Publications
The Garden
August 2003
General News
Hunters have royalties in sights
A naturally occurring chemical in an African succulent may help the developed world curb obesity and benefit the local population who have known its secret for centuries.
Hoodia gordonii grows in semi-arid areas of South Africa. The San people (formerly known as bushmen) of the Kalahari eat the bitter-tasting plant to suppress their appetite and thirst when on long hunting expeditions.
Appetite is controlled by sensors located in the satiety centre of the brain. In 1998 the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa found and patented active ingredients in H. gordonii that suppress appetite. Its development rights were bought by Cambridge-based firm Phytopharm which then sold the licensing rights to international pharmaceutical company Pfizer for $21 million.
The San people felt that their heritage had been plundered, and earlier this year the CSIR agreed to pay the San 8 percent of ‘milestone’ payments made by its licensee Phytopharm during the drug’s development over the next few years, which could reach R8 - 12million (£0.75 - 1million); already R259,066 (£21,000) has been paid. If the drug is marketed, during the 15 - 20 years until its patent expires, a percentage of the royalties could earn R60million (£5million) annually for a trust set up by the CSIR and the San.
Hoodia is a succulent in the family Asclepiadaceae, which includes stapelia, stephanotis and vinca. It forms multistemmed clumps 45cm (18in) high and bears unpleasant-smelling, pale purple disc-shaped flowers 7.5-10cm (3-4in) in diameter.
Gardeners urged to plant for bees
Of the world’s 230 species of bumblebee, 26 have been found in Britain, but their numbers have declined alarmingly in the past 30 years, and three species have become extinct. Loss of habitat in the countryside means that gardens have become an important resource for them, and English Nature is urging gardeners to help save bumblebees from extinction by providing nectar-rich flowers and nesting sites.
Bumblebees are important pollinators of many garden flowers, fruits and vegetables, and work at lower temperatures and earlier in spring than honeybees. Because bumblebees have long tongues, the best flowers are large, simple blooms or tubular bluebells, comfrey, lamium (deadnettle), stachys, honeysuckle and Aquilegia vulgaris. Large, bell-shaped flowers such as foxgloves and campanulas, and plants with flat or domed heads of small flowers, such as Eryngium, Scabiosa and Armeria, are also visited. Early flowers of pulmonarias, primroses, celandines, rosemary and Nonea are especially valuable.
Each bumblebee colony starts afresh in spring and is created by a queen which locates an old mouse or vole hole in the ground, often at the base of a hedge, where she will lay eggs. Only mated queens, which hibernate, survive winter. Gardeners can help by making holes at the base of hedges and inserting dry moss for bedding, or by leaving among taller vegetation a few upturned clay flowerpots partially filled with moss.
Stumped by ancient pine
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American botanists have raised seedlings from the world’s oldest living tree, but failed to clone it. Image: Martin Page |
Methuselah is the oldest known living specimen of Pinus longaeva and has been dated as being 4,789 years old. Another specimen, that had been felled, was found to be even older at 4,844 years.
Jared Milarch, founder of the Champion Tree Project, took cuttings last October but they failed to root in the laboratory. He is keen to clone the plant in order to get an exact genetic copy - seedlings only possess 50 percent of the tree’s genetic material. Jared hopes to collect more material in autumn.
The trees grow in extremely harsh conditions on the top of the White Mountains in Inyo County, California. The climate is so extreme that the trees grow slowly and this is thought to be one of the reasons why they are so long lived. The sequence of tree rings in this species has allowed scientists to correct errors in the carbon-dating process, which has proved invaluable for the dating of archeological artefacts.
For further information, visit the website: www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/pi/pin/longaeva
Coral plant breaks pain
British scientists have found that a protein extracted from Erythrina crista-galli (Mediterranean coral tree) can help treat chronic pain.
The Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research in Salisbury discovered that the protein binds to nerve cells that transmit pain. Combined with botulinum, a powerful neurotoxin, it stops the nerves transmitting. This remains effective for nine days, whereas morphine starts to wear off after approximately four hours. For more details search for ‘Erythrina’ at the website www.newscientist.com
Germany bans ant killing
It is now illegal to kill ants in Germany - and anyone caught destroying a nest or anthill will face a substantial fine.
Ants are highly valued by German foresters because they help control nun moths, which attack conifers. German gardeners who wish to remove a nest now must apply for a permit so that the ants can be collected and moved to woods.
High hedges escape the chop
Steven Pound’s High Hedges Bill failed to get a second reading in the House of Commons on 23 June, after Christopher Chope, Conservative MP for Christchurch, talked it out. A previous attempt at introducing a Bill to control high hedges failed in 2001, when he and Eric Forth MP tabled more than 100 amendments and two new clauses. The current Bill was supported by the Government, who helped with its drafting.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government would make every effort to find parliamentary time if the Bill was reintroduced.
Missing apple cultivars sought
A collection of 23 traditional Lancashire apple cultivars has been planted at Myerscough College at Bilsborrow, Preston. Many were donated by Hilary Wilson of the Northern Fruit Group, and will be trained mostly as cordons by Senior Lecturer Philip Rhodes.
Apples of national renown such as ‘Duke of Devonshire’ and ‘Golden Spire’ originated in Lancashire, and the Northern Fruit Group is looking for 16 missing local cultivars including ‘Archimedes’, grown in the 1940s, and ‘Lady Pilkington’. If you can help please e-mail Philip Rainford - P.F.Rain@btinternet.com
Rejuvenating Arderne
To celebrate its centenary, the Cape Horticultural Society (CHS) is helping to rejuvenate the Arderne Botanic Garden in Cape Town, South Africa.
Established in the 1840s by H M Arderne, the garden contains one of the best collections of old trees in the southern hemisphere. It is maintained by the City of Cape Town as a public amenity, but owing to financial constraints specimen trees have been untended and unwanted self-sown plants have grown up.
The CHS plans to produce an inventory of the plant collections, label every tree and create The Friends of the Arderne to help with ongoing conservation and development.
For more information, contact Michael Tuffin, The Cape Horticultural Society, PO Box 39368 Capricorn Square, 7948 Cape, South Africa; or e-mail tuffin@mweb.co.za