Category: I

Zygomorphic, unsymmetrical. Plant parts that are asymmetrical. Describes a flower that is not radially symmetrical, with parts of unequal size or shape. In botany, a term applied to a flower in which the floral whorls are unequal. Not regular or normal. Having the petals arranged in some way other than radial symmetry, though almost always…

The hydrogel that surrounds cells in soft tissues. It is a mucopolysaccaride starch gel, and the serum that leaves the blood capillaries flows through this gel, some to return to the exiting venous blood, some to enter the lymph system. There is an old medical axiom: the blood feeds the lymph, and the lymph feeds…

An agent that acts to suppress the body’s natural immune response. This is totally understandable in tissue and organ transplants, and in some dangerous inflammatory conditions, but nearly all anti-inflammatory medications are immunosuppressant, including cortisone, antihistamines, and even aspirin. Some medical radicals are convinced that the chronic virill and fungal disorders of our age are…

Insufficient supply of blood. A condition characterized by a limited availability of blood to a specific region of the body, often arising from the narrowing of blood vessels or the presence of obstructions impeding the normal flow of oxygenated blood through the arteries.  

An overlapping of similar pieces or segments (somewhat like roof shingles); can be either vertical or lateral, such as the bracts at the base of many flowers in the sunflower family (Compositae). Overlapping arrangement of parts, like tiles on a roof.  

Those species that one would expect to find in a particular ecosystem. Indicator species are not necessarily found solely in that ecosystem. Thus, biologists rely on a combination of several indicator species of both plants and animals, and on physical characteristics, to define an ecosystem, such as the Chihuahuan Desert.  

A fever that recurs regularly, e.g., malaria. Fever which rises and falls regularly, as in malaria. Fever in which symptoms disappear completely between paroxysms.  

A level-headed energy; mind, body, spirit in balance; tranquility; coolness, even-handed temperament when attempting divination, conjuration, or healing. (Yoruba)  

A Yoruban technique of injecting medicine in the manner of a vaccination.  

Diminution or absence of ability to produce offspring. The inability to conceive a child as in reproduction. The fact of not being fertile, not able to reproduce. Inability to conceive a baby, also often encompassing the related inability to carry a child, once conceived, to full term in a healthy birth. In practice, infertility is…