Wild Mediterranean Plants Research Articles

From Biodiversity to Musketry: Detection of Plant Diversity in Pre-Industrial Peloponnese during the Flora Graeca Expedition.

As the interest in natural, sustainable ecosystems arises in many fields, wild plant diversity is reconsidered. The present study is based on extant literature evidence from the journey of John Sibthorp (Professor of Botany, Oxford University) to Peloponnese (Greece) in pre-industrial time. In the year 1795, Peloponnese was a botanically unknown region, very dangerous for travellers and under civil unrest, in conjuncture with a pre-rebellion period. Our study reveals approximately 200 wild plant taxa that were collected from Peloponnese localities in 1795, transported to Oxford University (UK), and quoted in the magnificent edition Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana of the 19th century. Moreover, these plants currently constitute a living collection in Peloponnese, confirmed according to updated data on the vascular Flora of Greece. The presented lists constitute a source of information for plant biologists, linking the past to the present, shedding light on the study of adaptive traits of wild Mediterranean plants and revealing the temporal dimension of natural history. Nowadays, increasing and thorough understanding of the considered plants' functionality to abiotic and biotic environmental stimuli provides a new framework of sustainability and management options.

Traditional Salads and Soups with Wild Plants as a Source of Antioxidants: A Comparative Chemical Analysis of Five Species Growing in Central Italy.

The interest and demand for nutraceuticals are rapidly increasing in many industrialized countries due to the emergence of health risks associated with the increased consumption of processed foods. Several wild Mediterranean plants used as traditional foods are an extraordinary source of nutraceutical substances with antioxidant properties. This study has two main aims: (1) to quantify the antioxidant properties of traditional wild food plants and (2) to determine if their use in soups (i.e., the cooking process) can alter their beneficial properties. We have evaluated the antioxidant capacity (ABTS, DPPH) and the Total Phenolic Content (Folin-Ciocalteu) of five herbaceous plants traditionally consumed in several areas of Central Italy: (A) Reichardia picroides (L.) Roth, (B) Hypochaeris radicata L., (C) Cichorium intybus L., (D) Tordylium apulum L., and (E) Helminthotheca echioides (L.) Holub. Our analyses show good levels of antioxidant capacity for all plants, with Reichardia picroides and Helminthotheca echioides having the highest levels. There is a high correlation between the antioxidant activity and the Total Phenolic Content especially in Reichardia picroides (R2=0.92) and Hypochaeris radicata (R2=0.93). Boiling the species caused a general decrease in the antioxidant activity and polyphenols. Our study confirms the health benefits of consuming wild plants, especially raw ones in salads. It also supports the use of ethnobotanical information to study and then promote the consumption of wild food plants.

Effect of cooking methods on antioxidant activity and nitrate content of selected wild Mediterranean plants

Wild edible plants (WEP), traditionally consumed in the Mediterranean diet, are considered a rich source of natural antioxidants but can also accumulate significant amount of nitrates. Most WEP are cooked before consumption, therefore, a study was conducted to evaluate the effects of boiling, steaming and microwave cooking processes on the total antioxidant activity (TAA) and nitrate content of eight common WEP. Boiling caused the highest losses of TAA, resulting in a reduction of the TAA on dry weight (DW) basis ranging from 5.5% in Beta vulgaris up to 100% in Urtica dioica. Steaming and microwaving produced the highest increase of TAA on DW basis in Helminthotheca echioides (249.7%) and Taraxacum officinale (60.7%). Boiling caused the highest reduction of nitrate content in all species excluding Asparagus acutifolius that maintained almost unvaried its already low nitrate content. These results suggest that cooking has not always negative effect on product quality, since in certain cases, it may even enhance the nutritional value of WEP by increasing their TAA and reducing the nitrate content.

Composition, richness and nonrandom assembly of culturable bacterial-microfungal communities in floral nectar of Mediterranean plants

The recent upsurge of interest in the role of floral nectar as a habitat for microorganisms has led to some detailed analyses of nectarivorous yeasts. In contrast, very little is known on the occurrence and diversity of nectar-dwelling bacteria, and bacterial-fungal interactions within nectar remain unexplored. In this work, we studied both the culturable bacteria and microfungi found in the floral nectar of wild Mediterranean plants. In general, bacteria and yeasts were found coexisting in nectar more often than would be expected by chance, and such positive association persisted after accounting for phylogenetic nonindependence of the plant species surveyed. Metschnikowia species were confirmed as the main fungal components of nectar communities, and Acinetobacter was identified as the main bacterial taxa. Finally, individual Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) were found to co-occur less frequently than predicted by random expectations. There existed, however, some pairwise associations between OTUs that seemed to account for the general pattern of positive bacteria-yeasts coexistence. We conclude that the culturable communities of nectar microorganisms associated with wild Mediterranean plants are nonrandom assemblages of bacterial and yeast species.

Wild Mediterranean Plants as Traditional Food: A Valuable Source of Antioxidants

Some wild Mediterranean plants used as traditional food are an extraordinary source of antioxidants. We tested some properties of 10 of these herbaceous plants, used in Liguria (Northwest Italy) to prepare a traditional dish known as "prebuggiun." A total of 9 of them were found to have a polyphenol content and antioxidant properties similar or better than those of red chicory and blueberry, which are, in the case of vegetables and fruits, among the richest of antioxidants. Practical Application: In this article, we reported a study on wild plants growing in the Mediterranean area. These herbs have been neglected and this study aimed to revalue these plants because they are an extraordinary source of antioxidants. The increasing demand for natural antioxidants (additives in the food industry too) justifies the search for new sources of natural antioxidants. The revaluation of these plants will be interesting for: (1) consumer health, rediscovering a vegetable source of high antioxidant power; (2) possibility of producing new commercial products, such as food supplements of high quality and low cost; (3) pharmacological applications.