-ology chart - part I Zoology

We would start with Zoological disciplines. Logos - study, discourse from Greek.



To be continued...

Mustards at their breadth

Mustard family is among 7-8 most important families to human beings. One species dominates in the diversity of food cultures - Brassica oleracea, and this is represented by cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collard greens, Crops of the genus Brassica are often referred to as Cole crops.

Although there are native mustards in South-West United States, nearly all that you will see in urban areas are introduced species. They are represented by approximately 7 genera: Sisymbrium (5 species), Brassica (6 species), Raphanus (~ 1 species), Cardamine (1 species), Eruca (1 species), Capsella (1 species), and Hirschfeldia (1 species). Close to the littoral zone there could be found Cakile (2 species).
In most flowering plants the first thing you look at to identify them is the flower. While in mustards the flowers are very similar and not particularly useful in identification. Flowers are defined in this way: 4 sepals, 4 petals and 6 stamens, 2 of which are shorter than others. They are dominantly annuals and the perennials are not woody. I only know of 1 exception to that - Lepidium fremontii that is a desert plant. The most useful structure for identification is the fruit.
To be continued...

Attention!!! 3 little words.

There are 3 errors in common speech that have been bugging me for many years. I would like to share them with you.
1. Poin-set-a - wrong! That word contains 3 syllables, but there should be 4 syllables instead: Poin-set-ti-a - correct. This famous Christmas flower is known the world over, and is in the spurge family - Euphorbiaceae. Incidentally this family includes a large diverse number of pants throughout the world: specifically tapioca (genus Manihot), castorbean (Ricinus communis), and many prostrate small weeds in your garden with milky sap.
2. Yam - commonly refers to a sweet potato - wrong! The true yam is tropical vine that produces small starchy tubers that are not known to reach the US market. The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) has traditionally been referred to as a yam in parts of the United States and Canada, but it is not a part of Yam family - Dioscoriaceae.
3. Night Blooming Jas-mine - wrong! What should be said is night-blooming jes-sa-mine - the night shade (family Solanaceae). While Jasmine is in the Olive family and is not related to the above.

Topsy turvy leaves

Topsy turvy or resupinate structures are more common in the plant world that is generally perceived. Adjective resupinate is used in biology to describe inverted or seemingly upside down structures, as flowers of most orchids. There are a few people who are sufficiently meticulous to pick up subtle anomalies of plant anatomy, so they remain unnoticed. Here I have some of these to share with you, such as: resupinate leaves of various species of the South American family Alstromeriacea, Allium triquetrum, Arctotheca caledula. The rationale for this inversion is inexplicable as far as I know. Although for Arctotheca it is obvious that dense light hairs on the lower surface of the leaves will reflect heat and the fragile green upper surface then is turned downward. This movement is starting with the lobes of the leaves bending inward, and in many cases nearly the entire leaf will turn over (See the picture below).

This happens in conditions of high heat and droughts.
In Allium triquetrum the upper position of midrib caught my attention, and after careful examining we learned that leaves are resupinate (see the picture below).

As well as Allium triquetrum representatives of the family Alstromeriacea have naturally resupinate leaves (Follow the video below).

New taxonimic position of redwood

Redwoods (genus Sequoia and genus Sequoiadendron) have been until recently covered under the family Taxodiaceae. This family included the famous bald cypress Taxodium distichum of the Mississippi basin as well as Mexican species Taxodium mucronatum.In ornamental plantings in Southern California of the genus Taxodium the species seems to be only T. mucrontum. Recent research resulted in merge between families Taxodiaceae and Cupressaceae, thus 9 genera from the family Taxodiaceae were included in Cupressaceae.
To be continued...

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) in women.

A common malady in men of older age is prostate cancer. Nowadays a lot of attention is given to the monitoring and treating of this condition in men around the age 40. One of the biochemical markers for this condition - Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) can be detected in the blood serum. This form of cancer is known to be less life threatening than other forms. In early detection treatment can be accomplished through the radiation therapy. Before it was thought that PSA is exclusively produced by prostate gland (that's how this biochemical marker has got its name). I have learned that there are false positive results that reveal no cancer in the prostate. The thought passed through my mind if this biochemical marker could be find in women, so I googled "PSA in women". And to my surprise a lot of research was done on that matter and PSA is found in many female tissues. In 1999 in Journal of Louisiana State Medical Society a detailed research was published: "It was believed that PSA was produced exclusively by the epithelial cells of the prostate gland, but a large body of evidence demonstrates that PSA is not a prostate-specific molecule. PSA has been shown to be expressed in many forms of female tissues. The breast is a major female organ able to produce PSA. PSA is detected in both normal and abnormal breast tissues, as well as in various breast fluids including milk, nipple aspirate, and cyst fluid. Androgens and progesterones, via their receptors, regulate the production of PSA in breast tissue. Clinical studies demonstrate that PSA in breast cancer is associated with the expression of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor. Women with PSA-positive breast cancer have better disease-free survival as well as overall survival than those with PSA-negative breast cancer. PSA levels in nipple aspirate fluid may be indicative of breast cancer risk. High concentrations of PSA are found in amniotic fluid and the levels change with gestational age. Pregnant women have elevated serum PSA. PSA levels in serum also vary during menstrual cycles and increase in women with excess androgen." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10234897).
Since women do not have a prostate gland there may be a need to change the name of this biochemical marker.