Identification of medicinal plants by voucher specimen
C. P. Khare in Evidence-based Ayurveda, 2019
One more example of intraspecific variation in plants. Artemisia dracunculus has been used medicinally and as a culinary herb in many parts of its vast range (western North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe). The plant contains a wide array of phytochemicals but also presents an extensive series of polyploid cytotypes (diploid, hexaploid, octoploid, and decaploid), each distinct in phytochemical composition. Studies of samples from many sources found that some cytotypes contain specific antidiabetic compounds while others do not. Vouchering of materials subjected to study made it possible to confirm that varying results were really due to variation within a single species5 and not to misidentification of samples.Voucher specimens not only are a source for correct botanical identification but also can serve as a repository for the chemical compounds of a plant at any given time during its life cycle. Vouchers collected at different intervals and in different areas can thus clearly reflect compound composition as influenced by edaphic and harvest conditions. Apart from providing a clear reference for a certain batch of material, voucher specimens also allow a follow-up in case taxonomic concepts change.
Natural Variability of Essential Oil Components
K. Hüsnü Can Başer, Gerhard Buchbauer in Handbook of Essential Oils, 2020
Not rarely, essential oil plants are propagated experimentally by in vitro methods. According to Ibrahim et al. (2011), tissue culture provides a fast breeding technology for tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus). They report that in the plantation installed with plantlets obtained from callus cultures and organogenesis, estragole concentration was significantly reduced. According to our knowledge, tissue culture from different plant parts as explants is hardly able to change the genotype of the plant, except by somatic mutations which is, however, not reproducible during the technology. On the other side, volatile concentrations may be influenced by an eventual structural (tissue constitution and essential oil–accumulating organelles) change of the plant which, however, is already an indirect effect and should be evaluated accordingly.
Greece and Rome
Michael J. O’Dowd in The History of Medications for Women, 2020
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), a related plant species, known by Pliny as ‘parthenium’, was an ingredient placed in a sitz-bath in which women sat to treat inflammation of the uterus (Jones, 1989 book 21, p. 285). The plant, also known as mater herbarum (Harris, 1916), was popular as an infusion for ‘female complaints’ during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In traditional Chinese medicine the dried leaf, known as ‘moxa’, is burned on the skin over certain acupuncture sites. Mugwort is also advised for fungal infections. Another closely-related plant, tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is advocated in aromatherapy for menstrual disorders (Bown, 1996). The BHP lists mugwort as an emmenagogue (1983).
Bauhinia forficata in the treatment of diabetes mellitus: a patent review
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, 2018
Bárbara Verônica Cardoso de Souza, Regilda Saraiva dos Reis Moreira Araújo, Oskar Almeida Silva, Lucas Costa Faustino, Maria Fabrícia Beserra Gonçalves, Mirian Lima Dos Santos, Grasielly Rocha Souza, Lindalva Moura Rocha, Mônica Larissa Sousa Cardoso, Lívio César Cunha Nunes
Another invention that has also used the B. forficata extract associated with other compounds was developed by Fogel (US20100202980; US20150190446; WO2009001362; IL202980; EP 2,170,360) [78]. This patent reports a plant-based composition of Urtica dioica, U. urens, U. pilulifera, Artemisia dracunculus, A. alba, A. herba, A. roxburghiana, A. judaica, Morus alba, M. bombycis, M. indica, M. insignis, M. nigra, M. austral, B. forficata, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, C. saigonicum, C. aromaticum, C. laurus, Canella winterana, Taraxacum officinale, and Rosa canina.
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