Nepenthe

Nepenthes raffsiana Masilus Zhu Long Cao (Pitcher plant) (root, stem) Flavonoids, anthraquinoids, amino acids, phenols.57 As a poultice to treat stomachache and dysentery. Internally to treat remittent fever. 

Cypripedium guttatum, C. macranthum, C. pubescens, Hedychium coronarium, Laggera alata, Nepenthes raffsiana, Urena procumbens Eriobotrya japonica Rosa rugosa Oryza sativa Plumeria rubra... 

Alkaloids have not been discovered in the family Nepenthes mirabilis and two undetermined species of the genus were negative in the tests conducted here. 

The nepenthe (Gk "free from sorrow") mentioned in the Odyssey probably contained opium. Opium smoking was widely practiced in China and the Near East until recently. Isolation of active opium alkaloids and the introduction of the hypodermic needle, allowing parenteral use of morphine, increased opioid use in the West. The first of several "epidemics" of opioid use in the USA followed the Civil War. About 4% of adults in the USA used opiates regularly during the postbellum period. By the 1900s, the number had dropped to about 1 in 400 people in the USA, but the problem was still considered serious enough to justify passage of the Harrison Narcotic Act just before World War I. A new epidemic of opioid use started around 1964 and has continued unabated ever since. While fear of AIDS has reduced intravenous use of heroin, recent increases in its purity have led to markedly increased intranasal use. Present estimates are that the number of opioid-dependent people in the USA has stabilized at around 750,000. 

Opuntiaficus-indica (Cactaceae), Spinacia oleracea (Chenopodiaceae), Drosera spp. (Droseraceae), Senna obtusfolia (Fabaceae), Musa sapientam (banana) (Musaceae), Nepenthes spp. (Nepenthaceae), Sarracenia sp. (Sarraceniaceae), Urtica dioica (Urticaceae) animals decarboxylation product of Histidine... 

Endothia acid protease Other Plants Lotus acid protease Nepenthes acid protease Protozoan Tetrahyniena... 

Nepenthin, found in the pitchers of Nepenthes species, acts similarly to pepsin. 

The petiolar structure in primitive types of Dicotyls resembles that"seen in Monocotyls except that the bundles are more condensed side by side. In these the petiole is somewhat dorsiventral, shows an external epidermis, a flattened cortex with a set of parallel vascular bundles, each with xylem uppermost and phloem below. From this we pass to another group in which the bundles form three-fourths of a circle and in which the upper bundles show incurving orientation, to still another in which, as in Nepenthes, all of the bundles form nearly a cylinder. Finally in Ficus, Geranium, Podophyllum and other plants showing conpletely formed cylindric petioles, the bundles form a continuous ring enclosing pith and surrounded by cortex and epidermis, as in Dicotyl stems. 

The situation called for emergency measures and Helen met the situation head on. Reaching into her bag of tricks, she came up with a drag given her by Polydamna. Secretly, she placed the compound into the wine of her guests. The drug, which Homer only identifies as nepenthe ("against sorrow"), was a compound with the power to suppress despair. Whoever drank this mixture, Homer wrote, would be incapable of sadness, even if his mother and father lay dead, or his son were slain before his very eyes. 

Conjecture always lurks in the shadow of uncertainty, and throughout the ages many have tried to identify Homer s elusive nepenthe. One of the more interesting guesses is that the drag was cannabis. 

E.W. Lane, editor of The Thousand and One Nights, was similarly convinced "Benj, the plural of which in Coptic is nibendji, is without doubt the same plant as the nepenth, which has so much perplexed the commentators of Homer. Helen evidently brought the nepenthe from Egypt, and benj is there still reported to possess all the wonderful qualities which Homer attributes to it."... 

Not everyone agreed. Thomas De Quincey, author of Confessions of an Opium Eater, rejected cannabis as the sorrow-killing agent mentioned by Homer preferring his own favorite, opium, which he regarded as a "panacea, a pharmakon nepenthes" for all woes. 

The first of these studies to be published appeared in 1803 by a Dr. Virey, who made various extracts of hashish, hoping to track down the drug s elusive active principle. After studying the dmg at length, it was Virey s opinion that hashish was nothing less than the mysterious nepenthe used by Helen of Troy to dmg her guests into a stupor of forgetfulness. 

Abderhalden and Teruuchi used glycyl-l-tyrosine to determine the nature of the enzymes in yeast juice, i.e. endotryptase, in papain and in the juice of nepenthes. The two former hydrolysed it, and consequently they contain tryptic enzymes the last had no action upon it, and the enzyme of nepenthes is therefore like pepsin in its action. These results confirm the observations of other investigators, and the confusion concerning the nature of these enzymes would appear to be now settled with certainty. 

Among the best known insectivorous plants are Drosera rotundifoUa of our climate and Nepenthes of the tropics. The data, often contradictory, which we have on this subject per-... 

The opposite of super-hydrophobicity, the Lotus Effect, is super-oleophobicity, the Pitcher Plant Effect. A natural example of super-oleophobicity involves the Nepenthes Pitcher Plant, which has microtextured surfaces in which an aqueous liquid fills the spaces within the texture and forms a continuous overlying film to cause insects to slip into the plant s digestive juices. Here, the plant s super-oleophobic surface essentially repels the oils on the insects feet. This is termed the Pitcher Plant Effect. Microporous, microfibre coatings have been developed to mimic this effect and be highly repellent to oils while remaining permeable to water. 

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