Moshe Negbi

Uses of saffron

The uses of saffron through the ages are discussed. Originally prized both as a medicament and as a dyestuff, these applications have declined in modern times; it has also been used as a perfume. The primary market now is as a food spice—by far the world’s most expensive.

In vitro corm production in the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus L.)

Means to increase the reproductive capacity of Crocus sativus L., in vitro, are described. Cytokinins and auxin were found to be essential for development of bud explants. Ethylene and ethaphon pretreatments inhibited leaf development but induced corm production. Microsurgery of the apical bud combined with ethylene pretreatment increased both sprouting and corm production.

EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON THE FLOWERING OF THE SAFFRON CROCUS (CROCUS SATIVUS L.): INDUCTION OF HYSTERANTHY

ABSTRACT The saffron crocus (Crocus sativus L.), a sterile geophyte propagated by annual replacement corms, is cultivated for its red stigmatic lobes that constitute, after drying, the spice saffron. C. sativus is a subhysteranthous species, i.e., it blooms in autumn shortly after planting, before, concomitantly with, or after leaf appearance. The remainder of its growing season consists of initiation, filling up, and maturation of the daughter corms at the beginning of summer. In the countries where saffron crocus is grown, cultivation is still performed by traditional methods: corm planting, flower harvesting, stigma separation, and corm lifting are carried out manually. These labour-consuming practices greatly contribute to the high price of the spice. The study of the physiological background of the developmental processes in C. sativus was aimed at improving the cultivation methods. It is demonstrated that a controlled temperature regime during corm storage affects flowering and production of daughte...

A sweetmeat plant, a perfume plant and their weedy relatives: A chapter in the history ofCyperus esculentus L. andC. rotundus L.

Tubers ofCyperus esculentus (tiger nuts) andC. rotundus were used in the ancient eastern Mediterranean as food, perfume and medicine. Tiger nuts that were consumed in Egypt, either boiled in beer, roasted or as sweets made of ground tubers with honey, were found in tombs from the 4th millenniumb.c. to the 5th centurya.d.C. rotundus tubers, a dietary staple in a Stone Age Egyptian community, were used much later in perfumes and medicine by the Egyptians, Mycenaeans and Greeks, and recorded by Theophrastus, Pliny and Dioscorides. An Egyptian preparation made ofCyperus tubers, other plant ingredients, honey and wine, described by Dioscorides, is similar to one in the Ebers papyri, demonstrating its continuity over 1600 years.Cyperus perfumes are mentioned in Mycenaean documents and by classical authors. Classical authors’ views on weeds, and whetherC. rotundus is described as a weed by Dioscorides, are reviewed. The domestication ofC. esculentus, and the evolution of both nutsedges towards weeds are discussed.RésuméLes tubercules deC. esculentus (amandes de terre) etC. rotundus ont été utilisés depuis l’antiquité en Méditerranée orientale dans le préparation d’aliments, de parfums et en médecine. Des amandes de terre, consommées en Egypte, bouillies dans de la bière, ou rôties et comme friandises, hâchées au miel, ont été découvertes dans des tombes datant du 4e millenaire av.j.c. Les tubercules deC. rotundus, aliment de base dans une communauté paléolithique en Egypte, ont été utilisés beacoup plus tard dans la préparation de parfums et en médecine par les Egyptiens, les Mycénniens et les Grecs. Théophraste, Pline et Dioscoride les mentionnent. Un plat égyptien décrit par Dioscoride et composé de tubercules deCyperus, de miel, de vin et d’autres ingredients végétaux se trouve être similaire a une recette des papyrus d’Ebers. Ceci met en evidence l’utilisation continue duCyperus pendant 1600 ans. Des documents mycéniens et des auteurs classiques le citent. Nous rapportons les connaissances des auteurs classiques sur les mauvaises herbes el la classification, par Dioscoride, deC. rotundus parmi les mauvaises herbes. Nous discutons de la domestication deC. esculentus et de l’évolution des deux souchets en mauvaises herbes.

Germination characters in wild and cultivated Anemone coronaria L.

SummaryAchenes of wild forms of Anemone coronaria growing in Israel differ in their germination requirements from achenes of the cultivated de Caen type. The optimum temperature for dark germination was between 10–15°C in the former and between 15–20°C in the latter. Maximum daily rates of germination were higher, reaching 16% per day, and the minimum lag period between sowing and seedling emergence was shorter in achenes of the cultivated than in those of the wild anemone when the two types were incubated under identical conditions. Wild achenes showed a marked post-harvest maturation requirement, and attained full germination, a minimum pre-emergence lag period after sowing, and a maximum daily germination rate only when dry-stored for several months subsequent to harvesting. In the cultivated plant this requirement was far less pronounced or absent. Most embryos in freshly harvested achenes of both the wild and the cultivated anemone were torpedo-shaped but in the cultivated form embryos were larger. In both types embryos remained unchanged in shape and size during dry storage.

Male and Female in Theophrastus's Botanical Works

Les travaux de Theophraste en botanique ont permis de montrer la relation entre les fleurs et les fruits, et de mettre en evidence une sexualite des plantes avec des organes mâles et femelles

Photo- and Thigmomorphogenetic Control of the Attachment of the Ivy (Hedera helix L.) to its Support

Summary Three photomorphogenetic reactions have been established in the climbing stems of the ivy (Hedera helix L.): (a) Unilateral light directs stem growth away from the light source towards the support (Darwin, 1881). (b) Unilateral light depresses the formation of anchoring roots on the exposed side of the stem, but (c) is permissive to and enhances root formation on the opposite, shaded side. The blue region of the spectrum is active in the photomorphogenetic reactions (b) and (c), but smaller effects are induced by red and far-red illumination. Light precludes the formation of anchoring roots during the inductive phase of root initiation. The first photomorphogenetic response results in contact between the dark side of the ivy stem and the support. The evoked contact stimulus enhances root formation. This thigmomorphogenetic reaction is masked by blue light.

Primary xylem ofscilla hyacinthoides (liliaceae)— the wool-bearing bulb of theophrastus

The “wool” of bolbos ho eriophoros described by Theophrastus in his Historia plantarum or Enquiry into plants is the primary xylem of the bulb scales of Scilla hyacinthoides (Liliaceae). When bulb scales are pulled apart transversely the gyres of the helical secondary wall deposited on the thin primary wall of the waterconducting elements are stretched and appear to be woolly threads.Resumenel “bulbo lanoso” de Teo-frasto. La “lana” del bolbos ho eriophoros descrita por Teofrasto en Historia plantarum es el xilema primario de las escamas del bulbo Scilla hyacinthoides. Cuando las escamas son partidas transversalmente, los giros helicoidales depositados sobre la delgada pared celular primaria se estiran, aparentando hebras de lana.

A REVIEW ARTICLE: LEONARDO DA VINCI ON PLANTS AND GARDENS (Historical, Ethno- & Economic Botany Series, Volume 1)

“All science will be in vain and full of errors which is not born of experience, mother of all certainty…” (Leonardo da Vinci, in Codex Urbinas 19 v; Emboden, pp. 105 and 165)

HORMONAL INDUCED TRANSFORMATION OF THE TUBEROUS PURPLE NUTSEDGE (CYPERUS ROTUNDOS L.) INTO A TUBER-LESS PHENOTYPE

ABSTRACT Spraying benzyladenine and gibberellic acid over sprouting shoots of Cyperus rotundus L. did not adversely affect their aboveground development. However, the underground shoots (rhizomes) modified their potentially positive gravitropic growth response into a negative one, to become aboveground shoots. Under such conditions, virtually no tubers, the dominant propagating and perennating units of C. rotundus, were formed. Field experiments, where growth regulator treatments were followed by application of reduced rates of herbicide, open new possibilities to facilitate the control of this noxious weed.