DALBY Garden

03/10/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19cx1G9qi5/

24/09/2026

16/09/2026

PUSO NG SAGING POTENTIAL🍌

Banana flower, commonly known to Filipinos as puso ng saging, became the subject of a 2022 study that looked at whether compounds in the flower could affect breast cancer cells and tumor growth.

Researchers working with Musa paradisiaca prepared a concentrated ethanol extract from dried banana flowers and tested it on two human breast cancer cell lines known as MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231. These are widely used laboratory models that allow scientists to study how breast cancer cells respond to potential treatments.

The extract reduced the survival and growth of both cell types as its concentration increased. It had a stronger effect on MCF-7 cells, where a lower amount of the extract was needed to reduce cell viability by half compared with MDA-MB-231 cells.

The researchers also found signs that the extract was interfering with the normal cycle that allows cancer cells to continue dividing.

The study did not stop with cells grown in a dish. Researchers also used female Wistar rats with mammary tumors induced using DMBA, a chemical commonly used to create experimental breast cancer models.

Rats that received the banana flower extract developed smaller tumors than the untreated tumor group. The higher-dose group showed a greater reduction, while examination of the breast tissue also found less structural damage in treated animals. Tamoxifen was included as the standard treatment for comparison and produced the strongest tumor reduction in the experiment.

The researchers also examined changes in antioxidant activity and hormone levels, and concluded that the crude banana flower extract showed anti-proliferative and anti-tumor activity in both their cell and animal experiments.

They noted that more research is still needed to understand exactly how the extract works and whether any of its compounds could eventually have medical value.

The study involved a concentrated extract under controlled experimental conditions, so it does not show that eating puso ng saging can treat breast cancer.

What it does show is that the familiar banana flower contains compounds that produced measurable effects in early-stage cancer research and may be worth investigating further.

14/09/2026

When a Crow Feels Sick, It Knows Where to Go. 🐦‍⬛🐜
Some crows deliberately disturb ant nests and let ants crawl through their feathers, a behavior known as anting.
The ants may release formic acid and other chemicals that could help discourage parasites and microbes.
This remarkable behavior shows how intelligent and resourceful crows can be. ❤️🖤
Nature has its own surprising ways of helping wildlife care for themselves.

11/09/2026

On a stretch of coastline in northeastern Brazil, in a small beach town called Pirangi do Norte, there is something that looks from the ground like a dense, sprawling forest. Visitors walk through it on suspended walkways, surrounded by what appears to be dozens of tree trunks and a canopy so wide it covers an area the size of more than a football field. But it is not a forest. It is one single cashew tree.

The tree is known as the Cajueiro de Pirangi, which means the Cashew Tree of Pirangi, and it has been recognised as the largest cashew tree on Earth since 1994. It covers roughly 8,500 square meters, which is about 91,500 square feet, and its branches spread out to a circumference of around 500 meters. To put that in perspective, it is the size of roughly seventy normal cashew trees, all fused into one organism.

The secret behind this impossible size is a genetic mutation. Most cashew trees grow upward, with branches reaching for the sky. But this tree has a condition called plagiotropism, which causes its branches to grow sideways instead. As the branches grow longer and heavier, they bend toward the ground until they touch the sandy soil. When that happens, they put down new roots, creating what botanists call adventitious roots. These new roots act like secondary trunks, supporting the ever-expanding canopy while remaining physically connected to the original tree.

Out of the tree's five main branches, four have followed this pattern, rooting themselves repeatedly and spreading outward decade after decade. The fifth branch behaves normally and stopped growing once it reached the ground. Locals have given it a nickname. They call it Salario Minimo, which means minimum wage, because it is the only part of the tree that actually works a normal job.

The tree is also remarkably productive. Despite its unusual shape, it still bears fruit every year. During the harvest season, which typically runs from November to January, it produces between 60,000 and 80,000 cashew fruits, amounting to up to 2.5 tonnes in a good year. That is not a typo. One tree, tens of thousands of cashews.

The origins of the tree are debated. Local legend says it was planted in December 1888 by a fisherman named Luis Inacio de Oliveira, who reportedly died in its shade at the age of ninety-three. Another version attributes the planting to a former mayor of Natal who owned the land. Some researchers have even suggested the tree could be older than a thousand years based on its growth characteristics, though records list it as over a hundred years old.

What is not in dispute is the impact the tree has on the region. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. In 2024 alone, more than 350,000 tourists came to see it. Local authorities have built elevated walkways to protect the tree's extensive root system from being trampled. There is a viewing platform where you can look out over the canopy and truly understand its scale. And in 2025, the tree was officially recognised as natural, historical, and touristic heritage of the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The tree is still growing, which has created some challenges. Its branches have pushed against the boundaries of its park and now extend over a public road. In 2012, a supporting structure had to be installed to hold up branches that had grown too far. A recent court decision even ordered pruning for the first time in the tree's documented history, something that had never been done before.

There is something wonderful about a single living thing that refuses to follow the rules. It does not grow up. It grows out. It does not stand alone. It roots itself again and again. And in doing so, it becomes something that looks like a forest but is actually one quiet, patient, deeply stubborn tree.

02/09/2026

CALAMANSI PEEL POTENTIAL🍋‍🟩

Most of us know calamansi for its juice. But researchers in the Philippines looked at something usually left behind after the juice is extracted, its peel.

In a study published in Industrial Crops and Products, researchers collected calamansi peel waste from juice production and used steam distillation to extract its essential oil.

This is important because the material tested was not calamansi juice, freshly squeezed peel, or ordinary calamansi placed directly on cells. It was an essential oil specifically extracted from the peels.

Researchers then tested the extracted oil on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells grown in the laboratory.

As the concentration of the oil increased, the viability of the breast cancer cells decreased. About 7.98 micrograms per milliliter of the essential oil was enough to reduce their viability by half.

For comparison, researchers also tested it on a non-tumor cell line. It took about 16.15 micrograms per milliliter to produce the same 50% reduction.

This meant that, in this laboratory experiment, the breast cancer cells were roughly twice as sensitive to the calamansi essential oil as the comparison cells.

When researchers analyzed the oil, they found that it consisted largely of d-limonene, a natural compound commonly found in citrus peels. Quantitative analysis measured d-limonene at about 98% of the oil by weight, and the researchers suggested that it likely contributed to the observed activity together with other compounds present in the oil.

But there is an important distinction.

This was a study on cells grown in a laboratory, not on people. It does not show that eating calamansi, drinking calamansi juice, using its peel, or consuming calamansi essential oil can prevent or treat breast cancer.

What the study provides is an early scientific finding that compounds extracted from a familiar Philippine agricultural byproduct can affect breast cancer cells under controlled laboratory conditions and may deserve further investigation.

Even something as ordinary as a discarded calamansi peel can contain chemistry that scientists are still trying to understand.