the cabbage patch. ! So exciting!i am sneaking a little water out to it. Fantastic fragrance. Violets are seeding and popping up everywhere. I just don't figure; nothing else want to grow in pH 9 soil.

 

This was from left field (like the baseball terminology?)

 

NEWS.com.au Network

 

The Australian

 

October 01, 2007 07:50pm AEST

 

THE AUSTRALIAN

 

Breaking News

By Tamara McLean | September 25, 2007

 

A CHINESE herb used for centuries to treat snakebites and boils is showing promise as a new therapy in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Australian, US and European scientists have found that an Asian violet known as Viola yedoensis contains tiny proteins which appear to kill off infected cells.

 

These anti-HIV and anti-bacterial qualities make the plant a target for new drug therapies to treat the HIV virus, which causes AIDS and is rapidly spreading in third world countries.

 

The ancient herb has been used for generations in China for the treatment of burns, inflammation, carbuncles, boils, snakebite, bronchitis and hepatitis.

University of Queensland researchers have presented new data at a major biological sciences meeting in Sydney showing the plant contains small proteins called cyclotides that may act as defensive agents.

 

The team tested the ability of the cyclotides by applying them to two sets of cells, one infected with HIV and the other virus-free.

 

Professor David Craik, from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, said the objective was to see how many of the cells infected with HIV were destroyed after the application of the cyclotides.

 

"The results were encouraging,'' Prof Craik said.

 

"The actions of the cyclotides are yet not fully understood and the research is at a very early stage.

''(But) it may be that we can use the lessons of nature to create synthetic drug designs to help people with the virus.''

 

There is a worldwide push to develop better anti-retrovirals to fight the disease and to make them more widely available, particularly in Africa where 4000 people are infected daily.

 

The research collaboration also involved the National Cancer Institute in the United States and the Division of Pharmacology at Uppsala University in Sweden.

 

It was presented at COMBIO 2007, a meeting of biochemistry and molecular biology specialists.

Story Tools

 

* Share This Article

* Email To A Friend

 

Share This Article

 

From here you can use the Social Web links to save Ancient snakebite treatment has HIV hopes to a social bookmarking site.

 

* del.icio.us

* Digg it

* Furl

* Netscape

* Yahoo MyWeb

* StumbleUpon

* Google

* Technorati

* BlinkList

* Newsvine

* ma.gnolia

* reddit

* Windows Live

* Tailrank

* Slashdot

 

Email To A Friend

Moderators please note

If they are happy for me to send their article to all those guys (above) They can't complain about this plagiarism. Can they?

[Michaelangelica]

Cyclotides,

Formation of cyclotides and variations in cyclotide expression in Oldenlandia affinis suspension cultures.

Cyclotides, a family of disulfide-rich mini-proteins, show a wide range of biological activities,

Oldenlandia affinis,

 

Other papers by authors:

J Nat Prod. 2007 Dec 15; : 18081258

Anti-HIV Cyclotides from the Chinese Medicinal Herb Viola yedoensis.

[My paper] Conan Wang , Michelle Colgrave , Kirk Gustafson , David Ireland , Ulf Goransson , David Craik

 

Biochem J. 2006 Jul 27; : 16872274

A novel suite of cyclotides from Viola odorata: sequence variation and the implications for structure, function and stability.

[My paper] David Ireland , Michelle Colgrave , David Craik

[Michaelangelica]

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of alcoholic extract from Viola tricolor.

 

 

 

[

B]Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of alcoholic extract from Viola tricolor.[/b]

 

Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi. 2007 Apr-Jun;111(2):525-9

 

Authors: Toiu A, Pârvu AE, Oniga I, Tămaş M

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983197?dopt=Abstract

CONCLUSION: Viola tricolor extract had anti-inflammatory effect on bone marrow acute phase response.

 

AIM: Evaluation of anti-inflammatory actions of Viola tricolor aerial parts tincture. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The anti-inflammatory activity of the tincture from Viola tricolor aerial parts was tested in acute inflammation induced with oil of turpentine (i.m. 0.6 ml/100 g b.w.) in male Wistar rats. The results were compared with those from a positive control group with experimental inflammation and with those of a group treated with diclofenac (30 mg/100 g b.w.). We tested the effects by measuring total leukocyte count and differential leukocyte count, a test of in vitro phagocytosis and by the evaluation of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis measuring the metabolites (nitrites and nitrates). RESULTS: Viola tricolor extract (50 mg tincture/100 g b.w.) significantly reduced polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes percentages and the activation of circulating phagocytes. Nitric oxide synthesis had a slight decrease. CONCLUSION: Viola tricolor extract had anti-inflammatory effect on bone marrow acute phase response.

 

PMID: 17983197 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Michaelangelica]

NCBI

PubMed A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

and the National Institutes of Health

My NCBI

 

Definition of Cytotoxic

 

Cytotoxic: Toxic to cells, cell-toxic, cell-killing. Any agent or process that kills cells. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are forms of cytotoxic therapy. They kill cells.

 

The prefix cyto- denotes a cell. It comes from the Greek kytos meaning hollow, as a cell or container. Toxic is from the Greek toxikon = arrow poison

.

 

 

 

 

1: J Nat Prod. 2007 Apr;70(4):643-7. Epub 2007 Mar 23.Click here to read Links

Mechanism of action of cytotoxic cyclotides: cycloviolacin O2 disrupts lipid membranes.

Svangård E, Burman R, Gunasekera S, Lövborg H, Gullbo J, Göransson U.

 

Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

 

In recent years, the cyclotides have emerged as the largest family of naturally cyclized proteins.

Cyclotides display potent cytotoxic activity that varies with the structure of the proteins, and combined with their unique structure, they represent novel cytotoxic agents.

However, their mechanism of action is yet unknown.

In this work we show that disruption of cell membranes plays a crucial role in the cytotoxic effect of the cyclotide cycloviolacin O2 (1), which has been isolated from Viola odorata. Cell viability and morphology studies on the human lymphoma cell line U-937 GTB showed that cells exposed to 1 displayed disintegrated cell membranes within 5 min.

Functional studies on calcein-loaded HeLa cells and on liposomes showed rapid concentration-dependent release of their respective internal contents. The present results show that cyclotides have specific membrane-disrupting activity.

PMID: 17378610 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

Related Articles

 

* Cycloviolacin H4, a hydrophobic cyclotide from Viola hederaceae. [J Nat Prod. 2006]

* Cyclotides: a novel type of cytotoxic agents. [Mol Cancer Ther. 2002]

* Key role of glutamic acid for the cytotoxic activity of the cyclotide cycloviolacin O2. [Cell Mol Life Sci. 2006]

* Anti-HIV cyclotides from the Chinese medicinal herb Viola yedoensis. [J Nat Prod. 2008]

* A novel suite of cyclotides from Viola odorata: sequence variation and the implications for structure, function and stability. [biochem J. 2006]

* » See all Related Articles...

 

Mechanism of action of cytotoxic cyclotides: cyclo...[J Nat Prod. 2007] - PubMed Result

[Michaelangelica]

Update

Insecticidal plant cyclotides and related cystine knot toxins

CW Gruber, M Cemazar, MA Anderson, DJ Craik - Toxicon, 2007 - Elsevier

... of potential members of the cyclotide family in the thousands (Simonsen et al., 2005). A web-based

database, CyBase, has been established to document sequences (Mulvenna et al., 2006). So

far cyclotides have been found only in plants of the violet (Violaceae), coffee

 

The alpine violet, Viola biflora, is a rich source of cyclotides with potent cytotoxicity

A Herrmann, R Burman, JS Mylne, G Karlsson, J Gullbo … - Phytochemistry, 2008 - Elsevier

The cyclotides are currently the largest known family of head-to-tail cyclic proteins. The complex

structure of these small plant proteins, which consist of approximately 30 amino acid

residues, contains both a circular peptide backbone and a cystine knot, the combination ...

QLD uni

Structural and functional studies of cyclotides - UQ eSpace

 

Cyclotides are naturally occurring mini-proteins that have a cyclic peptide backbone and a knotted arrangement of three disulfide bonds.

They are remarkably stable and have a diverse range of therapeutically useful biological activities, including antimicrobial and anti-HIV activity, although their natural function appears to be as plant defence agents.

Potential therapeutic applications of the cyclotides and related cystine knot mini-proteins; Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs - 16(5):Pages 595-604 - Informa Healthcare

Folkloric

Decoction of root is a strong emetic; in large doses, the roots and seeds are poisonous.

Poultice or compress of fresh leaves for inflammation and pruritic skin diseases.

Cancer: Decoction of leaves, 4 to 5 glasses daily; poultice of leaves externally. Infusion of leaves, syrup made from petals, or a liquid extract of fresh leaves used for cancer of the throat and tongue. In other countries, used for breast and lung cancer.

Decoction of dried flowers for fever.

Syrup of the violet is used for cough and hoarseness.

Seeds are purgative and diuretic.

Plant poultice also used for headaches, coughs, colds, bronchitis, nervousness and general debility.

. . . flowers used for litmus testing strips.

. . .

 

Studies

• Cyclotides / Cytotoxic Activity: (1) Study isolated cyclotide cycloviolacin O2 from Violo odorata, Cyclotides belong to the largest family of naturally cyclized proteins with potent cytotoxic activity. Study showed disintegration of cell membranes of exposed human lymphoma cell lines. (2) Study isolatede three naturally occurring macrocyclic peptides (cyclotides) from two violets - V arvensis and V odorata.

All three cyclotides exhibited strong dose-dependent cytotoxic activities. With its chemical and biologic stability, they present a potential pharmacologic tool as antitumor agents.

 

• Antitumor: Study evaluated the cytotoxic activities of three naturally occurring macrocyclic peptides (cyclotides) – varv A, varv F and cycloviolacin O2 – from two violets, V arvensis and V odorata. With a new mode of action, the cyclotides present a novel pharmacologic tool and potential antitumor agent.

 

• Antipyretic: Study showed significant oral antipyretic activity in rabbits with the various extracts of plants, including V odorata. More prominent activity was found in the hexane-soluble portion of the plants tested.

• Antibacterial: In a study of aqueous extracts of ten medicinal plants tested for antibacterial potential against strains of human pathogenic bacteria, Viola odorata was found to be the most effective antibacterial.

 

• Phytochemicals / Elemental Composition: Flowers contained an odorous principle, blue coloring matter and a glucoside. Salicylic acid, a natural aspirin, was found in the plant. Violine, an alkaloid, was found in roots, leages, flowers and seeds. Elemental analysis showed C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Cl, K, Ca Fe in different parts of the plant.

Violeta / Viola odorata, sweet violet: Philippine Medicinal Herbs / Philippine Alternative Medicine