Traditional Plant Species Research Articles

Influence of the Ratio of Water and Organic Solvents on the Antioxidative Activity and Content of Bioactive Components in Artemisia annua L. and Artemisia absinthium L. Extracts

Bitter and sweet wormwoods are traditional plant species in the Asteraceae (Compositae). Their use in traditional medicine has long been known. Numerous preparations of bitter and sweet wormwood (teas, tinctures) are used in the treatment of diseases of the digestive system. The content of bioactive components (polyphenols and flavonoids) and antioxidant activity of Artemisia absinthium L. (bitter wormwood) and Artemisia annua L. (sweet wormwood) were examined in this paper. Extract's series were prepared by mixing selected organic solvents (methanol, ethanol and acetone) and water in different volume ratios for both analyzed species. Antioxidant activity was tested using FRAP and DPPH methods. Extracts of sweet wormwood contain more bioactive components and have a higher antioxidant capacity compared to extracts of bitter wormwood. In terms of extraction efficiency, the mixture of acetone and water (20:30 v/v) proved to be the most efficient. Regarding pure organic solvents, the most effective for the bioactive components isolation is ethanol, while acetone showed the weakest extraction power.

Exploring the Biological Potential of Mountain Germander Polyphenolic Extract on Cellular Model Macromolecules, Human Cell Lines, and Microbiome Representatives

In the context of revitalizing the use of traditional plant species as remarkable sources of bioactive compounds, the determination of their biological effects is of utmost importance. Among Lamiaceae species, Teucrium montanum (Mountain Germander) represents understudied Mediterranean plant species; it is rich in polyphenols, which are well-studied biologically active compounds for human disease prevention and the reduction of oxidative stress, i.e., phenolic acids, phenylethanoid glycosides, and flavonoids. For that purpose, the aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant, cytotoxic, and genotoxic effects of Mountain Germander (MG) polyphenolic extract (0.025, 0.050, 0.150, and 0.500 mg extract mL−1) on the hepatocellular (HepG2), tongue (CAL 27), gastric (AGS), and colorectal (Caco-2) continuous human cancer cell lines, as well as its bacteriostatic potential on representative members of human microbiota. In addition, the antioxidant potential of the MG polyphenolic extract was determined using bovine serum album and DNA plasmid as cellular model macromolecules. In vitro analysis revealed a significant cytotoxic effect of all MG extract concentrations on AGS and Caco-2 cell lines after prolonged treatment (24 h). In addition, treatment with 0.500 mg extract mL−1 showed the most pronounced antioxidant effect under prolonged treatment (24 h) on CAL 27 and HepG2 cell lines. All of the applied MG extract concentrations seem to have a genoprotective effect on DNA plasmid. Furthermore, a significant inhibitory effect on E. coli was detected upon the treatment with 0.150 mg extract mL−1, reducing the cell viability by 56%.

Therapeutic Effects of Folklore Herbs in Arsha Roga - A Survey Study

In the month of September 2023, a field survey on the flora of the Randhawa Masanda village which is located in the Jalandhar district of Punjab state, was carried out. It was helpful to identify and gather information through field surveys and other non-direct methods, such as a thorough analysis of the literature on folklore species of medicinal plants found in Ayurvedic classical texts of different periods, by maintaining continuous direct communication with the health staff and inhabitants. Once the names of the folklore medicinal plants were recorded, extensive literature reviews finalized the botanical identification, part used, mode of preparation of herbal medication and their use in a particular disease i.e. arsha roga with which patients vising local health clinics. These traditional plant species boost the country's economy.

Plant blindness represents the loss of generational knowledge and cultural identity

AbstractPlant blindness, the inability of people to notice plants, is of current interest in the natural sciences community. It has been hypothesized that communities of varying cultures may have improved plant sight. Researchers used an online survey to assess citizens ability to identify plants. The survey also intended to address the concern of elders from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (TMBCI) who have seen reduced abundance of traditional plant species. The survey assessed knowledge of local wetland, grassland, and forest habitats; names of plants; and how citizens use plant features in identification. The survey gathered demographic data to determine trends across different demographic groups including age and ethnicity. A total of 216 participants took the survey, the majority classified themselves as female and Native American or Alaska Native. Our findings indicated that participants were able to identify forest and wetland plants the best, but struggled with grassland plants. Older individuals were more able to identify plants when compared to younger individuals. Ecologically, increasing plant knowledge is vital to rebuilding and maintaining the diversity of local habitats, but culturally the impacts are just as important. The practice of using traditional plants in medicine and ceremony is an integral part of the TMBCI culture. As both the knowledge and the plants disappear in younger generations, so does their unique cultural identity.

Therapeutic Uses and Pharmacological Properties of Shallot (Allium ascalonicum): A Systematic Review.

BackgroundShallot (Allium ascalonicum L.) is a traditional plant species used throughout the world both for culinary purposes and as a folk remedy. To date (i.e., April 2022), there is no report on the main pharmacological activities exerted by shallot preparations and/or extracts.Scope and ApproachThe aim of this study was to comprehensively review the pharmacological activities exerted by shallot, with rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria based on the scientific rigor of studies. Prisma guidelines were followed to perform the literature search.Key Findings and ConclusionsThe literature search yielded 2,410 articles of which 116 passed the required rigorous criteria for inclusion in this review. The extracts exert a potent antioxidant activity both in vitro and in vivo, as well as a strong inhibitory capacity on various pathogens with relevant implications for public health. Moreover, shallot can be used as adjuvant therapy in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer prevention, and other non-communicable diseases associated with inflammatory and oxidative pathways. Future studies investigating the chemical composition of this species, as well as the molecular mechanisms involved in the empirically observed pharmacological actions are required.

The multiple-response modeling of heat-assisted, microwave-assisted and subcritical water extraction on selected phenolics from traditional plant species Teucrium montanum

The growing popularity of integration of functional compounds into food and pharmaceutical products has greatly influenced the intense investigation of aromatic plants as its notable sources. One of the insufficiently explored plant species—Mountain Germander (Teucrium montanum)—may represent a prominent source of biologically active components—polyphenols. Hence, to maximally enhance their recovery, conventional (HAE) and non-thermal extraction methods—microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and subcritical water extraction (SWE) were employed by using multiple response surface methodology (RSM). Optimization of temperature, solid-to-solvent ratio, and extraction time was evaluated by measuring total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (DPPH and ABTS assays), with the further estimation of the extraction efficiency of two selected phenylethanoid glycosides present in final extracts—verbascoside and echinacoside determined by HPLC analysis. The optimum HAE, MAE, and SWE extraction conditions with the highest measured dependent variables were, as follows: 100 °C, 0.5 g/50 mL and 30 min, 90 °C, 0.5 g/50 mL and 9 min, 200 °C, 0.5 g/50 mL and 15 min, respectively. Regarding examined phenylethanoid glycosides, HAE extract showed to be its richest source (16.64 mg/g dw) while SWE was estimated as at least suitable extraction technique (5.42 mg/g dw). In conclusion, this study outlined the most appropriate extraction technique and conditions for the recovery of selected phenolic compounds using RSM and gave closely insight into the antioxidative potential of valuable ethnomedicinal plant from the Balkan peninsula—Teucrium montanum

Chemical and biological potential of Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. and Apium graveolens L.: A review (1963-2020)

Medicinal plants have a vital role in our life, providing us with a variety of secondary metabolites with varied chemical structures and biological activities. Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. and Apium graveolens L. are common traditional plant species that have long been used for the prevention and treatment of several health problems. Both A. visnaga and A. graveolens belong to the carrot family, Apiaceae or Umbelliferae and showed different groups of natural compounds, such as coumarins, furanochromones, flavonoids and essential oils. In view of that, the current review describes various classes of chemical constituents identified so far from these medicinal species, together with their valued pharmacological and therapeutic effects.

Plant Identification Using New Architecture Convolutional Neural Networks Combine with Replacing the Red of Color Channel Image by Vein Morphology Leaf

The determination of plant species from field observation requires substantial botanical expertise, which puts it beyond the reach of most nature enthusiasts. Traditional plant species identification is almost impossible for the general public and challenging even for professionals who deal with botanical problems daily such as conservationists, farmers, foresters, and landscape architects. Even for botanists themselves, species identification is often a difficult task. This paper proposes a model deep learning with a new architecture Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for leaves classifier based on leaf pre-processing extract vein shape data replaced for the red channel of colors. This replacement improves the accuracy of the model significantly. This model experimented on collector leaves data set Flavia leaf data set and the Swedish leaf data set. The classification results indicate that the proposed CNN model is effective for leaf recognition with the best accuracy greater than 98.22%.

Plant species identification from leaf patterns using histogram of oriented gradients feature space and convolution neural networks

ABSTRACTThe determination of plant species from field observation requires substantial botanical expertise, which puts it beyond the reach of most nature enthusiasts. Traditional plant species identification is almost impossible for the general public and challenging even for professionals that deal with botanical problems daily, such as, conservationists, farmers, foresters, and landscape architects. Even for botanists themselves, species identification is often a difficult task. In this research, we proposed using two methods for the problem of plant species identification from leaf patterns. Firstly, we use a traditional recognition shallow architecture with extracted features histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) vector, then those features used to classifying by SVM algorithm. Secondly, we apply a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for recognition purpose. We experimented on leaves data set in the Flavia leaf data set and the Swedish leaf data set. We want to compare a tradition method and a method consider as current state-of-the-art.

Knowledge and Use of Medicinal Traditional Plant Species Ailments in Haramaya, Ethiopia

The purpose of this research was to identify the medicinal plants and anal-yse local knowledge regarding the use of plants for the treatment and prevention of various human ailments in socio-cultural groups, namely in the peoples of Haramaya, East Harerge, Ethiopia by answering research questions: What were the requirements of the users in filling existing gap in knowledge regarding the traditional medicinal plants? What are the traditional medicinal plants species used as a primary healthcare? Which parts of traditional medicinal plants are used as a primary health care? How does the medicinal plant products are operated by healers? Data was selected from Haramaya District, HarargeZone, East Ethiopia from September 2016 to July 2017thedata were collected from 30 randomly selected traditional plant healer’s using semi-structured interviews and participants observation. The traditional plant species healers were involved in the study were male and female and also their ages range from 25 -95. Interviews were made with each traditional healer about the knowledge and use of medicinal plant species used to treat human diseases in the study area. 22 medicinal plant species were used as cure for 30 ailments. From these, 100 species were recorded for the treatment of human health problems, from the total medicinal Plants. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves (31%), seeds (27%), seeds and fruits (3.5%) fruits (3.5%), steam (10.35%), roots (6.7%), jelly of the steam (3.5%), flowers (3.5%), leave bud (3.5%), leaves and roots (3.5%) and terminal bud (3.5%). The most widely used method of preparation was crushing (26.80%) of the different plant parts followed by squeezing (22.68%) and burning (7.21%). The common route of administration recorded was oral (52.01%) followed by dermal (28.52%) and nasal (8.3%). The most commonly used application of medicinal plant was drinking (43.37%) followed by painting (10.84%) and put on and washing accounted for 10.84%. No significant correlation was observed between the age of traditional remedy and the number of species reported and the indigenous knowledge transfer was found to be similar. More than one medicinal plants species were used more frequently than the use of a single species for remedy preparation. Plant parts used for remedy preparations showed significant difference with medicinal plant species abundance in the study area.

Diversity of agrocoenoses in the Lublin region, Poland

The Lublin region, one of the main agricultural regions in Poland, has very favorable conditions for agricultural production but the development of the agricultural sector has been very slow there. This is due, among other factors, to the extensive farming used on large areas and the fragmentation of fields with numerous fragments of natural ecosystems. In Lublin Province, cereals comprise the highest proportion of the crop structure, especially wheat, but farmers also often cultivate maize, oilseed rape, sugar beet, and legumes for consumption. The biological diversity of agricultural areas is enhanced by growing traditional plant species and varieties. Crop species are accompanied by segetal weeds, sometimes very expansive, sometimes rare and endangered by extinction. In recent years, the following have been the dominant weed species in the region’s crop fields: <em>Galium aparine</em>, <em>Convolvulus arvensis</em>, <em>Papaver rhoeas</em>, <em>Viola arvensis</em>, and <em>Veronica persica</em>. However, there are several locations of occurrence of <em>Muscari comosum</em> (a strictly protected species) and the following unique species: <em>Adonis aestivalis</em>, <em>Anthemis tinctoria</em>, <em>Caucalis platycarpos</em>, <em>Galium tricornutum</em>, and <em>Thymelaea passerina</em>. In Lublin Province, there are many organic farms which contribute to the significant diversity of agricultural plant communities. In this review, we also indicate the biocoenotic role of weeds and their importance in the proper maintenance of agroecosystems and ecosystem services.

Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Malayali Tribes in Jawadhu HillsAn Analysis

The present investigation highlights the use of plants for various ailments by malayali tribe living in Jawadhu hills, Thiruvannamalai district, Tamilnadu, India, A total of 40 traditional plant species used by them as herbal medicines to treat several common diseases such as cold, cough, fever, skin diseases, rheumatic problems, diabetic problems and various ailments were documented. During present study it has been observed that the ethno botanical systems and herbal medicines as therapeutic agents are of a paramount importance of addressing the health problems of traditional communities.The indigenous knowledge available with these people plays an important role in quick and proper identification of natural resources. Methods: The extensive field survey was carried out in the Jawadhu hills. The 124 Malayali tribes were selected in this study for collecting the ethnobotanical data through the questionnaires, discussions, and personal interviews during the regular field trips. Results and discussion: The study reveals that about 40 medicinal plants belonging to 27 families have been documented with the scientific name, family name, vernacular name (Tamil name) and various plant parts used by the malayali local tribes of Jawadhu hills for the treatment of many diseases. Conclusion: We observed and analyzed that the documented ethno medicinal plants were used to cure various diseases such as cold, fever, jaundice, asthma, ulcer, diabetes, and cancer treatment by the local malayali tribes of Jawadhu hills.

Screening of African traditional vegetables for their alpha-amylase inhibitory effect.

Diabetes is a syndrome of disordered metabolism resulting in abnormally high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). The one possibility of lowering postprandial glucose levels is by the inhibition of α-amylase activity. In this study, aqueous extracts from leaves, fruits and flowers, stems and roots of twenty African traditional vegetable plants were tested for their inhibitory effect on α-amylase. The results showed that leaves of Centella asiatica (3 and 5 mg/ml) and Ceratotheca triloba (5 mg/ml), roots of Cleome monophylla (5 mg/ml), fruits and flowers ofAmaranthus hybridus (3 mg/ml), Justicia flava (3 mg/ml) and Chenopodium album(3 mg/ml), stem parts of J. flava (3 mg/ml), Portulaca oleracea (3 mg/ml) andCleome monophylla (3 mg/ml) showed significant (more than 70%) reduction in α-amylase activity. Though results from this study showed significant α-amylase inhibition at higher concentrations (3 and 5 mg/ml), traditionally used anti-diabetic medicinal plants are found to have α-amylase inhibition at very low concentrations, mostly less than 1 mg/ml. These traditional plant species regularly consumed as vegetables by rural people, will not only give dietary nutritional benefits, but also play vital role in inhibiting α-amylase activity, thereby reducing the blood glucose level and benefiting diabetic patients. Key words: African leafy vegetables, anti-diabetic, α-amylase, inhibitory effects.

Ethnobotanical survey of malaria prophylactic remedies in Odisha, India

Aim of the studyTo investigate the plants traditionally used for prevention of malaria in Cuttack, Gajapati and Koraput districts of Odisha state, eastern India. Materials and methodsAn ethnobotanical survey was carried out among 20 traditional healers who were sampled based on recommendations of local elders and local non-government organizations. Data were collected through semi-structured interview. ResultsThe study revealed the use of 16 traditional plant species belonging to 12 families for prevention of malaria. Andrographis paniculata, Azadirachta indica, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Ocimum sanctum, Piper nigrum, Zingiber officinale were the most commonly reported plants for their malaria prophylactic use by the healers of three districts of Odisha. Most of the remedies were used in decoction form. ConclusionsFindings of this study provide a lead to explore traditional plants for malaria preventive potential through further pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Ethnobotanical Study of Anti-diabetic medicinal plants used by the local people in Javadhu hills Tamilnadu, India

ObjectiveTo conduct an ethnobotanical survey and to collect information from local people of Javadhu hills about the use of traditional medicinal plants diabetes treatment. MethodsJavadhu hills were surveyed through interviewing randomly selected 312 local participants using semi-structured questionnaire and regular field visits. ResultsThe investigations revealed that about 40 traditional plant species and their local names with parts used for the treatment were recorded by the local people of Javadhu hills. ConclusionsThe study led to the abundant knowledge of wealth of traditional medicinal plants that are being used for the diabetes treatment by the local people of Javadhu hills.