The purpose of this study was to comparatively evaluate for the first time the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiurease effects of A. lycaonica extracts obtained using three extraction methods and five solvents followed by identification of the phenolic compounds obtained by Soxhlet extraction with ethyl acetate and maceration with chloroform that showed the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents with antioxidant and antiurease activity. The phenolic compounds were identified to be chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rutin, dicaffeoylquinic acid, salicylic acid, luteolin, quercetin, naringenin, apigenin, and 8-hydroxy-salvigenin. Among the solvent extraction procedures, Soxhlet approach was found to have higher recoveries than other approaches. The results of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays showed that the 1:1 ethanol–water Soxhlet, ethanol ultrasonic bath, and ethyl acetate Soxhlet extraction methods had the highest DPPH antioxidant activities. The ethyl acetate Soxhlet extraction method showed the highest 2, 2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) antioxidant activity. In addition, the chloroform maceration extraction method exhibited the highest antiurease activity. Therefore, 1:1 Soxhlet ethanol–water, ultrasonic bath ethanol, and Soxhlet ethyl acetate extracts may be used in medicine and food production as natural antioxidant sources. In addition, maceration with chloroform may provide a potential antiurease agent.

The chromosome number and morphology in six species of the sections Babounya (DC.) O. Hoffm. and Achillea of the genus Achillea L. (Asteraceae) were investigated using karyological techniques. Sample plants and seeds of A. santolinoides Lag. subsp. wilhelmsii (K. Koch.) Greuter, A. falcata L., A. magnifica Hub. - Mor., A. pannonica Scheele, A. crithmifolia Waldst. & Kit. and A. nobilis L. subsp neilreichii (A. Kern.) Formánek were collected from natural habitats in 2005. The chromosome number found in six species was 2n = 18. All chromosomes had median point (M), median region (m), and submedian (sm) centromers. An increase in asymmetry was not observed in the karyotypes of the species studied. None of the studied species had any B chromosomes.

The floras on the highest mountains in tropical eastern Africa are among the most unique floras in the world. Despite the exceptionally high concentration of endemic species, these floras remain understudied from an evolutionary point of view. In this study, we focus on the Carduus-Cirsium group (subtribe Carduinae) to unravel the evolutionary relationships of the species endemic to the tropical Afromontane and Afroalpine floras, aiming to improve the systematics of the group. We applied the Hyb-Seq approach using the Compositae1061 probe set on 190 samples (159 species), encompassing representatives of all genera of Carduinae. We used two recently developed pipelines that enabled the processing of raw sequence reads, identification of paralogous sequences and segregation into orthologous alignments. After the implementation of a missing data filter, we retained sequences from 986 nuclear loci and 177 plastid regions. Phylogenomic analyses were conducted using both concatenated and summary-coalescence methods. The resulting phylogenies were highly resolved and revealed three distinct evolutionary lineages consisting of the African species traditionally referred to as Carduus and Cirsium. Consequently, we propose the three new genera Afrocarduus, Afrocirsium and Nuriaea; the latter did notably not belong to the Carduus-Cirsium group. We detected some incongruences between the phylogenies based on concatenation vs. coalescence and on nuclear vs. plastid datasets, likely attributable to incomplete lineage sorting and/or hybridization.

The present study aimed to prepare A. goniocephala chloroform extract and evaluate antioxidant and cytotoxic effects. Then, the nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized on the most efficient extracts and the biological activities of the free forms of the extracts were compared with the NPs forms. Antioxidant capacities of 14 extracts by column chromatography were found by FRAP, DPPH and CUPRAC methods. Again, the cytotoxic activities of all fractions were evaluated on MCF-7 and HT-29 cell lines using the XTT cell viability assay. Chitosan-tripolyphosphate (TPP) NPs were formed using the ionic gelation method of H and F extracts, which show the most active properties because of biological activities. The biological activities of the characterized NPs were also evaluated. The synthesized particle size of the NPs from two extracts obtained between 274.12 and 296.25 nm. The extract-encapsulation and loading-efficiency of the most active NPs were 77.6± 0.04% and 7.76± 0.01% for F extract and 10.2± 0.02% and 1.39± 0.07% for H extract, respectively. Anticancer activity of chitosan NPs gave better results compared to unencapsulated extracts. As a result, it was found that the A. goniocephala extract can be encapsulated in chitosan NPs and has an antioxidant and more anticancer effect than the free forms.