Tag Archives: Plants

SEB: Professor Elsie Quarterman: In Memorium, 1910-2014



Her students Carol and Jerry Baskin wrote for the

July 2014 Southeastern Biology newsletter of

The Association of Southeastern Biologists,
OBITUARY: Professor Elsie Quarterman: In Memorium, 1910-2014

Dr. Elsie Quarterman known fondly to her students as EQ passed away
on 9 June 2014 at her home in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of
103 years. She was born on 28 November 1910 in Valdosta, Georgia.
Dr. Quarterman obtained her B. A. degree from Georgia State Women’s
College (now Valdosta State University) in 1932, Continue reading →

Diversity, extinction, and climate change



In what category does Georgia rank highest

  1. for species diversity:
    plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, or fishes?
  2. and in which of these four categories:
    diversity, risk, endemism (distinctiveness of species), and extincions?

Guess first, then look (no peeking)…. Continue reading →

Cancer-fighting okra?



Well, this is unexpected.
Recent research shows a compound in okra
“promotes selective antitumor effects in human breast cancer cells and may represent a potential therapeutic to combat human breast cancer.”

Here’s the abstract,
Biotechnol Lett. 2014 Mar;36(3):461-9. doi: 10.1007/s10529-013-1382-4. Epub 2013 Oct 16.

Lectin of Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) promotes selective antitumor effects in human breast cancer cells.

The anti-tumor effects of a newly-discovered lectin, isolated from
okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (AEL), were investigated in human
breast cancer (MCF7) and skin fibroblast (CCD-1059 sk) cells. AEL
induced significant cell growth inhibition (63 %) in MCF7 cells. The
expression of pro-apoptotic caspase-3, caspase-9, and p21 genes was
increased in MCF7 cells treated with AEL, compared to those treated
with controls. In addition, AEL treatment increased the Bax/Bcl-2
ratio in MCF7 cells. Flow cytometry also indicated that cell death
(72 %) predominantly occurred through apoptosis. Thus, AEL in its
native form promotes selective antitumor effects in human breast
cancer cells and may represent a potential therapeutic to combat
human breast cancer.

Don’t get your hopes up about that 72% figure: that seems to be
that when cancer cell death occurred, 72% of it was related,
not that 72% of cancer cells were killed.
The 63% cancer cell growth inhibition does seem promising, though.

There are even hints in another paper that okra may be related to lower rates of prostate cancer: Continue reading →

Canning corn and peaches at Lowndes High School 2014-07-12



Even more fun and twice as many people at 

my second canning class
at the Lowndes High School Canning Plant.

Thanks to James Perdue and the  

Valdosta Community Garden Group for organizing.


300x225 Coring peaches, in Canning corn and peaches at Lowndes High School, by Gretchen Quarterman, for OkraParadiseFarms.com, 12 July 2014
These pictures are also on
my facebook timeline.

See also shelling peas at
the 19 June 2014 class.

-gretchen

Home Canning Class and Canning Plant Demonstration



Gretchen will show you how, and then you get to do it,
at Lowndes High School Saturday July 12th 2014, 10AM-12:30pm.

Contact: James Perdue

Valdosta Community Garden Group

229-251-6362

See

facebook event.

And here are pictures from the previous event.

-jsq

Remembering Elsie Quarterman –Paul Somers, Ph.D.

Posted with permission. I added the links. -jsq

Remembering Elsie Quarterman

by Paul Somers, Ph.D.

Retired State Botanist, Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program

and former botanist, Tennessee Natural Heritage Program



Not wanting to miss a chance to pay tribute to my friend, the 103+
year old Dr. Elsie Quarterman, I’m sitting down to reflect on my
remembrances of this wonderful woman who befriended me and many
other botanical and conservation colleagues. It was the summer of
1976 when I moved to Nashville to join the young staff of the

Tennessee Heritage Program as its first botanist. The program, now
well established with the State Department of Environment and
Conservation, benefited greatly from the prior work of Dr.
Quarterman (Elsie) and many of her graduate students at Vanderbilt
University who had done vegetation and rare plant studies in the
Central Basin of Tennessee.



For help with understanding and
conserving the best examples of cedar glades and their many endemic,
nearly endemic, or otherwise rare Tennessee plant species, I and
other colleagues frequently turned to Elsie and her Continue reading →

Mobile Market at Barnes Drug Store every Tuesday

Today

Lowndes County Partnership for Health picked up some OPF
red potatoes to sell at their Mobile Market.
Next week probably OPF okra.
And every week other good vegetables and fruits from other farmers.

Here’s a

South Health District
facebook post of

10 June 2014:



It’s Tuesday – know what that means? The Mobile Market, full of fresh fruits and vegetables, will be at Barnes Drug Store Downtown Valdosta from 2:30-4:30! They’re there every Tuesday! Come by and see them…they accept all forms of payment.

-jsq

Dr. Quarterman’s ground-breaking work will continue –Dr. J. Richard Carter



Received 13 June 2014 and permission to publish granted today. -jsq

From: J Richard Carter

To: Patrick Quarterman

I am very sorry to hear about Dr. Quarterman. She was a remarkable
person. I started graduate school at Vanderbilt in 1978, a few
years after Dr. Quarterman retired, so I didn’t have the privilege
of taking her courses. However, she was still very much a presence
in the department, attending seminars and interacting with faculty
and students informally in the departmental conference room.

I also
remember that she very kindly gave me a set of reprints of

her classic Continue reading →

Canning at Lowndes High School



Our outing today to the canning plant was a grand success. We had peas shelled, blanched and bagged and canned some peaches!

The canning plant at Lowndes High School is a wonderful resource
in Lowndes County open now to the public for shelling, canning and
more. Behind the Lowndes High School on Norman Drive.

Here are pictures from the

canning class I taught there yesterday,
organized by the

Valdosta Community Garden group.
These pictures are also
on facebook.

Perfect timing. The Valdosta Daily Times had Continue reading →

Elsie Quarterman WPLN audio



Nina Cardona of WPLN Nashville Public Radio talked about
pioneering ecologist Dr. Elsie Quarterman; here’s the audio:



Emily Siner // Nashville Public Radio // WPLN 90.3 FM // Enterprise Reporter



And here’s

WPLN’s text version of the same story.

The radio story draws on the video by MTSU Center for Cedar Glade Studies
of the

April 2008 dedication to Dr. Elsie Quarterman
of the annual wildflower festival at Cedars of Lebanon
State Park east of Nashville, Tennessee.

A memorial service will be held

10AM this Saturday 21 June 2014 at Westminster Presbyterian Church,
3900 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee,
with a reception at the church following the service.
See the

Elsie blog page for many more stories and pictures of Aunt Elsie.

-jsq