Journal of Medicinal Herbs
Volume:3 Issue: 2, 2012

Eucalyptus L'Her. [an aromatic genera of the family (Myrtaceae)] is native to Australia and other tropical species is planted worldwide. The purpose of this study is to extract and identify the essential oils components of four species of Eucalyptus L'Her. cultivated in botanical garden of Kashan, Central Iran. Leaves of E. largiflorens, E. intertexta, E. torquata and E. loxophleba, were collected from the botanical garden in Kashan. Extracting was done by hydro-distillation method and Clevenger approach. Components of essential oils were identified using GC and GC/MS analysis. The essential oil yield of E. largiflorens was 1.85% (v/w) and, nineteen compounds were identified. The major components in the essential oil were 1,8-cineol (58.71%), p-cymene (12.42%), α–pinene (5.61%) and terpinen-4-ol (4.53%). Yield of the essential oil of E. intertexta was 1.5% (v/w) and, sixteen components were identified which the major components were 1,8-cineol (69.45%), α–pinene (14.26%), globulol (4.02%) and terpinen-4-ol (1.79%). Yield of the essential oil of E. torquata was 1.2% (v/w) and, twenty components were identified which the main compounds were 1,8-cineol (33.86%), α–pinene (26.14%), aromadendrene (8.99%) and globulol (7.28%).  The essential oil yield of E. loxophleba was 1.54% (v/w) which the major components were identified including 1,8-cineol (25.71%), globulol (21.63%), aromadendrene (20.43%) and 4-metyl-2-pentyl acetate (14/98%). The highest amount of terpenoides in essential oil of leaves E. largiflorens, E. intertexta, and E. torquata were monoterpenes, while the highest amount of terpenoides in essential oil of E. loxophleba were sesquiterpenes. According to the results of this research and the value of different species of medicinal Eucalyptus L'Her essential oils (in particular, the combination of 1,8-cineol), cultivation and exploitation of E. intertexta for pharmaceutical industry is recommended.

Echinophora cinerea is a plant of the Apiaceae family, which reaches to a height of 30 to 100 cm. The essential oil of Echinophora cinerea contains alkaloids and flavonoids etc. Phenolic composition is one of the best sources of natural antioxidants. The goal of this study is to examine the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil of E. cinerea. In order preparation and identification of chemical compounds of essential oils, hydrodistillation approach and gas chromatography coupling with a mass spectrometer (GC, GC-MS) were used. Antioxidant capacity of the essential oil was determined by DPPH assay and, compared with standard antioxidants (BHT). Antibacterial test had done by broth microdilution and disk diffusion methods, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of these oils after 24 and 48 h were determined and compared to antibiotic standards against food-borne pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and MRSA. Results of GC and GC-MS showed that the major components of essential oil of E. cinerea were α-phellandrene (32.09%), limonene (16.28%), p-cymene (10.75%), α-pinene (9.79%), carvacrol (3.79%) and β-myrcene (2.65%). Results of antioxidant test indicated that IC50 for oil of Echinophora cinerea was 740 μg/ml while for BHT was 50.6 μg/ml. The highest antibacterial effects of essential oil were observed on standard bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus with MIC= 0.16 μg/ml and MBC= 0.63 μg/ml. This effect on MRSA-resistant Staphylococcus and E. coli was weaker. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was resistant to essential oil. According to results of present study, the essential oil E. cinerea can be used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and health industry and flavoring.

Recent researches have been done on effects of plant growth regulators (PGR) on growth and production of different crops whose results indicate the effectiveness of most of these hormones on qualitative and quantitative growth of herbs. The application of regulators and inhibitors of growth on herbs may, in addition to growth, also lead to secondary metabolites stimulation. Jasmonic acid (JA) and its volatile methyl ester (MJ) collectively termed jasmonates, are regarded as endogenous regulators that play important roles in regulating stress responses, plant growth and development. This study was carried out to survey the effect of spraying of jasmonic acid (JA) on T. daenensis Celak in Shahrekord, Southwest Iran at 2010-2011. A pot experiment was conducted in a CRD with six treatments and seven replications. The treatments including I: distilled water (control), II: distilled water and solution (acetone), III-VI: JA in various concentrations (50, 100, 200 and 400 µM). The treatments were applied before flowering stage. The aerial parts were characterized by Clevenger approach and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry. Results of analysis of variance of the experiment showed that different levels of the foliar application of JA do have significant impacts on chemical constitutes in the essential oil of T. daenensis. Various concentrations of foliar application of JA caused decrease or increase some of secondary metabolites in essential oil. In comparison with other treatments, there is a significant difference between amount of thymol and carvacrol, as two main compounds in essential oil of T. daenensis, having 100 µM JA. The application of acetone solvent with distilled water also caused the increase in some of constitutes of the essential oil. In metabolic cultivation, for producing a special metabolite, the main agronomic and processing management should be regarded in order to increase the rate of essence and metabolites. Finally, some of secondary metabolite production in Thymus daenensis Celak could be partially changed by supplementation of different elicitors such as JA.

Saline lands can be utilized by planting native medicinal plants tolerant to salinity. The quantity and quality these plants are changed during various seasons in agriculture systems. Thus, this study carried out under salinity stress in order to examine the effect of sowing in two seasons on growth characteristics and essential oil  components of ajowan (Carum capticum L.), Different salinity treatments (EC= 0.3, 4, 8 and 12 dS/m) were used before flowering stage of ajowan in pot experimental at Khorasgan (Isfahan), Iran. Growth characteristics were measured and, the essential oil analyzed by GC/MS apparatus. Results showed that increasing salinity caused decrease plant height in spring planting and increase in number of branching in summer planting. The amounts of plant height, number of umbel, number of flower in main umbel and number of floret in main umbel in summer sowing was higher than spring sowing. Interaction effects of salinity and sowing season on growth characteristics showed that the highest plant height was obtained from summer sowing under salinity 4 dS/m treatment and the lowest amount of plant height obtained from spring sowing under salinity 12 dS/m treatment. In spring and summer sowing, ten and thirteen components were identified in the essential oil of C. capticum, respectively. The major compounds in the essential oil of C. capticum were of thymol and γ-terpinene. According to results of this study, It seems that sowing of C. capticum under saline soils (~EC=12 dS/m) for metabolic agronomy (especially thymol) in spring sowing could be is suitable.

Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is a perennial medicinal herb which belongs to Lamiales order and Lamiaceae family. This plant has economical value for four years. Nowadays the use of plant growth regulators (PGR) has an important role for increasing the secondary metabolites in plants. Among PGRs Jasmonic (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) have many applications in medicinal plants. This study was carried out to survey the effect of spraying of various concentrations JA and SA on S. officinalis L. in field experiment of Hormozgan, South Iran at 2010-2011. A pot experiment was conducted in a CRD with ten treatments with three replicates. The treatments including I: distilled water (control), II: distilled water and solution (acetone), III-VI: SA in different concentrations (1, 10, 20 and 40 mol/l, VII-X: JA in various concentrations including 50, 100, 200 and 400 µM. The leaves were harvested at before flowering and, the essential oil extracted by Clevenger approach then the compounds were characterized using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Results showed that various concentrations of foliar application of JA and SA lead to decrease or increasing of some secondary metabolites in essential oil of S. officinalis L. Compounds such as a-pinene, camphene, b-pinene, 1,8-cineole, cis-thujane, trans-thujane, borneol, bornyl acetate and camphor were affected from JA and SA treatments. According to the results of present study it suggests to increase the major compounds of essential oil of Salvia officinalis L.using SA and JA.

In sustainable agriculture, organic fertilizers are considered as important alternatives for chemical ones and are of great importance in organic producing of medicinal plants. This study was conducted to study the effects of organic fertilizers on Cassia angustifolia Vahl in dry and subtropical climate.  This study was carried out in Jiroft region, Kerman (Iran), at 2009-2010 in a randomized complete block design with three replications and thirteen fertilizer treatments. The results of analysis of variance showed that treatments had significant effects on plant height, leaf width, number of branches, fresh weight of leaves, dry weight of leaves, fresh weight of shoot and dry weight of shoot. In environmental conditions of the studied region, the integrated application of organic fertilizers containing nitrogen can improve quantitative yield of Cassia angustifolia Vahl. Therefore application of organic fertilizers can improve sustainable agriculture and organic production of medicinal plants in addition to decrease of chemical fertilizers application.

Policosanol is a component from main alcohol groups with long-chain that extracted from cane sugar. In the present research, the effect of policosanol was investigated on decrease of lipid metabolite levels in blood of hypercholesterolemia rats. A number of 32 male Wistar rats race with average weight of 250 g was divided into four groups including negative control group (n=8) that had normal diet, positive control and experimental groups I and II (n=8) with high cholesterol diet of 2% cholestroled, and respectively they received placebo and policosanol with concentrations 0.25 and 0.5 mg/day. After four weeks, following the treatment of animals and bloodletting, the biochemical traits such as cholesterol biochemical, triglyceride, and LDL-C and HDL-C factors were measured. The results showed that in experimental group (I) there was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the rate of cholesterol, LDL-C and triglyceride, and significant increase (p<0.05) in HDL-C compared with control group. In experimental group II, there also was a significant decrease (p<0.01) in the rate of cholesterol, LDL-C and triglyceride, and significant increase (p<0.01) in HDL-C compared with control group. Policosanol can be an effective component in decreasing the rate of cholesterol, LDL-C and triglyceride and increasing HDL-C.

From long time ago, traditional medicine was integrated with popular culture and various aspects of treatment have been allocated to it. At the present time, the use rate of this method depends on people’s belief and recognition. The research was conducted in the region Mobarakeh, Iran, in order to identify the priorities for application of medicinal plants by indigenous people. The results showed the more use of plants is in the field of gastrointestinal problems with frequency 17% and 53 used plant species. About 20 plant species were used for relieving diarrhea by indigenous people. Application frequency of effective plants on skin and hair was about 14% which eight plant species from 32 species were used for removing facial burble. Frequency of use as anti-inflammatory and anti-infection was about 11 % with 12 plant species. Frequency of effective application on circulatory system was 9% (eight medicinal plants).  Frequency of use as urinary tract and kidneys was about 8% with 12 herb species. Effective applications of plants on endocrine problems, neurological problems and respiratory problems were seven, six and five percent. Medicinal plants also the effect on oral, dental and muscle problems respectively were three and two percent respectively. Examinations showed that most use of medicinal plants in the area is to remove ​​digestive problems. Also, awareness of these applications can be a policy for obtaining the new drug applications of these plants which has never been reported in available sources.