TUGAS BOTANI

Nicholas polunin, botanist and enviromentalist : born checkendon, oxforrdshire 26 june 1909; fielding curator and keeper of the university, Demonstrator and Lecturer in botany 1939- 47; Macdonald Prefessor of Botany McGill University, Canada 1947- 52; Founding Editor, EnviromentalConservation 1974-95; CBE 1976; Co-Editor, enviromentalchallenges 1993-97; married 1939 Helen Lovat Fraser (died 1973;  one son; marriage dissolved 1947), 1948 helen Eugenie campbell (two sons, one daughter ); died geneva 8december 1997. Nicholas polunin was one of the word’s foremost and most ardent champions of environmental conservation as well as a distinguished botanist, writer and explorer.

Datura metel grows in the wild in all the warmer parts of the word, and is cultivated world, and is cultivated worldwide for its chemical and ornamental properties,. It was first described by linnaeus in 1753, but no botanically correct illustrations or descriptions were made until after the new world was settled. It is not possible to be sure about its original home. It is similar to D. inoxia, but D. Metel has almost glabrous leaves and fruits that are knobby, not spiny. D. Inoxia is pilose all over and has a spiny fruits. D. Inoxia is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional chenese medicine. The ingestion of D. Metel in any from is dangerous. The dry flower, particularly the violet coloured, if rolled and used like cigar, will help to relieve the asthma or wheezing like.

Indigofera tinctoria bears the common name true indigo. The plant was one of the original sources of indigo dye. It has been naturalized to tropical and temperate Asia, as well as parts of afrika, but its native habitat is unknown since it has been in cultivation worldwide for many centuries.

True indigo is a shrub one to two meters high. It may be an annual, biennial, or perennial, depending on the climate in which it is grown. It has light green pinnate leaves and sheafs of pink or violet flowers. The plant is a legume, so it is rotated into fields to improve the soil in the same way that other legume crops such as alfalfa and beans are.