Kurdish ethnomedicine in the context of historic migration.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Community displacement and cultural integration influence the use of plants for medicine. This study enhances our understanding of how communities adapt their medical practices in response to environmental changes.

Aim Of The Study: We investigate how Kurds in SE Iran (Balochi Kurds), displaced between the 16th and 18th centuries from their homeland in NW Iran, retained and adapted their medicinal knowledge.

Quality variation of maidong (Ophiopogon japonicus and Liriope spicata) - A HPTLC-based approach.

The tuberous roots of Ophiopogon japonicus and Liriope spicata are used for the same therapeutic purpose in traditional Chinese medicine and are collectively referred to as maidong medicine. Interestingly, it was observed that the price of tuberous roots varies depending on their location on the plant, and fibrous roots are usually discarded post-harvest. Mislabeling might be of concern due to similarities in morphological features between the two species.

Trends of Medicinal Plant Use over the Last 2000 Years in Central Europe.

Medicinal plant knowledge in Central Europe can be traced back from the present to antiquity, through written sources. Approximately 100 medicinal plant taxa have a history of continuous use. In this paper, we focus on use patterns over time and the link between historical and traditional uses with the current scientific evidence.

Liriopogons (Genera and , Asparagaceae): A Critical Review of the Phytochemical and Pharmacological Research.

The closely related genera and (Asparagaceae), collectively known in English as liriopogons, have similar therapeutic uses in treating cough, rheumatoid arthritis, and cleaning heat. The main aim of this review is to understand the current phytochemical and pharmacological knowledge including an assessment of the quality of the scientific evidence. A literature search was conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines, by retrieving available information up to 2020 from five online resources.

Treating Chronic Wounds Using Photoactive Metabolites: Data Mining the Chinese Pharmacopoeia for Potential Lead Species.

Efficient wound treatment that addresses associated infections and inflammation remains one of the big unmet needs, especially in low- and middle-income countries. One strategy for securing better healthcare can be using medicinal plants if sufficient evidence on their safety and therapeutic benefits can be ascertained. A unique novel opportunity could be photo-enhanced wound treatment with a combination of light-sensitive plant preparations and local exposure to daylight.

Traditional medicinal knowledge and practices among the tribal communities of Thakht-e-Sulaiman Hills, Pakistan.

Background: Little is known about the medical material and practices of tribes in the western border areas of Pakistan. The local population has inhabited this remote and isolated area for centuries, and gained medicinal knowledge with personal experiences and knowledge learned from forefathers. Due to the geographical isolation of the communities in the Sulaiman hills of Pakistan and their unique culture, the area is of importance for exploration and assessment.

Local plant knowledge and its variation among farmer's families in the Napf region, Switzerland.

Background: Local plant knowledge typically is unevenly distributed within a community. This knowledge variation is important in understanding people's relationship with their environment. Here we ask about knowledge variation among farmers' families in the Napf region of Switzerland.

Medicinal plants from the Himalayan region for potential novel antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory skin treatments.

Background And Objectives: Adequate treatment of wounds remains one of the major medical needs globally, most notably in the regions with poor or limited access to health care. In many local and traditional systems of medicine, plants are often widely used for treating infected wounds.

Aim And Objectives: The overarching aim of this project was selection of potential species for use in a future treatment by combining with plant resources with aspects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT).

Quality control of goji (fruits of Lycium barbarum L. and L. chinense Mill.): A value chain analysis perspective.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Goji (fruits of Lycium barbarum L. and L. chinense Mill.

Quality Variation of Goji (Fruits of spp.) in China: A Comparative Morphological and Metabolomic Analysis.

Goji (fruits of L. and Mill.) has been used in China as food and medicine for millennia, and globally has been consumed increasingly as a healthy food.

The genus Lycium as food and medicine: A botanical, ethnobotanical and historical review.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Lycium is widely distributed in the arid to semi-arid environments of North and South America, Africa, and Eurasia. In recent years, Lycium barbarum and L. chinense have been advertised as "superfood" with healthy properties.

Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels: Influence of Value Chain on Quality Criteria and Marker Compounds Ferulic Acid and Z-Ligustilide.

(Apiaceae; radix) is among the most often used Chinese medicinal plants. However, hardly anything is known about its value chain and its influence on the main marker compounds of the drug. The aim of this study is to investigate the value chain of in Gansu and Yunnan, and the analysis of the marker compounds ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide concentration in relation to quality criteria such as the production area and size of the roots.

Recommended standards for conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptual requirements for an ethnopharmacological field study? How can the results of ethnopharmacological field studies be reported so that researchers with different backgrounds can draw on the results and develop new research questions and projects? And how should these field data be presented to get accepted in a scientific journal such as the Journal of Ethnopharmacology? The objective of this commentary is to create a reference that covers the basic standards necessary during planning, conducting and reporting of field research.

Materials And Methods: We focus on conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies on medicinal plants or materia medica and associated knowledge of a specific people or region. The article highlights the most frequent problems and pitfalls, and draws on published literature, fieldwork experience, and extensive insights from peer-review of field studies.

Best practice in research: Consensus Statement on Ethnopharmacological Field Studies - ConSEFS.

Background: Ethnopharmacological research aims at gathering information on local and traditional uses of plants and other natural substances. However, the approaches used and the methods employed vary, and while such a variability is desirable in terms of scientific diversity, research must adhere to well defined quality standards and reproducible methods OBJECTIVES: With ConSEFS (the Consensus Statement on Ethnopharmacological Field Studies) we want to define best-practice in developing, conducting and reporting field studies focusing on local and traditional uses of medicinal and food plants, including studies using a historical approach.

Methods: After first developing an initial draft the core group invited community-wide feedback from researchers both through a web-based consultation and a series of workshops at conferences during 2017.

Reverse ethnopharmacology and drug discovery.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ethnopharmacological investigations of traditional medicines have made significant contributions to plant-derived drugs, as well as the advancement of pharmacology. Drug discovery from medicinal flora is more complex than generally acknowledged because plants are applied for different therapeutic indications within and across cultures. Therefore we propose the concept of "reverse ethnopharmacology" and compare biomedical uses of plant taxa with their ethnomedicinal and popular uses and test the effect of these on the probability of finding biomedical and specifically anticancer drugs.

Herbalists of Today's Switzerland and Their Plant Knowledge. A Preliminary Analysis from an Ethnobotanical Perspective.

Background: Herbal medicine is a popular part of primary health care in Switzerland. Following an ethnobotanical approach, in this study we seek to identify Swiss herbalists with broad, empirical medicinal plant knowledge and use. We aim to consider different areas of the medicinal landscape including biomedicine, complementary and alternative medicine, and self-medication.

Classifying diseases and remedies in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ethnopharmacology focuses on the understanding of local and indigenous use of medicines and therefore an emic approach is inevitable. Often, however, standard biomedical disease classifications are used to describe and analyse local diseases and remedies. Standard classifications might be a valid tool for cross-cultural comparisons and bioprospecting purposes but are not suitable to understand the local perception of disease and use of remedies.

Ethnoveterinary medicinal plant knowledge and practice among the tribal communities of Thakht-e-Sulaiman hills, west Pakistan.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Pastoralist tribal communities inhabit Thakht-e-Sulaiman hills since centuries. In this remote and geographically isolated area, local people mainly rely on their natural environment for ethnoveterinary care. The area is therefore of special interest for the documentation and analysis of ethnoveterinary plant use and efficacy.

Folkbotanical classification: morphological, ecological and utilitarian characterization of plants in the Napf region, Switzerland.

Background: Discussions surrounding ethnobiological classification have been broad and diverse. One of the recurring questions is whether classification is mainly based on the "inherent structure of biological reality" or on cultural, especially utilitarian needs. So far, studies about ethnobotanical classification have mainly been done in indigenous societies.

The use of the local flora in Switzerland: a comparison of past and recent medicinal plant knowledge.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: This analysis of documented medicinal plants of the Swiss Flora over the last two millennia provides a rich source of knowledge on earlier uses of plants and use patterns of the local flora. We ask which local plant species were used during different time periods of the last 2000 years and how the numbers of species and the use intensity of specific plant families, growth forms and habitats changed over time.

Materials And Methods: Totally 25 herbals from the antiquity, monastic medicine, Renaissance, early modern era and the contemporary time as well as five recent ethnobotanical studies were considered.

Medicinal plant use in two Andean communities located at different altitudes in the Bolívar Province, Peru.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The study documents current medicinal plant knowledge and use in two Andean communities and depicts the dynamic nature of ethnobotanical relationships by illustrating cultural integration of biomedicine and local plant medicine into a complementary system.

Aim Of The Study: In order to elucidate the importance of medicinal plants, the following research questions were addressed: Which position do medicinal plants have in the local health care system? Which plants are used medicinally, and do they differ between the communities? Is their use supported pharmacologically?

Materials And Methods: Fieldwork was done for seven months in 2010. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 120 informants in Uchumarca and Pusac/San Vicente de Paúl, and the medicinal plant species mentioned by the informants were vouchered.

An imprecise probability approach for the detection of over and underused taxonomic groups with the Campania (Italy) and the Sierra Popoluca (Mexico) medicinal flora.

Aim Of The Study: We use the IDM model to test for over- and underuse of plant taxa as source for medicine. In contrast to the Bayes approach, which only considers the uncertainty around the data of medicinal plant surveys, the IDM model also takes the uncertainty around the inventory of the flora into account, which is used for the comparison between medicinal and local floras.

Materials And Methods: Statistical analysis of the medicinal flora of Campania (Italy) and of the medicinal flora used by the Sierra Popoluca (Mexico) was performed with the IDM model and the Bayes approach.

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: a case study among the Bai in Shaxi.

Background: Ritual and religious uses of plant-derived smoke are widespread throughout the world. Our research focuses on Southwest China, where the use of incense is very common. This study aims to document and analyze contemporary ritual plant uses by the Bai people of Shaxi Township (Jianchuan County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province), including their related ethnobotanical knowledge, practices, and beliefs.

Chemical analysis of incense smokes used in Shaxi, Southwest China: a novel methodological approach in ethnobotany.

Aim Of The Study: Characterization and comparative analysis of the main VOCs (volatile organic compounds) present in the smoke of 11 experimentally combusted plant species used as incense in Shaxi, Southwest China. Substances which may be responsible for the pleasant smell of the smokes as well as substances with a potential pharmacological activity are discussed.

Materials And Methods: We adopt the dynamic headspace sorption method for the collection of smoke samples as a novel methodological approach in ethnobotany.

Quantitative methods in ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology: considering the overall flora--hypothesis testing for over- and underused plant families with the Bayesian approach.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: We introduce and explain the advantages of the Bayesian approach and exemplify the method with an analysis of the medicinal flora of Campania, Italy. The Bayesian approach is a new method, which allows to compare medicinal floras with the overall flora of a given area and to investigate over- and underused plant families. In contrast to previously used methods (regression analysis and binomial method) it considers the inherent uncertainty around the analyzed data.