Abstract Book - 3rd International Symposium on Medicinal Plants ...

2.18 Medicinal Plants as a Source of New Drugs and Natural Products: Use
of Traditional Knowledge and Resurrection of Ancient Seeds
Sarah Sallon
Member of the Royal Society of Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
<strong>Abstract</strong>: Medicinal plants are particularly prevalent in the Middle East with estimates that over
a third of local species possess significant medicinal activity. Historically many ancient sources
including the Bible, refer to plants for their ceremonial, ritual and medicinal uses while later works
including the writings of renowned physicians eg Maimonedes and Avicena, discuss the role of
medicinal plants, laying the basis for scholarly and folk medical traditions. Thousands of years of
trade and a history of frequent conquest, have also introduced many exotic species originally
native to Europe, Asia, Africa and India into the area. Since 1995 The Louis L. Borick Natural
Medicine Research Center (NMRC), has assessed as part of its Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant
Project (MEMP) the legacy of local medicinal plants and acted as a focus for their conservation
and development. The MEMP initiative includes a unique ethno-botanical database with detailed
categorization of traditional uses of local medicinal plants, botanical descriptions, commonly used
names (in English, Hebrew and Arabic), plant habitat, geographical distribution, ecology,
harvesting details, preparation, combinations with other plants and administration. The database
also relates traditional use to a modern clinical interpretation, using a standardized symptom list
and search engine based on conventional disease classification. Currently the database contains
over 500 medicinal species found in Israel with information derived from archival collections,
ancient material medicia in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Greek and Latin and field surveys of
traditional healers carried out by NMRC. Since 2000 The MEMP project has cultivated desert
medicinal plants at Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel to preserve biodiversity and provide raw
plant material for scientific research without depleting wild source. Separate sites at Noam on the
coastal plain and the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens have been initiated to cultivate Mediterranean
and mountainous species. Currently over 200 medicinal and economically important species have
been domesticated many for the first time. Harvested plants, have contributed to NMRC`s
screening programs where species with a long history of traditional use have been successfully
tested for activity using an ethno-medical and ethno-botanical approach based on knowledge of
their traditional uses. This focused screening has achieved significant success in assessing the
bio-activity of selected species for malaria, antibacterial and anti-fungal activity, immune
stimulation, anti-viral activity particularly RNA viruses eg Influenza, and neurodegenerative
conditions eg Alzheimer's. In addition the use of ancient seeds radiocarbon dated to approx 2000
yrs and retrieved from archeological sites in the Middle East have resulted in the germination by
NMRC of date Palm seedlings (Phoenix dactilifera) that have received international interest and
may provide important clues to the medicinal and nutritional activities of dates in antiquity.
Key words: Ancient Seeds, drugs, medicinal plants, natural product.
2.19 Ethnobotanical Study of Some Therapeutic Plants Used to Treat Arterial
Hypertension in hodna region (Algeria)
SARI Madani, SARRI Djamel, BOUDJELAL Amel and HENDEL Noui
Department of Natural Sciences and Life, Faculty of Science, M'sila University, 28000 M’sila
(Algeria)
<strong>Abstract</strong>: Ethnobotanical investigations were conducted from February 2006 to June 2010 in the
region of Hodna to identify the different medicinal plants used in the traditional pharmacopoeia for
the treatment of arterial hypertension. Information collected through questionnaires and personal
interviews (77 males and 8 female). Thirty-five species belonging to 21 families with a dominance
of especially Lamiaceae and Asteraceae were encountered during the study. The modes of herbal
drugs preparation were decoction (48%) and infusion (25%). The most frequently used plant parts
were the aerial parts (49%).
Key words: Algeria, arterial hypertension, ethnomedicinal survey, Hodna, medicinal plants.
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