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Gardeners’ Perspectives and Practices in Relation to Plants in Motion
Published in Kezia Barker, Robert A. Francis, Routledge Handbook of Biosecurity and Invasive Species, 2021
Katarina Saltzman, Carina Sjöholm, Tina Westerlund
Many associate gardening with dreams of living a good and simple life, close to nature. But, in practice, managing nature in your garden can be a real struggle (Saltzman and Sjöholm, 2016). These seemingly contradictory relations to ‘nature’ become especially clear in cases where neighbours have different approaches to invasive weeds and pests. The conditions for what is welcomed and what is seen as a threat in the garden are determined by cultural and social processes. It is quite common for gardeners to use war metaphors in their description of the fight against unwanted plants and creatures. In Sweden, such language is, for example, often used when talking about ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria), which can spread quickly and does not care about property limits. Evy, who has been diligently looking after her garden to keep it weed-free for almost 40 years, told us about the one time ground elder appeared in a corner: I was on it with both spit and shovel and God knows what. Big alarm and I told my neighbours that they had some in the hedge and said, ‘Can I take it?’ ‘Yes, of course’, they said…. So, it’s a scourge, beautiful leaves and beautiful flowers, but awful. Even plant lovers who are otherwise happy to welcome self-sown additions to the garden use metaphors of war and extermination when talking about invasive species, and the word ‘invasive’ does, of course, have military connotations (cf. Qvenild et al., 2014; Ernwein and Fall, 2015). However, as we have seen, what is considered a weed in one garden may be very welcome in another. Ground elder is edible, and so are nettles (Urtica dioica), another common weed in Swedish gardens. Anneli, for example, told us that the nettles in her garden are regarded as a crop and a delicacy and that she also turns dandelion buds into pickles, similar to capers. But it is clear that plants that grow in abundance in one setting may be less prone to spread in another. This gardener has, for example, gradually learned that sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) and oregano (Origanum vulgare) thrive almost too well in her garden: ‘You need to be tough on the cicely, otherwise it occupies the whole garden, and so does the oregano, but oh how butterflies love the latter’ (LUF, 2010).
Flavonoids as inhibitors of human neutrophil elastase
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2021
Katarzyna Jakimiuk, Jakub Gesek, Atanas G. Atanasov, Michał Tomczyk
Many authors have identified anti-elastase activity based on EC50 values. Meum athamanticum, Centella asiatica, and Aegopodium podagraria water–glycerin extracts are described by a high amount of flavonoid compounds and demonstrate EC50 (%) values of inhibitory activity at 0.92, 0.52, and 1.03, respectively118.