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Eggplant

Eggplant (US, CA, AU, NZ, PH), aubergine (UK, IE), brinjal (IN, SG, MY, ZA), or baigan (IN, GY) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Solanum melongena is grown worldwide for its edible fruit.

Most commonly purple, the spongy, absorbent fruit is used in several cuisines. Typically used as a vegetable in cooking, it is a berry by botanical definition. As a member of the genus Solanum, it is related to the tomato, chili pepper, and potato, although those are of the New World while the eggplant is of the Old World. Like the tomato, its skin and seeds can be eaten, but, like the potato, it is usually eaten cooked. Eggplant is nutritionally low in macronutrient and micronutrient content, but the capability of the fruit to absorb oils and flavors into its flesh through cooking expands its use in the culinary arts.

It was originally domesticated from the wild nightshade species thorn or bitter apple, S. incanum, probably with two independent domestications: one in South Asia, and one in East Asia. In 2021, world production of eggplants was 59 million tonnes, with China and India combined accounting for 86% of the total.

Description
The eggplant is a delicate, tropical perennial plant often cultivated as a tender or half-hardy annual in temperate climates. The stem is often spiny. The flowers are white to purple in color, with a five-lobed corolla and yellow stamens. Some common cultivars have fruit that is egg-shaped, glossy, and purple with white flesh and a spongy, "meaty" texture. Some other cultivars are white and longer in shape. The cut surface of the flesh rapidly turns brown when the fruit is cut open (oxidation).

Eggplant grows 40 to 150 cm tall, with large, coarsely lobed leaves that are 10 to 20 cm long and 5 to 10 cm broad. Semiwild types can grow much larger, to 225 cm, with large leaves over 30 cm long and 15 cm broad. On wild plants, the fruit is less than 3 cm in diameter

Botanically classified as a berry, the fruit contains numerous small, soft, edible seeds that taste bitter because they contain or are covered in nicotinoid alkaloids, like the related tobacco.

The eggplant genome has 12 chromosomes.

History
There is no consensus about the place of origin of eggplant; the plant species has been described as native to South Asia, where it continues to grow wild, or Africa. It has been cultivated in southern and eastern Asia since prehistory. The first known written record of the plant is found in Qimin Yaoshu, an ancient Chinese agricultural treatise completed in 544 CE. The numerous Arabic and North African names for it, along with the lack of the ancient Greek and Roman names, indicate it was grown throughout the Mediterranean area by the Arabs in the early Middle Ages, who introduced it to Spain in the 8th century. A book on agriculture by Ibn Al-Awwam in 12th-century Arabic Spain described how to grow aubergines. Records exist from later medieval Catalan and Spanish, as well as from 14th-century Italy.

The aubergine is unrecorded in England until the 16th century. An English botany book in 1597 described the madde or raging Apple:

"This plant groweth in Egypt almost everywhere... bringing foorth fruite of the bignes of a great Cucumber.... We have had the same in our London gardens, where it hath borne flowers, but the winter approching before the time of ripening, it perished: notwithstanding it came to beare fruite of the bignes of a goose egge one extraordinarie temperate yeere... but never to the full ripenesse."

The Europeans brought it to Americas.

Because of the plant's relationship with various other nightshades, the fruit was at one time believed to be extremely poisonous. The flowers and leaves can be poisonous if consumed in large quantities due to the presence of solanine.

The eggplant has a special place in folklore. In 13th-century Italian traditional folklore, the eggplant can cause insanity. In 19th-century Egypt, insanity was said to be "more common and more violent" when the eggplant is in season in the summer.

Etymology and regional names

The plant and fruit have a profusion of English names.

Eggplant-type names
The name eggplant is usual in North American English and Australian English. First recorded in 1763, the word "eggplant" was originally applied to white cultivars, which look very much like hen's eggs (see image). Similar names are widespread in other languages, such as the Icelandic term eggaldin or the Welsh planhigyn ŵy.

The white, egg-shaped varieties of the eggplant's fruits are also known as garden eggs, a term first attested in 1811. The Oxford English Dictionary records that between 1797 and 1888, the name vegetable egg was also used.

Aubergine-type names
Whereas eggplant was coined in English, most of the diverse other European names for the plant derive from the باذنجان bāḏinjān. Bāḏinjān is itself a loan-word in Arabic, whose earliest traceable origins lie in the Dravidian languages. The Hobson-Jobson dictionary comments that "probably there is no word of the kind which has undergone such extraordinary variety of modifications, whilst retaining the same meaning, as this".

In English usage, modern names deriving from Arabic bāḏinjān include:
 * Aubergine, usual in British English (as well as German, French and Dutch).
 * Brinjal or brinjaul, usual in South Asia and South African English.
 * Solanum melongena, the Linnaean name.

From Dravidian to Arabic
All the aubergine-type names have the same origin, in the Dravidian languages. Modern descendants of this ancient Dravidian word include Malayalam vaṟutina and Tamil vaṟutuṇai.

The Dravidian word was borrowed into the Indo-Aryan languages, giving ancient forms such as Sanskrit and Pali vātiṅ-gaṇa (alongside Sanskrit vātigama) and Prakrit vāiṃaṇa. According to the entry brinjal in the Oxford English Dictionary, the Sanskrit word vātin-gāna denoted 'the class (that removes) the wind-disorder (windy humour)': that is, vātin-gāna came to be the name for eggplants because they were thought to cure flatulence. The modern Hindustani words descending directly from the Sanskrit name are baingan and began.

The Indic word vātiṅ-gaṇa was then borrowed into Persian as bādingān. Persian bādingān was borrowed in turn into Arabic as bāḏinjān (or, with the definite article, al-bāḏinjān). From Arabic, the word was borrowed into European languages.

From Arabic into Iberia and beyond
In al-Andalus, the Arabic word (al-)bāḏinjān was borrowed into the Romance languages in forms beginning with b- or, with the definite article included, alb-:
 * Portuguese bringella, bringiela, beringela.
 * Spanish berenjena, alberenjena.

The Spanish word alberenjena was then borrowed into French, giving aubergine (along with French dialectal forms like albergine, albergaine, albergame, and belingèle). The French name was then borrowed into British English, appearing there first in the late eighteenth century.

Through the colonial expansion of Portugal, the Portuguese form bringella was borrowed into a variety of other languages:
 * Indian, Malaysian, Singaporean and South African English brinjal, brinjaul (first attested in the seventeenth century).
 * West Indian English brinjalle and (through folk-etymology) brown-jolly.
 * French bringelle in La Réunion.

Thus although Indian English brinjal ultimately originates in languages of the Indian Subcontinent, it actually came into Indian English via Portuguese.

From Arabic into Greek and beyond
The Arabic word bāḏinjān was borrowed into Greek by the eleventh century CE. The Greek loans took a variety of forms, but crucially they began with m-, partly because Greek lacked the initial b- sound and partly through folk-etymological association with the Greek word μέλας (melas), 'black'. Attested Greek forms include ματιζάνιον (matizanion, eleventh-century), μελιντζάνα (melintzana, fourteenth-century), and μελιντζάνιον (melintzanion, seventeenth-century).

From Greek, the word was borrowed into Italian and medieval Latin, and onwards into French. Early forms include:
 * Melanzāna, recorded in Sicilian in the twelfth century.
 * Melongena, recorded in Latin in the thirteenth century.
 * Melongiana, recorded in Veronese in the fourteenth century.
 * Melanjan, recorded in Old French.

From these forms came the botanical Latin melongēna. This was used by Tournefort as a genus name in 1700, then by Linnaeus as a species name in 1753. It remains in scientific use.

These forms also gave rise to the Caribbean English melongene.

The Italian melanzana, through folk-etymology, was adapted to mela insana ('mad apple'): already by the thirteenth century, this name had given rise to a tradition that eggplants could cause insanity. Translated into English as 'mad-apple', 'rage-apple', or 'raging apple', this name for eggplants is attested from 1578 and the form 'mad-apple' may still be found in Southern American English.

Other English names
The plant is also known as guinea squash in Southern American English. The term guinea in the name originally denoted the fact that the fruits were associated with West Africa, specifically the region that is now the modern day country Guinea.

It has been known as 'Jew's apple', apparently in relation to a belief that the fruit was first imported to the West Indies by Jewish people.

Cultivars

Different cultivars of the plant produce fruit of different size, shape, and color, though typically purple. The less common white varieties of eggplant are also known as Easter white eggplants, garden eggs, Casper or white eggplant. The most widely cultivated varieties—cultivars—in Europe and North America today are elongated ovoid, 12–25 cm long and 6–9 cm broad with a dark purple skin.

A much wider range of shapes, sizes, and colors is grown in India and elsewhere in Asia. Larger cultivars weighing up to a kilogram (2.2 pounds) grow in the region between the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers, while smaller ones are found elsewhere. Colors vary from white to yellow or green, as well as reddish-purple and dark purple. Some cultivars have a color gradient—white at the stem, to bright pink, deep purple or even black. Green or purple cultivars with white striping also exist. Chinese cultivars are commonly shaped like a narrower, slightly pendulous cucumber. Also, Asian cultivars of Japanese breeding are grown.
 * Oval or elongated oval-shaped and black-skinned cultivars include 'Harris Special Hibush', 'Burpee Hybrid', 'Bringal Bloom', 'Black Magic', 'Classic', 'Dusky', and 'Black Beauty'.
 * Slim cultivars in purple-black skin include 'Little Fingers', 'Ichiban', 'Pingtung Long', and 'Tycoon'
 * In green skin, 'Louisiana Long Green' and 'Thai (Long) Green'
 * In white skin, 'Dourga'.
 * Traditional, white-skinned, egg-shaped cultivars include 'Casper' and 'Easter Egg'.
 * Bicolored cultivars with color gradient include 'Rosa Bianca', 'Violetta di Firenze', 'Bianca Sfumata di Rosa' (heirloom), and 'Prosperosa' (heirloom).
 * Bicolored cultivars with striping include 'Listada de Gandia' and 'Udumalapet'.
 * In some parts of India, miniature cultivars, most commonly called baigan, are popular.

Varieties

 * S. m. var. esculentum – common aubergine, including white varieties, with many cultivars
 * S. m. var. depressum – dwarf aubergine
 * S. m. var. serpentium – snake aubergine

Genetically engineered eggplant
Bt brinjal is a transgenic eggplant that contains a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. This variety was designed to give the plant resistance to lepidopteran insects such as the brinjal fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera).

On 9 February 2010, the Environment Ministry of India imposed a moratorium on the cultivation of Bt brinjal after protests against regulatory approval of cultivated Bt brinjal in 2009, stating the moratorium would last "for as long as it is needed to establish public trust and confidence". This decision was deemed controversial, as it deviated from previous practices with other genetically modified crops in India. Bt brinjal was approved for commercial cultivation in Bangladesh in 2013.

Culinary
Raw eggplant can have a bitter taste, with an astringent quality, but it becomes tender when cooked and develops a rich, complex flavor. Rinsing, draining, and salting the sliced fruit before cooking may remove the bitterness. The fruit is capable of absorbing cooking fats and sauces, which may enhance the flavor of eggplant dishes.

Eggplant is used in the cuisines of many countries. Due to its texture and bulk, it is sometimes used as a meat substitute in vegan and vegetarian cuisines. Eggplant flesh is smooth. Its numerous seeds are small, soft and edible, along with the rest of the fruit, and do not have to be removed. Its thin skin is also edible, and so it does not have to be peeled. However, the green part at the top, the calyx, does have to be removed when preparing an eggplant for cooking.

Eggplant can be steamed, stir-fried, pan fried, deep fried, barbecued, roasted, stewed, curried, or pickled. Many eggplant dishes are sauces made by mashing the cooked fruit. It can be stuffed. It is frequently, but not always, cooked with oil or fat.

East Asia
Korean and Japanese eggplant varieties are typically thin-skinned.

In Chinese cuisine, eggplants are known as qiézi (茄子). They are often deep fried and made into dishes such as yúxiāng-qiézi ("fish fragrance eggplant") or di sān xiān ("three earthen treasures"). Elsewhere in China, such as in Yunnan cuisine (in particular the cuisine of the Dai people) they are barbecued or roasted, then split and either eaten directly with garlic, chilli, oil and coriander, or the flesh is removed and pounded to a mash (typically with a wooden pestle and mortar) before being eaten with rice or other dishes.

In Japanese cuisine, eggplants are known as nasu or nasubi and use the same characters as Chinese (茄子). An example of it use is in the dish hasamiyaki (挟み焼き) in which slices of eggplant are grilled and filled with a meat stuffing. Eggplants also feature in several Japanese expression and proverbs, such as "Don't feed autumn eggplant to your wife" (because their lack of seeds will reduce her fertility) and "Always listen to your parents".

In Korean cuisine, eggplants are known as gaji (가지). They are steamed, stir-fried, or pan-fried and eaten as banchan (side dishes), such as namul, bokkeum, and jeon.

Southeast Asia
In the Philippines, eggplants are of the long and slender purple variety. They are known as talong and is widely used in many stew and soup dishes, like pinakbet. However the most popular eggplant dish is tortang talong, an omelette made from grilling an eggplant, dipping it into beaten eggs, and pan-frying the mixture. The dish is characteristically served with the stalk attached. The dish has several variants, including rellenong talong which is stuffed with meat and vegetables. Eggplant can also be grilled, skinned and eaten as a salad called ensaladang talong. Another popular dish is adobong talong, which is diced eggplant prepared with vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic as an adobo.

South Asia
Eggplant is widely used in its native India, for example in sambar (a tamarind lentil stew), dalma (a dal preparation with vegetables, native to Odisha), chutney, curry (vankai ), and achaar (a pickled dish). Owing to its versatile nature and wide use in both everyday and festive Indian food, it is often described as the "king of vegetables". Roasted, skinned, mashed, mixed with onions, tomatoes, and spices, and then slow cooked gives the South Asian dish baingan bharta or gojju, similar to salată de vinete in Romania. Another version of the dish, begun-pora (eggplant charred or burnt), is very popular in Bangladesh and the east Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal where the pulp of the vegetable is mixed with raw chopped shallot, green chilies, salt, fresh coriander, and mustard oil. Sometimes fried tomatoes and deep-fried potatoes are also added, creating a dish called begun bhorta. In a dish from Maharashtra called bharli vangi, small brinjals are stuffed with ground coconut, peanuts, onions, tamarind, jaggery and masala spices, and then cooked in oil. Maharashtra and the adjacent state of Karnataka also have an eggplant-based vegetarian pilaf called 'vangi bhat' ..

Middle East and the Mediterranean
Eggplant is often stewed, as in the French ratatouille, or deep-fried as in the Italian parmigiana di melanzane, the Turkish karnıyarık, or Turkish, Greek, and Levantine musakka/moussaka, and Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes. Eggplants can also be battered before deep-frying and served with a sauce made of tahini and tamarind. In Iranian cuisine, it is blended with whey as kashk e bademjan, tomatoes as mirza ghassemi, or made into stew as khoresht-e-bademjan. It can be sliced and deep-fried, then served with plain yogurt (optionally topped with a tomato and garlic sauce), such as in the Turkish dish patlıcan kızartması (meaning fried aubergines), or without yogurt, as in patlıcan şakşuka. Perhaps the best-known Turkish eggplant dishes are imam bayıldı (vegetarian) and karnıyarık (with minced meat). It may also be roasted in its skin until charred, so the pulp can be removed and blended with other ingredients, such as lemon, tahini, and garlic, as in the Levantine baba ghanoush, Greek melitzanosalata, and Moroccan zaalouk. A mix of roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, chopped onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and spices is called zacuscă in Romania, and ajvar or pinjur in the Balkans.

A Spanish dish called escalivada in Catalonia calls for strips of roasted aubergine, sweet pepper, onion, and tomato. In Andalusia, eggplant is mostly cooked thinly sliced, deep-fried in olive oil and served hot with honey (berenjenas a la Cordobesa). In the La Mancha region of central Spain, a small eggplant is pickled in vinegar, paprika, olive oil, and red peppers. The result is berenjena of Almagro, Ciudad Real. A Levantine specialty is makdous, another pickling of eggplants, stuffed with red peppers and walnuts in olive oil. Eggplant can be hollowed out and stuffed with meat, rice, or other fillings, and then baked. In Georgia, for example, it is fried and stuffed with walnut paste to make nigvziani badrijani.

The eggplant was brought to Europe through the Iberian Peninsula where it was consumed by Muslims and Sephardic Jews, and was relatively unknown in other parts of Europe (except southern Italy) perhaps as late as the 17th century. It is considered to this day one of the defining ingredients of Sephardic Jewish cuisine.

Iran
In Iranian cuisine, eggplant (called bādenjān or bādemjān in Persian) can be used in both appetizers and main courses. It can also be pickled in vinegar. The ideal eggplant in Iranian cuisine is long, straight, firm, and black. Based on how al-Razi uses the color of eggplant as a shorthand for purpleness in his Kitab al-hawi, it can be assumed that the dark purple kind of eggplant was the widely grown variety in Iran at his time (9th century). Its importance in Iran is alluded to in the Ain-i-Akbari of Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, which says "this vegetable is on sale in the markets in Iran all the year round and in such abundance that it is sold for 1.5 dams per seer" (which was a cheap price at that time).

In Iran, unlike places like Greece, Turkey, and North Africa, eggplant is cooked peeled and usually seasoned with cinnamon or especially turmeric. Most eggplant dishes are classified as nankhoreshi (eaten with bread), and they are commonly served as snacks alongside alcoholic beverages.

The 14th-century poet Boshaq At'ema refers to an early eggplant dish called burani-e badenjan: chopped eggplant sautéed with onions and turmeric, then slowly cooked, and finally mixed with yogurt. The combination of eggplant and kashk (condensed whey) is popular in Iranian cuisine; it is found in dishes like kashk o badenjan as well as ash-e kashk o badenjan (involving layers of sautéed eggplant, grilled onions, and red beans topped by kashk seasoned with turmeric). Another eggplant dish is mast o badenjan, also known as nazkhatun in Tehran, which involves eggplant, yogurt, and dried mint. Eggplant can also be cooked in stews (khoreshes), either with lamb (khoresh-e badenjan) or with chicken and either unripe grapes or pomegranate juice (mosamma-ye badenjan). Variants of ab-gusht, eshkana, fesenjan, and kuku also make use of eggplant. Some regional dishes involving eggplant include badenjan-polow, a dish mainly from Fars and Kerman that combines white rice with a paste of chopped sautéed eggplant, chopped meat, and spices; as well as the northern Iranian badenjan-e qasemi, a casserole using grilled eggplant, garlic, tomatoes, and eggs.

Eggplants are traditionally among the foods that get preserved and stored for winter in Iran. They are selected in the last month of summer, when they are most readily available, then peeled, and finally preserved in one of two ways. In the first way, the peeled eggplants are cut, salted, and left to "sweat" (to make them less bilious); then they are sun-dried by hanging them on a line. The dried eggplants are then rehydrated 24 hours before being cooked. In the second way, the peeled eggplants are cooked in oil, put in a copper pot, and finally covered with plenty of hot oil, "which congeals to seal them".

Medieval Iranian writers such as al-Razi and al-Biruni cautioned that eggplant contains harmful qualities, and it must be ripe and cooked before eating to neutralize them. They wrote that it could cause heat and dryness and an excess of black bile, contributing to a wide range of health problems. If the "salt" in it was removed, or it was cooked in oil or vinegar, then they wrote that eggplant gained healthy attributes. Present-day Iranian attitudes to the eggplant reflect this medical tradition's influence: the eggplant is "considered rather dangerous... a cook in Tehran will say that the poison must be taken out". People also use eggplant seeds as an expectorant to relieve asthma and catarrh.

Nutrition
Raw eggplant is 92% water, 6% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and has negligible fat (table). It provides low amounts of essential nutrients, with only manganese having a moderate percentage (11%) of the Daily Value. Minor changes in nutrient composition occur with season, environment of cultivation (open field or greenhouse), and genotype.

Cultivation and pests
In tropical and subtropical climates, eggplant can be sown in the garden. Eggplant grown in temperate climates fares better when transplanted into the garden after all danger of frost has passed. Eggplant prefers hot weather, and when grown in cold climates or in areas with low humidity, the plants languish or fail to set and produce mature fruit. Seeds are typically started eight to 10 weeks prior to the anticipated frost-free date. S. melongena is included on a list of low flammability plants, indicating that it is suitable for growing within a building protection zone.

Spacing should be 45 to 60 cm between plants, depending on cultivar, and 60 to 90 cm between rows, depending on the type of cultivation equipment being used. Mulching helps conserve moisture and prevent weeds and fungal diseases and the plants benefit from some shade during the hottest part of the day. Hand pollination by shaking the flowers improves the set of the first blossoms. Growers typically cut fruits from the vine just above the calyx owing to the somewhat woody stems. Flowers are complete, containing both female and male structures, and may be self- or cross-pollinated.

Many of the pests and diseases that afflict other solanaceous plants, such as tomato, capsicum, and potato, are also troublesome to eggplants. For this reason, it should generally not be planted in areas previously occupied by its close relatives. However, since eggplants can be particularly susceptible to pests such as whiteflies, they are sometimes grown with slightly less susceptible plants, such as chili pepper, as a sacrificial trap crop. Four years should separate successive crops of eggplants to reduce pest pressure.

Common North American pests include the potato beetles, flea beetles, aphids, whiteflies, and spider mites. Good sanitation and crop rotation practices are extremely important for controlling fungal disease, the most serious of which is Verticillium.

The potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella) is an oligophagous insect that prefers to feed on plants of the family Solanaceae such as eggplants. Female P. operculella use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the mesophyll of the leaf.

Production
In 2022, world production was 59 million tonnes, led by China with 65% and India with 22% (table).

Chemistry
The color of purple skin cultivars is due to the anthocyanin nasunin.

The browning of eggplant flesh results from the oxidation of polyphenols, such as the most abundant phenolic compound in the fruit, chlorogenic acid.

Allergies
Case reports of itchy skin or mouth, mild headache, and stomach upset after handling or eating eggplant have been reported anecdotally and published in medical journals (see also oral allergy syndrome). A 2021 review indicated that possibly four interacting mechanisms may elicit an allergic response from consuming eggplant: lipid transfer protein, profilin, polyphenol oxidase, and pollen reactions.

A 2008 study of a sample of 741 people in India, where eggplant is commonly consumed, found nearly 10% reported some allergic symptoms after consuming eggplant, with 1.4% showing symptoms within two hours. Contact dermatitis from eggplant leaves and allergy to eggplant flower pollen have also been reported.

Individuals who are atopic (genetically predisposed to developing certain allergic hypersensitivity reactions) are more likely to have a reaction to eggplant, which may be because eggplant is high in histamines. Cooking eggplant thoroughly seems to preclude reactions in some individuals, but some of the allergenic proteins may survive the cooking process.

Taxonomy

The eggplant is quite often featured in the older scientific literature under the junior synonyms S. ovigerum and S. trongum. Several other names that are now invalid have been uniquely applied to it:
 * Melongena ovata Mill.
 * Solanum album Noronha
 * Solanum insanum L.
 * Solanum longum Roxb.
 * Solanum melanocarpum Dunal
 * Solanum melongenum St.-Lag.
 * Solanum oviferum Salisb.
 * Prachi Salisb.

A number of subspecies and varieties have been named, mainly by Dikii, Dunal, and (invalidly) by Sweet. Names for various eggplant types, such as agreste, album, divaricatum, esculentum, giganteum, globosi, inerme, insanum, leucoum, luteum, multifidum, oblongo-cylindricum, ovigera, racemiflorum, racemosum, ruber, rumphii, sinuatorepandum, stenoleucum, subrepandum, tongdongense, variegatum, violaceum, viride, are not considered to refer to anything more than cultivar groups at best. However, Solanum incanum and cockroach berry (S. capsicoides), other eggplant-like nightshades described by Linnaeus and Allioni, respectively, were occasionally considered eggplant varieties, but this is not correct.

The eggplant has a long history of taxonomic confusion with the scarlet and Ethiopian eggplants (Solanum aethiopicum), known as gilo and nakati, respectively, and described by Linnaeus as S. aethiopicum. The eggplant was sometimes considered a variety violaceum of that species. S. violaceum of de Candolle applies to Linnaeus' S. aethiopicum. An actual S. violaceum, an unrelated plant described by Ortega, included Dunal's S. amblymerum and was often confused with the same author's S. brownii.

Like the potato and S. lichtensteinii, but unlike the tomato, which then was generally put in a different genus, the eggplant was also described as S. esculentum, in this case once more in the course of Dunal's work. He also recognized the varieties aculeatum, inerme, and subinerme at that time. Similarly, H.C.F. Schuhmacher and Peter Thonning named the eggplant as S. edule, which is also a junior synonym of sticky nightshade (S. sisymbriifolium). Scopoli's S. zeylanicum refers to the eggplant, and that of Blanco to S. lasiocarpum.

title: Eggplant


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Horseradish

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana, syn. Cochlearia armoracia) is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide as a spice and as a condiment. The species is probably native to Southeastern Europe and Western Asia.

Description
Horseradish grows up to 1.5 m tall, with hairless bright green unlobed leaves up to 1 m long that may be mistaken for docks (Rumex). It is cultivated primarily for its large, white, tapered root. The white four-petalled flowers are scented and are borne in dense panicles. Established plants may form extensive patches and may become invasive unless carefully managed.

Intact horseradish root has little aroma. When cut or grated, enzymes from within the plant cells digest sinigrin (a glucosinolate) to produce allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil), which irritates the mucous membranes of the sinuses and eyes. Once exposed to air or heat, horseradish loses its pungency, darkens in color, and develops a bitter flavor.

History
Horseradish has been cultivated since antiquity. Dioscorides listed horseradish equally as Persicon sinapi (Diosc. 2.186) or Sinapi persicum (Diosc. 2.168), which Pliny's Natural History reported as Persicon napy; Cato discusses the plant in his treatises on agriculture, and a mural in Pompeii shows the plant. Horseradish is probably the plant mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History under the name of Amoracia, and recommended by him for its medicinal qualities, and possibly the wild radish, or raphanos agrios of the Greeks. The early Renaissance herbalists Pietro Andrea Mattioli and John Gerard showed it under Raphanus. Its modern Linnaean genus Armoracia was first applied to it by Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius, in his Flora Jenensis, 1745, but Linnaeus himself called it Cochlearia armoracia.

Both roots and leaves were used as a traditional medicine during the Middle Ages. The root was used as a condiment on meats in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain. It was introduced to North America during European colonization; both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson mention horseradish in garden accounts. Native Americans used it to stimulate the glands, stave off scurvy, and as a diaphoretic treatment for the common cold.

William Turner mentions horseradish as Red Cole in his "Herbal" (1551–1568), but not as a condiment. In The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes (1597), John Gerard describes it under the name of raphanus rusticanus, stating that it occurs wild in several parts of England. After referring to its medicinal uses, he says: "[T]he Horse Radish stamped with a little vinegar put thereto, is commonly used among the Germans for sauce to eat fish with and such like meats as we do mustard."

Etymology and common names
The word horseradish is attested in English from the 1590s. It combines the word horse (formerly used in a figurative sense to mean strong or coarse) and the word radish. Some sources say that the term originates from a mispronunciation of the German word "meerrettich" as "mareradish". However, this hypothesis has been disputed, as there is no historical evidence of this term being used.

In Central and Eastern Europe, horseradish is called chren, hren and ren (in various spellings like kren) in many Slavic languages, in Austria, in parts of Germany (where the other German name Meerrettich is not used), in North-East Italy, and in Yiddish (כריין transliterated as khreyn). It is common in Ukraine (under the name of хрін, khrin), in Belarus (under the name of хрэн, chren), in Poland (under the name of chrzan), in the Czech Republic (křen), in Slovakia (chren), in Russia (хрен, khren), in Hungary (torma), in Romania (hrean), in Lithuania (krienas), and in Bulgaria (under the name of хрян).

Cultivation
Horseradish is perennial in hardiness zones 2–9 and can be grown as an annual in other zones, although not as successfully as in zones with both a long growing season and winter temperatures cold enough to ensure plant dormancy. After the first frost in autumn kills the leaves, the root is dug and divided. The main root is harvested and one or more large offshoots of the main root are replanted to produce next year's crop. Horseradish left undisturbed in the garden spreads via underground shoots and can become invasive. Older roots left in the ground become woody, after which they are no longer culinarily useful, although older plants can be dug and re-divided to start new plants. The early season leaves can be distinctively different, asymmetric spiky, before the mature typical flat broad leaves start to be developed.

Pests and diseases
Introduced by accident, "cabbageworms", the larvae of Pieris rapae, are a common caterpillar pest in horseradish. Mature caterpillars chew large, ragged holes in the leaves leaving the large veins intact. Handpicking is an effective control strategy in home gardens. Another common pest of horseradish is the mustard leaf beetle (Phaedon cochleariae). These beetles are undeterred by the defense mechanisms produced by Brassicaceae plants like horseradish.

Production
In the United States, horseradish is grown in several areas such as Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Tule Lake, California. The most concentrated growth occurs in the Collinsville, Illinois region.

30,000 metric tonnes of horseradish are produced in Europe annually, of which Hungary produces 12,000, making it the biggest single producer.

Culinary uses
The distinctive pungent taste of horseradish is from the compound allyl isothiocyanate. Upon crushing the flesh of horseradish, the enzyme myrosinase is released and acts on the glucosinolates sinigrin and gluconasturtiin, which are precursors to the allyl isothiocyanate. The allyl isothiocyanate serves the plant as a natural defense against herbivores. Since allyl isothiocyanate is harmful to the plant itself, it is stored in the harmless form of the glucosinolate, separate from the enzyme myrosinase. When an animal chews the plant, the allyl isothiocyanate is released, repelling the animal. Allyl isothiocyanate is an unstable compound, degrading over the course of days at 37 C. Because of this instability, horseradish sauces lack the pungency of the freshly crushed roots.

Cooks may use the terms "horseradish" or "prepared horseradish" to refer to the mashed (or grated) root of the horseradish plant mixed with vinegar. Prepared horseradish is white to creamy-beige in color. It can be stored for up to 3 months under refrigeration, but eventually will darken, indicating less flavour. The leaves of the plant are edible, either cooked or raw when young, with a flavor similar but weaker than the roots.

On Passover, many Ashkenazi Jews use grated horseradish as a choice for Maror (bitter herbs) at the Passover Seder.

Horseradish sauce
Horseradish sauce made from grated horseradish root and vinegar is a common condiment in the United Kingdom, in Denmark (with sugar added) and in Poland. In the UK, it is usually served with roast beef, often as part of a traditional Sunday roast, but can be used in a number of other dishes, including sandwiches or salads. A variation of horseradish sauce, which in some cases may substitute the vinegar with other products like lemon juice or citric acid, is known in Germany as Tafelmeerrettich. Also available in the UK is Tewkesbury mustard, a blend of mustard and grated horseradish originating in medieval times and mentioned by Shakespeare (Falstaff says: "his wit's as thick as Tewkesbury Mustard" in Henry IV Part II ). A similar mustard, called Krensenf or Meerrettichsenf, is common in Austria and parts of Germany. In France, sauce au raifort is used in Alsatian cuisine. In Russia, horseradish root is usually mixed with grated garlic and a small amount of tomatoes for color (Khrenovina sauce).

In the United States, the term "horseradish sauce" refers to grated horseradish combined with mayonnaise or salad dressing. In Denmark, it is mixed with whipping cream and as such used on top of traditional Danish open sandwiches with beef (boiled or steaked) slices. Prepared horseradish is a common ingredient in Bloody Mary cocktails and in cocktail sauce and is used as a sauce or sandwich spread. Horseradish cream is a mixture of horseradish and sour cream and is served au jus for a prime rib dinner.

Vegetable
In Europe, there are two varieties of chrain. "Red" chrain is mixed with red beetroot and "white" chrain contains no beetroot. Chrain is a part of Christian Easter and Jewish Passover tradition (as maror) in Eastern and Central Europe. In the Christian tradition, horseradish is eaten during Eastertide (Paschaltide) as "is a reminder of the bitterness of Jesus' suffering" on Good Friday.
 * In parts of Southern Germany "kren" is a component of the traditional wedding dinner. It is served with cooked beef and a dip made from lingonberry to balance the slight hotness of the Kren.
 * In Poland, a variety with red beetroot is called ćwikła z chrzanem or simply ćwikła.
 * In Russia, a very popular ingredient for pickles (cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms).
 * In Ashkenazi European Jewish cooking, beetroot horseradish is commonly served with gefilte fish.
 * In Transylvania and other Romanian regions, red beetroot with horseradish is used as a salad served with lamb dishes at Easter called sfecla cu hrean.
 * In Serbia, ren is an essential condiment with cooked meat and freshly roasted suckling pig.
 * In Croatia, freshly grated horseradish (Croatian: Hren) is often eaten with boiled ham or beef.
 * In Hungary, Slovenia, and in the adjacent Italian regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and nearby Italian region of Veneto, horseradish (often grated and mixed with sour cream, vinegar, hard-boiled eggs, or apples) is also a traditional Easter dish.
 * In the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, it is called barbaforte (strong beard) and is a traditional accompaniment to bollito misto; while in northeastern regions like Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, it is still called kren or cren. In the southern region of Basilicata it is known as rafano and used for the preparation of rafanata, a main course made of horseradish, eggs, cheese and sausage.
 * Horseradish is also used as a main ingredient for soups. In Poland, horseradish soup is a common Easter Day dish.

Relation to wasabi
Outside Japan, the Japanese condiment wasabi, although traditionally prepared from the true wasabi plant (Wasabia japonica), is now usually made with horseradish due to the scarcity of the wasabi plant. The Japanese botanical name for horseradish is seiyōwasabi (セイヨウワサビ, 西洋山葵), or "Western wasabi". Both plants are members of the family Brassicaceae.

Nutritional content
In a 100-gram amount, prepared horseradish provides 48 calories and has high content of vitamin C with moderate content of sodium, folate and dietary fiber, while other essential nutrients are negligible in content. In a typical serving of one tablespoon (15 grams), horseradish supplies no significant nutrient content.

Horseradish contains volatile oils, notably mustard oil.

Biomedical uses
The enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP), found in the plant, is used extensively in molecular biology and biochemistry primarily for its ability to amplify a weak signal and increase detectability of a target molecule. HRP has been used in decades of research to visualize under microscopy and assess non-quantitatively the permeability of capillaries, particularly those of the brain.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Horseradish


text:
Arecaceae

The Arecaceae is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. Currently, 181 genera with around 2,600 species are known, most of which are restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem, except for the Hyphaene genus, who has branched palms. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts.

Palms are among the best known and most extensively cultivated plant families. They have been important to humans throughout much of history, especially in regions like the Middle East and North Africa. A wide range of common products and foods are derived from palms. In contemporary times, palms are also widely used in landscaping. In many historical cultures, because of their importance as food, palms were symbols for such ideas as victory, peace, and fertility.

Etymology
The word Arecaceae is derived from the word areca with the suffix "-aceae". Areca is derived from Portuguese, via Malayalam അടയ്ക്ക (aṭaykka), which is from Dravidian *aṭ-ay-kkāy ("areca nut"). The suffix -aceae is the feminine plural of the Latin -āceus ("resembling").

Palm originates from Latin palma semantically overlapping with sense of "hand front" (due to similar splayed shape) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂, a direct descendant once existed in Old English.

Morphology
Whether as shrubs, tree-like, or vines, palms have two methods of growth: solitary or clustered. The common representation is that of a solitary shoot ending in a crown of leaves. This monopodial character may be exhibited by prostrate, trunkless, and trunk-forming members. Some common palms restricted to solitary growth include Washingtonia and Roystonea. Palms may instead grow in sparse though dense clusters. The trunk develops an axillary bud at a leaf node, usually near the base, from which a new shoot emerges. The new shoot, in turn, produces an axillary bud and a clustering habit results. Exclusively sympodial genera include many of the rattans, Guihaia, and Rhapis. Several palm genera have both solitary and clustering members. Palms which are usually solitary may grow in clusters and vice versa.

Palms have large, evergreen leaves that are either palmately ('fan-leaved') or pinnately ('feather-leaved') compound and spirally arranged at the top of the stem. The leaves have a tubular sheath at the base that usually splits open on one side at maturity. The inflorescence is a spadix or spike surrounded by one or more bracts or spathes that become woody at maturity. The flowers are generally small and white, radially symmetric, and can be either uni- or bisexual. The sepals and petals usually number three each and may be distinct or joined at the base. The stamens generally number six, with filaments that may be separate, attached to each other, or attached to the pistil at the base. The fruit is usually a single-seeded drupe (sometimes berry-like) but some genera (e.g., Salacca) may contain two or more seeds in each fruit.

Like all monocots, palms do not have the ability to increase the width of a stem (secondary growth) via the same kind of vascular cambium found in non-monocot woody plants. This explains the cylindrical shape of the trunk (almost constant diameter) that is often seen in palms, unlike in ring-forming trees. However, many palms, like some other monocots, do have secondary growth, although because it does not arise from a single vascular cambium producing xylem inwards and phloem outwards, it is often called "anomalous secondary growth".

The Arecaceae are notable among monocots for their height and for the size of their seeds, leaves, and inflorescences. Ceroxylon quindiuense, Colombia's national tree, is the tallest monocot in the world, reaching up to 60 m tall. The coco de mer (Lodoicea maldivica) has the largest seeds of any plant, 40–50 cm in diameter and weighing 15–30 kg each (coconuts are the second largest). Raffia palms (Raphia spp.) have the largest leaves of any plant, up to 25 m long and 3 m wide. The Corypha species have the largest inflorescence of any plant, up to 7.5 m tall and containing millions of small flowers. Calamus stems can reach 200 m in length.

Range and habitat

Most palms are native to tropical and subtropical climates. Palms thrive in moist and hot climates but can be found in a variety of different habitats. Their diversity is highest in wet, lowland forests. South America, the Caribbean, and areas of the South Pacific and southern Asia are regions of concentration. Colombia may have the highest number of palm species in one country. There are some palms that are also native to desert areas such as the Arabian Peninsula and parts of northwestern Mexico. Only about 130 palm species naturally grow entirely beyond the tropics, mostly in humid lowland subtropical climates, in highlands in southern Asia, and along the rim lands of the Mediterranean Sea. The northernmost native palm is Chamaerops humilis, which reaches 44°N latitude along the coast of Liguria, Italy. In the southern hemisphere, the southernmost palm is the Rhopalostylis sapida, which reaches 44°S on the Chatham Islands where an oceanic climate prevails. Cultivation of palms is possible north of subtropical climates, and some higher latitude locales such as Ireland, Scotland, England, and the Pacific Northwest feature a few palms in protected locations and microclimates. In the United States, there are at least 12 native palm species, mostly occurring in the states of the Deep South and Florida.

Palms inhabit a variety of ecosystems. More than two-thirds of palm species live in humid moist forests, where some species grow tall enough to form part of the canopy and shorter ones form part of the understory. Some species form pure stands in areas with poor drainage or regular flooding, including Raphia hookeri which is common in coastal freshwater swamps in West Africa. Other palms live in tropical mountain habitats above 1 e3m, such as those in the genus Ceroxylon native to the Andes. Palms may also live in grasslands and scrublands, usually associated with a water source, and in desert oases such as the date palm. A few palms are adapted to extremely basic lime soils, while others are similarly adapted to extreme potassium deficiency and toxicity of heavy metals in serpentine soils.

Taxonomy

Palms are a monophyletic group of plants, meaning the group consists of a common ancestor and all its descendants. Extensive taxonomic research on palms began with botanist H.E. Moore, who organized palms into 15 major groups based mostly on general morphological characteristics. The following classification, proposed by N.W. Uhl and J. Dransfield in 1987, is a revision of Moore's classification that organizes palms into 6 subfamilies. A few general traits of each subfamily are listed below.

 * Subfamily Arecoideae are the largest subfamily with 14 tribes and containing over 100 genera. All tribes have pinnate or bipinnate leaves and flowers arranged in groups of three, with a central pistillate and two staminate flowers.
 * Subfamily Calamoideae includes the climbing palms, such as rattans. The leaves are usually pinnate; derived characters (synapomorphies) include spines on various organs, organs specialized for climbing, an extension of the main stem of the leaf-bearing reflexed spines, and overlapping scales covering the fruit and ovary.
 * Subfamily Ceroxyloideae has small to medium-sized flowers, spirally arranged, with a gynoecium of three joined carpels.
 * Subfamily Coryphoideae are the second-largest subfamily with 8 tribes. Most palms in this subfamily have palmately lobed leaves and solitary flowers with three, or sometimes four carpels. The fruit normally develops from only one carpel.
 * Subfamily Nypoideae contains only one species, Nypa fruticans, which has large, pinnate leaves. The fruit is unusual in that it floats, and the stem is underground and dichotomously branched, also unusual in palms.

The Phytelephantoideae is the sixth subfamily of Arecaceae in N.W. Uhl and J. Dransfield's 1987 classification. Members of this group have distinct monopodial flower clusters. Other distinct features include a gynoecium with five to 10 joined carpels, and flowers with more than three parts per whorl. Fruits are multiple-seeded and have multiple parts. From the modern phylogenomic data, the Phytelephantoideae are tribe in the Ceroxyloideae subfamily.

Currently, few extensive phylogenetic studies of the Arecaceae exist. In 1997, Baker et al. explored subfamily and tribe relationships using chloroplast DNA from 60 genera from all subfamilies and tribes. The results strongly showed the Calamoideae are monophyletic, and Ceroxyloideae and Coryphoideae are paraphyletic. The relationships of Arecoideae are uncertain, but they are possibly related to the Ceroxyloideae and Phytelephantoideae. Studies have suggested the lack of a fully resolved hypothesis for the relationships within the family is due to a variety of factors, including difficulties in selecting appropriate outgroups, homoplasy in morphological character states, slow rates of molecular evolution important for the use of standard DNA markers, and character polarization. However, hybridization has been observed among Orbignya and Phoenix species, and using chloroplast DNA in cladistic studies may produce inaccurate results due to maternal inheritance of the chloroplast DNA. Chemical and molecular data from non-organelle DNA, for example, could be more effective for studying palm phylogeny.

Recently, nuclear genomes and transcriptomes have been used to reconstruct the phylogeny of palms. This has revealed, for example, that a whole-genome duplication event occurred early in the evolution of the Arecaceae lineage, that was not experienced by its sister clade, the Dasypogonaceae.

For a phylogenetic tree of the family, see the list of Arecaceae genera.

Selected genera

 * Archontophoenix—Bangalow palm
 * Areca—Betel palm
 * Astrocaryum
 * Attalea
 * Bactris—Pupunha
 * Beccariophoenix—Beccariophoenix alfredii
 * Bismarckia—Bismarck palm
 * Borassus—Palmyra palm, sugar palm, toddy palm
 * Butia
 * Calamus—Rattan palm
 * Ceroxylon
 * Cocos—Coconut
 * Coccothrinax
 * Copernicia—Carnauba wax palm
 * Corypha—Gebang palm, Buri palm or Talipot palm
 * Elaeis—Oil palm
 * Euterpe—Cabbage heart palm, açaí palm
 * Hyphaene—Doum palm
 * Jubaea—Chilean wine palm, Coquito palm
 * Latania—Latan palm
 * Licuala
 * Livistona—Cabbage palm
 * Mauritia—Moriche palm
 * Metroxylon—Sago palm
 * Nypa—Nipa palm
 * Parajubaea—Bolivian coconut palms
 * Phoenix—Date palm
 * Pritchardia
 * Raphia—Raffia palm
 * Rhapidophyllum
 * Rhapis
 * Roystonea—Royal palm
 * Sabal—Palmettos
 * Salacca—Salak
 * Syagrus—Queen palm
 * Thrinax
 * Trachycarpus—Windmill palm, Kumaon palm
 * Trithrinax
 * Veitchia—Manila palm, Joannis palm
 * Washingtonia—Fan palm

Evolution
The Arecaceae were the first modern family of monocots to appear in the fossil record around 80 million years ago (Mya), during the late Cretaceous period. The first modern species, such as Nypa fruticans and Acrocomia aculeata, appeared 69 Mya, as evidenced by fossil Nypa pollen. Palms appear to have undergone an early period of adaptive radiation. By 60 Mya, many of the modern, specialized genera of palms appeared and became widespread and common, much more widespread than their range today. Because palms separated from the monocots earlier than other families, they developed more intrafamilial specialization and diversity. By tracing back these diverse characteristics of palms to the basic structures of monocots, palms may be valuable in studying monocot evolution. Several species of palms have been identified from flowers preserved in amber, including Palaeoraphe dominicana and Roystonea palaea. Fossil evidence of them can also be found in samples of petrified palmwood.

The relationship between the subfamilies is shown in the following cladogram:

Uses
Human use of palms is at least as old as human civilization itself, starting with the cultivation of the date palm by Mesopotamians and other Middle Eastern peoples 5,000 years or more ago. Date wood, pits for storing dates, and other remains of the date palm have been found in Mesopotamian sites. The date palm had a significant effect on the history of the Middle East and North Africa. In the text “Date Palm Products” (1993), W.H. Barreveld wrote:

"One could go as far as to say that, had the date palm not existed, the expansion of the human race into the hot and barren parts of the "old" world would have been much more restricted. The date palm not only provided a concentrated energy food, which could be easily stored and carried along on long journeys across the deserts, it also created a more amenable habitat for the people to live in by providing shade and protection from the desert winds."

An indication of the importance of palms in ancient times is that they are mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible, and at least 22 times in the Quran. The Torah also references the “70 date palm trees,” which symbolize the 70 aspects of Torah that are revealed to those who “eat of its fruit.”

Arecaceae have great economic importance, including coconut products, oils, dates, palm syrup, ivory nuts, carnauba wax, rattan cane, raffia, and palm wood. This family supplies a large amount of the human diet and several other human uses, both by absolute amount produced and by number of species domesticated. This is far higher than almost any other plant family, sixth out of domesticated crops in the human diet, and first in total economic value produced sharing the top spot with the Poaceae and Fabaceae. These human uses have also spread many Arecaceae species around the world.

Along with dates mentioned above, members of the palm family with human uses are numerous:
 * The type member of Arecaceae is the areca palm (Areca catechu), the fruit of which, the areca nut, is chewed with the betel leaf for intoxicating effects.
 * Carnauba wax is harvested from the leaves of a Brazilian palm (Copernicia).
 * Rattans, whose stems are used extensively in furniture and baskets, are in the genus Calamus.
 * Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil produced by the oil palms in the genus Elaeis.
 * Several species are harvested for heart of palm, a vegetable eaten in salads.
 * Sap of the nipa palm, Nypa fruticans, is used to make vinegar.
 * Palm sap is sometimes fermented to produce palm wine or toddy, an alcoholic beverage common in parts of Africa, India, and the Philippines. The sap may be drunk fresh, but fermentation is rapid, reaching up to 4% alcohol content within an hour, and turning vinegary in a day.
 * Palmyra and date palm sap is harvested in Bengal, India, to process into gur and jaggery.
 * Coconut is the partially edible seed of the fruit of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera).
 * Coir is a coarse, water-resistant fiber extracted from the outer shell of coconuts, used in doormats, brushes, mattresses, and ropes.
 * Some indigenous groups living in palm-rich areas use palms to make many of their necessary items and food. Sago, for example, a starch made from the pith of the trunk of the sago palm Metroxylon sagu, is a major staple food for lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas.
 * Palm wine is made from Jubaea also called Chilean wine palm, or coquito palm.
 * Recently, the fruit of the açaí palm Euterpe has been used for its reputed health benefits.
 * Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is being investigated as a drug for treating enlarged prostates.
 * Palm leaves are also valuable to some peoples as a material for thatching, basketry, clothing, and in religious ceremonies (see "Symbolism" below).
 * Ornamental uses: Today, palms are valuable as ornamental plants and are often grown along streets in tropical and subtropical cities. Chamaedorea elegans is a popular houseplant and is grown indoors for its low maintenance. Farther north, palms are a common feature in botanical gardens or as indoor plants. Few palms tolerate severe cold and the majority of the species are tropical or subtropical. The three most cold-tolerant species are Trachycarpus fortunei, native to eastern Asia, and Rhapidophyllum hystrix and Sabal minor, both native to the southeastern United States.
 * The southeastern U.S. state of South Carolina is nicknamed the Palmetto State after the sabal palmetto (cabbage palmetto), logs from which were used to build the fort at Fort Moultrie. During the American Revolutionary War, they were invaluable to those defending the fort, because their spongy wood absorbed or deflected the British cannonballs.
 * Singaporean politician Tan Cheng Bock uses a palm tree-like symbol similar to a Ravenala to represent him in the 2011 Singaporean presidential election. The symbol of a party he founded, Progress Singapore Party, was also based on a palm tree.
 * On Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive a cross on their forehead made of palm ashes as a reminder of the Catholic belief that everyone and everything eventually returns to where it came from, commonly expressed by the saying "ashes to ashes and dust to dust.”

Endangered species

Like many other plants, palms have been threatened by human intervention and exploitation. The greatest risk to palms is destruction of habitat, especially in the tropical forests, due to urbanization, wood-chipping, mining, and conversion to farmland. Palms rarely reproduce after such great changes in the habitat, and those with small habitat ranges are most vulnerable to them. The harvesting of heart of palm, a delicacy in salads, also poses a threat because it is derived from the palm's apical meristem, a vital part of the palm that cannot be regrown (except in domesticated varieties, e.g. of peach palm). The use of rattan palms in furniture has caused a major population decrease in these species that has negatively affected local and international markets, as well as biodiversity in the area. The sale of seeds to nurseries and collectors is another threat, as the seeds of popular palms are sometimes harvested directly from the wild. In 2006, at least 100 palm species were considered endangered, and nine species have been reported as recently extinct.

However, several factors make palm conservation more difficult. Palms live in almost every type of warm habitat and have tremendous morphological diversity. Most palm seeds lose viability quickly, and they cannot be preserved in low temperatures because the cold kills the embryo. Using botanical gardens for conservation also presents problems, since they can rarely house more than a few plants of any species or truly imitate the natural setting. There is also the risk that cross-pollination can lead to hybrid species.

The Palm Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) began in 1984, and has performed a series of three studies to find basic information on the status of palms in the wild, use of wild palms, and palms under cultivation. Two projects on palm conservation and use supported by the World Wildlife Fund took place from 1985 to 1990 and 1986–1991, in the American tropics and southeast Asia, respectively. Both studies produced copious new data and publications on palms. Preparation of a global action plan for palm conservation began in 1991, supported by the IUCN, and was published in 1996.

The rarest palm known is Hyophorbe amaricaulis. The only living individual remains at the Botanic Gardens of Curepipe in Mauritius.

Arthropod pests
Some pests are specialists to particular taxa. Pests that attack a variety of species of palms include:

 * Raoiella indica, the red palm mite
 * Caryobruchus gleditsiae, the palm seed beetle or palm seed weevil
 * Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, the red palm weevil, recently introduced to Europe

Symbolism

The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in classical antiquity. The Romans rewarded champions of the games and celebrated military successes with palm branches. Early Christians used the palm branch to symbolize the victory of the faithful over enemies of the soul, as in the Palm Sunday festival celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. In Judaism, the palm represents peace and plenty, and is one of the Four Species of Sukkot; the palm may also symbolize the Tree of Life in Kabbalah.

The canopies of the Rathayatra carts which carry the deities of Krishna and his family members in the cart festival of Jagganath Puri in India are marked with the emblem of a palm tree. Specifically it is the symbol of Krishna's brother, Baladeva.

In 1840, the American geologist Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864) published the first tree-like paleontology chart in his Elementary Geology, with two separate trees of life for the plants and the animals. These are crowned (graphically) with the Palms and with Man.

Today, the palm, especially the coconut palm, remains a symbol of the tropical island paradise. Palms appear on the flags and seals of several places where they are native, including those of Haiti, Guam, Saudi Arabia, Florida, and South Carolina.

Other plants
Some species commonly called palms, though they are not true palms, include:

 * Ailanthus altissima (Ghetto palm), a tree in the flowering plant family Simaroubaceae
 * Alocasia odora x gageana 'Calidora' (Persian palm), a flowering plant in the family Araceae
 * Aloe thraskii (Palm aloe), a flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae
 * Amorphophallus konjac (Snake palm), a flowering plant in the family Araceae
 * Beaucarnea recurvata (Ponytail palm), a flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae
 * Begonia luxurians (Palm leaf begonia), a flowering plant in the family Begoniaceae
 * Biophytum umbraculum (South Pacific palm), a flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae
 * Blechnum appendiculatum (Palm fern), a fern in the family Aspleniaceae
 * Brassica oleracea 'Lacinato kale' (Black Tuscan palm), a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae
 * Brighamia insignis (Vulcan palm), a flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae
 * Carludovica palmata (Panama hat palm) and perhaps other members in the family Cyclanthaceae.
 * Cordyline australis (Cabbage palm, Torbay palm, ti palm) or palm lily (family Asparagaceae) and other representatives in the genus Cordyline.
 * Cyathea cunninghamii (Palm fern) and other tree ferns (families Cyatheaceae and Dicksoniaceae) that may be confused with palms.
 * Cycas revoluta (Sago palm) and the rest of the order Cycadales.
 * Cyperus alternifolius (Umbrella palm), a sedge in the family Cyperaceae
 * Dasylirion longissimum (Grass palm), a flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae and other plants in the genus Dasylirion
 * Dioon spinulosum (Gum palm), a cycad in the family Zamiaceae
 * Dracaena marginata (Dragon palm) a flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae
 * Eisenia arborea (Southern sea palm), a species of brown alga in the family Lessoniaceae
 * Fatsia japonica (Figleaf palm), a flowering plant in the family Araliaceae
 * Hypnodendron comosum (Palm tree moss or palm moss), a moss in the family Hypnodendraceae
 * Musa species (Banana palm), a flowering plant in the family Musaceae
 * Pachypodium lamerei (Madagascar palm), a flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae
 * Pandanus spiralis (Screw palm), a flowering plant in the family Pandanaceae and perhaps other Pandanus spp.
 * Ravenala (Traveller's palm), a flowering plant in the family Strelitziaceae
 * Setaria palmifolia (Palm grass), a grass in the family Poaceae
 * Yucca brevifolia (Yucca palm or palm tree yucca)
 * Yucca filamentosa (Needle palm) and Yucca filifera (St. Peter's palm), flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae
 * Zamia furfuracea (Cardboard palm), a cycad in the family Zamiaceae
 * Zamioculcas zamiifolia (Emerald palm or aroid palm), a flowering plant in the family Araceae

General sources

 * (Latest Arecaceae or Palmae classification.)
 * Schultz-Schultzenstein, C. H. (1832). Natürliches System des Pflanzenreichs..., p. 317. Berlin, Germany.
 * Schultz-Schultzenstein, C. H. (1832). Natürliches System des Pflanzenreichs..., p. 317. Berlin, Germany.

title: Arecaceae


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Transporter (Star Trek)

A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters allow for teleportation by converting a person or object into an energy pattern (a process called "dematerialization"), then sending ("beaming") it to a target location or else returning it to the transporter, where it is reconverted into matter ("rematerialization").

Introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, the transporter had predecessors in teleportation devices in other science fiction stories, such as the 1939 serial Buck Rogers. The name and similar concepts have made their way to later science fiction scenarios, in literature (such as the Thousand Cultures series), games (SimEarth), etc.

The transporter was originally conceived as a device to convey characters from a starship to the surface of a planet without the need for expensive and time-consuming special effects to depict the starship or another craft physically landing. Malfunctioning transporters are also often used as a plot device to set up a variety of science fiction premises. The transporter has become a hallmark of the Star Trek franchise; the famous catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" (a misquote) refers to the use of the transporter on Star Trek: The Original Series, operated by the character Montgomery Scott, presumably at the request of Captain Kirk. Transporter technology has been used in many subsequent Star Trek series.

Design
On Star Trek: The Original Series, the transporter was portrayed as a platform on which characters stand before being engulfed by a beam of light and transported to their destination. The transporter's special effect was originally created by turning a slow-motion camera upside down and photographing some backlit shiny grains of aluminium powder that were dropped between the camera and a black background; later series would eventually use computer animation for the effect. On The Original Series, the transporter operator would activate the device by moving three sliders on a console. In the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the sliders were replaced with three touch-sensitive light-up bars, which according to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual were designed as a homage to the original sliders.

Narrative function
Creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable (for the 1960s) sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode "The Cage".

Transporter accidents
Many episodes of Star Trek series feature transporter accidents as a plot device: a malfunctioning transporter fails to rematerialize a person or object properly in some bizarre way that creates a science-fictional problem or ethical dilemma that characters must resolve. In various episodes, transporter accidents have been used to send characters to a parallel universe, or back in time; to split a character into two distinct individuals, or merge two characters into a single individual; and to regress adult characters to children, among a variety of other effects.

Fictional history
According to dialogue in the Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT) episode "Daedalus", the transporter was invented in the early 22nd century by Dr. Emory Erickson, who also became the first human to be successfully transported. Although the Enterprise (NX-01) has a transporter, the crew does not routinely use it for moving biological organisms. Instead, they generally prefer using shuttlepods or other means of transportation unless no other means of transportation are possible or feasible. The capability is rare; in "The Andorian Incident", the Andorians, technologically far superior to Starfleet in many regards, are explicitly stated not to possess the technology. In "Chosen Realm", a group of alien religious extremists who hijack the ship is unaware of it to the point that when Archer insists on sacrificing a crew member and claims that the device disintegrates matter rather than teleporting it, he is unhesitatingly taken at his word. The crew aboard the 23rd century USS Enterprise frequently use the transporter. By the 24th century, transporter travel was reliable and "the safest way to travel" according to dialogue in the Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) episode "Realm of Fear".

According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Homefront", Starfleet Academy cadets receive transporter rations, and the Sisko family once used a transporter to move furniture into a new home.

Despite its frequent use, characters such as Leonard McCoy and Katherine Pulaski are reluctant to use the transporter, as the characters express in the Next Generation episodes "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Unnatural Selection", respectively. Reginald Barclay expresses his outright fear of transporting in "Realm of Fear".

Capabilities and limitations
The television series and films do not go into great detail about transporter technology. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual claims that the devices transport objects in real time, accurate to the quantum level. The episode TNG: "Realm of Fear" specifies the length of a transport under unusual circumstances would last "... four or five seconds; about twice the normal time" (making the length of a typical transport between 2 and 2.5 seconds). Heisenberg compensators remove uncertainty from the subatomic measurements, making transporter travel feasible. Further technology involved in transportation include a computer pattern buffer to enable a degree of leeway in the process. When asked "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" by Time magazine, Star Trek technical adviser Michael Okuda responded: "It works very well, thank you."

According to The Original Series (TOS) writers' guide, the effective range of a transporter is 40,000 kilometers. The TOS episode "Obsession" however, appears to indicate that the transporters' maximum range, during that time period in Star Trek history, is actually around 30,000 kilometers. Transporter operations have been disrupted or prevented by dense metals (TNG: "Contagion"), solar flares (TNG: "Symbiosis"), and other forms of radiation, including electromagnetic (TNG: "The Enemy"; TNG: "Power Play") and nucleonic (TNG: "Schisms"), and affected by ion storms (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"). Transporting, in progress, has also been stopped by telekinetic powers (TNG: "Skin of Evil") and by brute strength (TNG: "The Hunted"). The TNG episode "Bloodlines" features a dangerous and experimental "subspace transporter" capable of interstellar distances and the Dominion had the ability to transport over great distances (DS9: "Covenant"). The 40,000-kilometer limit is also referred to in ENT: "Daedalus". It was established in TOS episode "Arena" that the transporter cannot be used when the ship's deflector shields are up.

Starfleet transporters from the TNG era onward include a device that can detect and disable an active weapon (TNG: "The Most Toys"), and a bio-filter to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an individual in transport (TNG: "Shades of Gray", TOS: "The Naked Time"). The transporter can also serve a tactical purpose, such as beaming a photon grenade or photon torpedo to detonate at remote locations (TNG: "Legacy", VOY: "Dark Frontier"), or to outright destroy objects (TNG: "Captain's Holiday"). The TOS episode "A Taste of Armageddon" mentions Vendikar materializing fusion bombs over targets of enemy planet Eminiar VII in the course of theoretical computer warfare.

Klingon transporters, as seen in Star Trek III, have a harsh red light in contrast to Federation blue, and operate with complete silence (in the movie, no sound effects). Presumably this is to enhance the combat effectiveness of Klingon boarding parties. It is not made clear whether Klingon transporters are more risky for the boarders, but the warlike Klingons are likely not to be concerned about transport casualties in combat.

Whenever a person or object is transported, the machine creates a memory file of the pattern. This has been used at least once in every Star Trek series to revert people adversely affected by a transport to their original state.

Various episodes of Deep Space Nine (DS9) and Voyager (VOY) have introduced two anti-transporter devices: transport inhibitors and transporter scramblers. Inhibitors prevent a transporter beam from "locking on" to whatever the device is attached to. Scramblers distort the pattern that is in transit, literally scrambling the atoms upon rematerialization, resulting in the destruction of inanimate objects and killing living beings by rematerializing them as masses of random tissue; this was gruesomely demonstrated in the DS9 episode "The Darkness and the Light".

Transporter operations can also be curtailed when either the point of origin and/or the intended target site is moving at warp velocities. In the TNG episode "The Schizoid Man", a "long-range" or "near-warp" transport was required as a transporter beam cannot penetrate a warp field. (In the 2009 Star Trek film Kirk and Scotty beam aboard while the Enterprise is traveling at warp, however, the movie takes place in an alternate continuity, thus not affecting the Prime Continuity used in all previous media and the Star Trek Online computer game.) To deposit an away team on the planet Gravesworld while at the same time responding to a distress signal, the Enterprise would only drop out of warp drive just long enough to energize the transporter beam. Geordi La Forge personally performed the delicate operation, which involved compensating for the ship's relativistic motion. After materializing, Deanna Troi commented that for a moment she thought she was trapped in a nearby wall, to which Worf replied, "For a moment, you were". In later stories (TNG: "The Emissary" and TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds"), it was confirmed that the transporter would work at warp only if the sending and receiving sites were moving at equal velocities.

In his book The Physics of Star Trek, after explaining the difference between transporting information and transporting the actual atoms, Krauss notes that "The Star Trek writers seem never to have got it exactly clear what they want the transporter to do. Does the transporter send the atoms and the bits, or just the bits?" He notes that according to the canon definition of the transporter the former seems to be the case, but that that definition is inconsistent with a number of applications, particularly incidents, involving the transporter, which appear to involve only a transport of information, for example the way in which it splits Kirk into two versions in the episode "The Enemy Within" or the way in which Riker is similarly split in the episode "Second Chances". Krauss elaborates that: "If the transporter carries both the matter stream and the information signal, this splitting phenomenon is impossible. The number of atoms you end up with has to be the same as the number you began with. There is no possible way to replicate people in this manner. On the other hand, if only the information were beamed up, one could imagine combining it with atoms that might be stored aboard a starship and making as many copies as wanted of an individual."

Reliability
Aside from external influences causing disruptions in the normal operations of transporters, the technology itself has been known to fail on occasion, causing serious injury or usually death to those being transported. This was demonstrated in Star Trek's 1979 film debut, Star Trek: The Motion Picture when a malfunction in the transporter sensor circuits resulted in insufficient signal being present at the Enterprise end to successfully rematerialize the two subjects, and Starfleet was unable to pull them back to where they had dematerialized from. The transporter system attempted to rematerialize what little signal was available, and despite the efforts of Kirk and Scotty, the system failed and both subjects vanished from the transporter pad and back to Starfleet, where both subjects died from radiation and disfiguration. Kirk, visibly shaken by what he had witnessed asked, "Starfleet, do you have them?", to which the response was made "Enterprise, what we got back didn't live long, fortunately".

By the time of The Next Generation, transporter technology has advanced considerably, meaning that accidents are now remote, if not near impossible. In the episode "Realm of Fear", Geordi La Forge states that there have been no more than two or three transporter accidents in the preceding ten years. Reference is also made to the advancement of transporter technology in the same episode, where Chief O'Brien states that each individual transporter pad has four redundant scanners whereby in the event a scanner fails the other three will take over, and that he has never lost anyone having been a transporter operator for over 20 years.

In "Rascals", four adult Enterprise crew members were beamed off a shuttle and rematerialized as children still in their adult-sized clothing. The incoming "matter stream" had a commensurate drop in mass; the operator had initially thought the reduction in mass meant "we may have lost one".

In the Voyager episode "Tuvix", a transporter accident combines both the physical and behavioral aspects of Lt. Tuvok and Neelix into a single being wearing a melange of each other's clothing. Notably, Tuvix was of equal mass of both Tuvok and Neelix combined. When they were later separated, Neelix and Tuvok were both wearing Starfleet uniforms.

Technological and scientific restrictions
While several characters have asserted that transporters cannot transport through a ship's shields or planetary defense shields, there are instances of this "rule" being broken through a technobabble solution (TNG: "The Wounded", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") or disregarded by the show's writers (Voyager: "Caretaker"). The non-canon TNG Technical Manual describes how a starship may create "windows" in the shield geometry through which a transporter beam may propagate at the expense of creating weak spots in the vessel's defensive field.

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Vice Admiral James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Saavik carry on a conversation during rematerialization. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Dr. Gillian Taylor jumps into Kirk's transporter beam during dematerialization, and rematerializes without any apparent ill effects. This is probably due to the "annular confinement beam", a component of the transporter mentioned in the various television episodes which serves to keep patterns separate from one another. In the same film, Mr. Spock is beamed onto a cloaked ship while walking.

According to the TNG Technical Manual, the transporter cannot move antimatter, but in the Voyager episode "Dark Frontier" Voyager transported a live photon torpedo equipped with antimatter onto a Borg ship. Also in TOS episode "Obsession" Kirk and a fellow crewman beam down to the surface of a planet with an antimatter bomb. The TAS episode "One of Our Planets Is Missing" has the Enterprise beaming a chunk of antimatter into a stasis box.

In the original series, beaming to and from the transporter chamber was a necessity. This is explained in the TOS episode "Day of the Dove". Spock and Scotty had said that doing a site-to-site transport, as they are referred to on the show, on board the ship could be risky. They could beam into a deck or other inanimate object and get stuck there. However, there are apparently safeguards in place to prevent people from being beamed into hostile environments such as under water and into lava pits, although it is possible to override this safety feature; for example, in the TOS episode "And the Children Shall Lead", two security guards are beamed into open space. In the following series, however, the transporter room seems to become mostly obsolete, the actual equipment notwithstanding. Characters are shown activating the transporter from ordinary consoles and beaming from place to place without apparent trouble. The main operator can likewise send those in transport anywhere with ease (for example, in the Voyager episode "In the Flesh", a medical console is used to transport a body from the morgue to the surgical bay). A possible explanation for this is put forward in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, where such site-to-site transports would probably use twice as much energy as would be required for transport to or from the transporter room itself, since the subject would have to be beamed to the transporter, stored, then shunted to their destination. In addition, the six circles on the platform are generally used as targets for the subjects to stand on, but they do not appear to represent any limitation of the hardware to six or fewer people. People have been transported carrying others, in a coffin style transport, as well as animals, hay, and various inanimate objects.

Dialogue in Deep Space Nine indicates the existence of portable transporters, but these are never seen. The Next Generation episode "Timescape" features emergency transporter armbands, although these may have served only to activate a remote transporter. To confuse things more, Star Trek: Nemesis featured the prototype "emergency transport unit". Tom Paris uses a portable transporter in the Voyager episode "Non Sequitur". For special effects reasons, in TOS, people generally appear immobilized during transport, with the exception of Kirk in the episode "That Which Survives". However, by TNG, characters can move within the confines of the transporter beam while being transported, although this is rarely shown. Persons being transported are at least sometimes able to perceive the functioning of the transporter while they are in transit. In the TOS episode "The Doomsday Machine", the Enterprise transporter malfunctions while transporting Scotty from the disabled USS Constellation to the Enterprise due to a power drain, and Scotty's pattern is nearly lost in transit. As soon as he successfully materializes, Scotty asks the transporter operator with concern, "What's the matter with that thing?" and orders the transporter to be taken offline for emergency repair.

Some species do not use transporter technology for a variety of reasons. In the first appearance of Trill in the TNG episode "The Host", Trill were unable to be transported, once joined with a symbiont. It seems that was due to the symbiont being detected and removed by the transporter technology as an infestation in the host. Odan, the Trill host in this episode, is reluctant to say why he will not travel this way, and it only becomes apparent that he is carrying a symbiont when he is later injured. All the crew of the Enterprise react as if they have had no contact with this species before. It later becomes apparent that joined Trill have been working in the Federation for some time.

In season three of Star Trek: Discovery, set in the 32nd century, personal transporters are used.

"Beam me up, Scotty"
The famous catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" refers to the use of the transporter device to recall a crewmember to the ship; the device was often operated by chief engineer Montgomery Scott during Star Trek: The Original Series. However, it is a slight misquote that was never uttered verbatim on the show.

The closest actual phrase, "Scotty, beam me up", was spoken by Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). On the special edition DVD of Star Trek IV, the text commentary provided by Michael and Denise Okuda (co-authors of The Star Trek Encyclopedia (1994) and The Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future) indicates that this was the closest anyone came to using that catchphrase in an official Star Trek production.

Real-world feasibility
In August 2008, physicist Michio Kaku predicted in Discovery Channel Magazine that a teleportation device similar to those in Star Trek would be invented within 100 years. Physics students at University of Leicester calculated that to "beam up" just the genetic information of a single human cell (not the positions of the atoms, just the gene sequences) together with a "brain state" would take 4,850 trillion years assuming a 30 gigahertz microwave bandwidth. A study by Eric Davis for the US Air Force Research Laboratory of speculative teleportation technologies showed that to dematerialize a human body by heating it up to a million times the temperature of the core of the sun so that the quarks lose their binding energy and become massless and can be beamed at the speed of light in the closest physics equivalent to the Star Trek teleportation scenario would require the equivalent of 330 megatons of energy. To meet the information storage and transmission requirements would require current computing capabilities to continue to improve by a factor of 10 to 100 times per decade for 200 to 300 years.

title: Transporter (Star Trek)


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Talk:Coordinate covalent bond

Merge
Perhaps this would be better incorporated into Covalent bond? I'm not a chemist, so perhaps there's enough information available that this could become an encyclopedia article in its own right, but thought I'd point it out, so someone more knowledgeable than me can make the decision. Rgamble

 * Oppose: (This proposal dates from 2002 but someone just got around to adding the to it:) Coordinate bonding is a special case of coordinate bonding, but there is a large amount of material that is specific to coordinate bonding of metals and metal-centered coordinate compounds and is quite unrelated to the "covalent bond" nature. That information is present on the Complex (chemistry) page, not the Covalent bond page. Merging into the latter substantially de-emphasizes the "complex" sense vs the "just another type of covalent bond", and I think that the former is a major sense of the term. DMacks 03:54, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I dont think so! coordinated bond is not a common bond and merging this page with covelant bond can be very confusing to the reader

I think so!! Coordinated bond is also called coordinate COVALENT bond therefore should be merged and most coordinated bonds usually involves a covalent bond somewhere

I dont think so!!! When studying these topics at A-Level, it is shown that these instances of bonding are in different categories, and are taught seperately. In addition to this, there is the fact that the only reason contains the phrase 'covalent' is because the atoms share electrons - yet the fact remains that the circumstances and effects of this bond is quite different. Overall, i think it would be misleading to many should it be merged as it could frequently be overlooked and misinterpreted my those reading the article, as well as much harder to find specifically when searching for.

Oppose These are distincive, different things. Keep them separate. --Dirk Beetstra T C 15:40, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Oppose While dative covalent bonding is just a special form of covalent bonding when it boils down to it, there's enough detail to warrant a new article (just as sigma, pi, and delta bonds get their own article instead of merging them with covalent bonding). Suggest putting a mini-summary with a "main article" link in the covalent article, and caveats about how when it boils down to a wavefunction level of understanding, they really are the same (QM doesn't care where the electrons "came from", whatever that means.).

Oppose These are not the same and deserve to be separate. To reitorate what a previous user commented "most coordinated bonds usually involves a covalent bond somewhere." That is just poor logic. Most is not all, and just because something "involves" something else does not mean they are the same. It is sloppy chemistry if we fail to make the distinction. "

Error?
In the article it is said that ammonium posesses 4 dative bonds. Isn't that wrong?Bastard Soap 18:16, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

It should be just one. Can someone verify? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.126.114 (talk) 03:22, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Examples
Could someone add in an example? Louis Labrèche

Sulphuric Acid
Does sulphuric acid contain any coordinate covalent bonds?

Good question. Yes and no. Some people call the S=O bonds "+S-O-" bonds. If you're really nuts about insisting that sulfur has an octet, then no. If you aren't, then it does. The "true" structure lies somewhere between, depending on how much of a stickler you are about resonance structures and contributions. Remember, elements with access to d-shells can have more than 8 electrons flying around. --Takometer 01:45, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * BTW, most texts indicate that d-orbitals have zero to do with hypervalency. Although it is a comforting thought that has calmed the masses for years.--Smokefoot 02:11, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Title
The first line of the article says the more common name is coordinate covalent bond. Personally while studying chemistry, I never heard the term dipolar bond to refer to this. So why is the title not the more common name? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.162.142.171 (talk) 15:56, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

 * I agree that coordinate covalent bond is the more usual term and should be the article title. A Google search shows 49 000 hits for coordinate covalent bond (with quotes to require the entire phrase) and only 3 000 for dipolar bond (also with quotes). Dirac66 (talk) 21:15, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

I also agree that the title should be changed. In fact according to the content of the article, the title should be Coordination, as what is emphasized is more the mechanism of formation of the bond than the property of the bond itself (cf. the corresponding IUPAC entry: coordination). Also, the term 'dative bond' should be indicated as obsolete, and the term 'dipolar bond' is more a property of a covalent bond, that incidentally can also be seen as a coordination bond between neutral entities resulting in a charge separation (dipolar bond). In fact there should be two distinct articles: one on Coordination (a mechanism of covalent bond formation) and an other on Dipolar bond (a special property of some covalent bonds). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.248.98.76 (talk) 09:54, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Coordinate covalent bond