Status of medicinal and aromatic plants in - Inia

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WORKING GROUP ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS: FIRST MEETING
Today we face various types of immediate threats to the Israeli genepool:
- rapid increase in the human population and with it increased urbanization;
- road construction, industrial parks and military installations;
- pollution resulting from industry, traffic, sewage, agricultural fertilizers, etc.;
- farming activities such as general overgrazing, goat grazing, stubble burning, etc.;
- forestry activities and fire;
- collecting of plants from nature;
- tourism;
- gene contamination through introduction of new cultivars.
The IGB is responsible for the collection, preservation, documentation and practical
evaluation of genetic resources of crop plants and their relatives across Israel; it holds in its
central storage facilities some 16 000 accessions of indigenous species, landraces, agricultural
and horticultural crops and their germplasm.
The Information and Documentation Center (IDC) at the IGB is responsible for the
documentation of genetic resource holdings in all genebank collections throughout Israel,
and for maintenance of the database and the information network.
Other activities of the IGB include: national and international exchange of plant material;
promotion of national and international collaboration and coordination; organization of and
participation in workshops, conferences and training activities; and support and guidance of
research on genetic resources.
Today, the IGB also focuses on the collection and preservation of the genetic diversity of
plants that are direct ancestors, wild relatives or landraces of domesticated plants which are
endemic to our region. The establishment of a central modern seed bank as a long-term
storage facility is in process (investment of more than US$ 2.5 million), and it will start to
function in late 2004.
Until the IGB's new facility is finished, each specialist will be responsible for his own
collection. Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) in Israel are handled by a group of
specialists located at the Newe-Ya'ar Research Center, where seeds and living plants are
preserved (ex situ) and include all aromatic and some medicinal plants (Fig. 1).
MAPs in Israel
All the threats that endanger any wild plants in Israel also endanger MAPs, especially the
threat of collecting for dietary purposes. In Arabic culture, plants like za'atar (Origanum
syricum) or three-leaved sage (Salvia fruticosa) are part of the diet. Therefore in 1956 a law
was adopted (The Plant Protection Law) which made the gathering of certain protected plants
illegal. Besides this law, some areas were designated as "National Park" and/or "Reserve
Area" in which no grazing or cutting is permitted.
Special permission allows collecting of plants and seeds from all the wild MAP
populations in Israel. Throughout the last 20 years or so, ex situ collections of some MAP
species have been established. Table 1 lists part of these collections (more than 15 different
species including 584 accessions), all growing at the Newe-Ya'ar Research Center, in the
north of Israel. Besides these living plants we hold a large collection of MAP seeds, collected
from wild populations in Israel and abroad, and seeds that are collected regularly from the
ex situ plants at Newe-Ya'ar.