نشریه فناوری و گیاهان دارویی ایران
پیاپی 1 (پاییز و زمستان 1397)

Foxtail lily (Eremurus spectabilis M. Bieb.) is a perennial plant from Liliaceae family, the sticky roots of which has been used for many years in various industries. In order to study the plant growth calendar (Phenology) and determine the most suitable methods for the plant propagation and exploitation, two habitats in the northern and southern parts of Binaloud Mountain (Dehbar and Disbad Olya) were selected and the plant phonological stages were determined in every 10- 15 days. In addition, the flowering period was evaluated by marking 40 uniform plants during 2014 -2017 and also sexual and non-sexual reproduction process was studied in late autumn in Dehbar site. The results showed that for every 200-meter elevation above the sea level, the plant’s phenological stage would be delayed for 6-8 days. The flowers gradually opened during May and the seeds maturity stage were completed in early July. Furthermore, the results indicated that the plant propagation stage has mainly been achieved by the cultivation of seeds, through which only 15-20% of the seeds were established. The non-sexual reproduction process by the tuber roots division was not successful. Seeds of the plant have a physiological dormancy and need to have a cool period to break through the dormancy. The results also indicated that the plants need cold period for flowering and do not die after flowering, but depending on the amounts of rootstocks, they may flower again in the following year or remain in the vegetative stage.

One of the beneficial usages of the plants is their therapeutic quality. However, although most drugs supply in the world are synthetic in nature, but great majority of them originate from natural plants, with some not yet synthesized. Therefore, the efforts for screening of the plants to find new or replace the existing drugs, have continued. An important and considerable point in the screening is recognition of the victim plants for exploiting the interested metabolite. The objective of this study is to survey which metabolite in which plant can be synthesized.The study started by searching in google scholar, pub med, science direct and literature review in related books and journals. The results dealt with the introduction of typical plant families, genera and species supplying natural products such as alkaloids, tannins, resins, gums and latex among plant taxons that are used in pharmaceutical industry. In addition, it investigated the relationship between these products and the plant taxons. In concluded that with some exceptions, product varieties are found only in special plants. For example, alkaloids can be found in apocynaceae, ranunculaceae, solanaceae and papaveraceae; whereas, tannins are found in aceraceae, anacardiaceae and actinidiaceae.

Iran is the largest producer and exporter of saffron in the world. About 96percent of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran. The purpose of this study wasto identify the direction of marketing, the calculation of margin wholesale market,retail sales and the efficiency of the saffron market. The data collection methodwas through a survey in 2012. The results showed that marketing services such asgrading and packaging are mainly achieved by wholesalers and exporters. In thismarket, all types of buyers (retailers, wholesalers, cooperatives, intermediaries,consumers, exporters, local buyers) are market factors. Saffron is often traded incash. the share of a saffron producer is about 65 percent. Most marketing costswere working capital and business costs. The Saffron market efficiency is about 80present. The total market margin is for privileged saffron about 13.3 million Rials,Superior 13 million Rials, Sargol 12.1 million Rials, Poshal 11.4 million Rials andBunch is about 9.3 million Rials per kilogram.

The use of algae was known to humans about three thousand years ago. More than 2500 algae species have been reported from Iran. Considering the importance of pharmaceutical use and the extraction of effective substances from algae types that are imported more than other countries, a study of biodiversity and explaining the position of various algal species is inevitable. Using programming in the VB.net environment, a software application named "Medicinal Algae of Iran" was designed. By reviewing scientific reports during the last century, digital IDs were found in four kingdoms including 8 divisions, 13 classes, 26 orders, 34 families, 42 genera and 58 species of medicinal algae in Iran. In this algorithm, which is executable in common operating systems such as Windows, the distribution area and also the various distribution points are calculated and plotted on the map based on the relative density of species diversity at each stage of the process. It is worth noting that so far, this software model has not been found in the field of data mining of medicinal algae in scientific resources. Thus, given the importance of interdisciplinary studies and facilitating access to information management about the diversity and distribution of medicinal algae, such features as updating with data integration, ease of use for everyone, and the promotion and extension of technical knowledge for other medicinal plants can be considered in such a software.

Cultivation and domestication of medicinal plants is a predominant priority for their essential oil production and growing in wide range of climatic conditions in steppic and semi steppic regions of Iran. The seeds of wild plants species have high viability, but they have no uniform emergence in the field. The seeds enhancement process through seeds priming, leads to elevated germination percentage and seed vigor, therefore, rendering the prime seeds suitable for the cultivation. In this research, the seed emergence characteristics of three species of Ziziphora genus (Ziziphra clinopodioides, Ziziphora tenuior and Ziziphora capitata) and three species of Thymus genus (Thymus lancifolius, Thymus kotschyanus and Thymus daenensis)  were examined by using osmopriming (polyethylene glycol), hormonal priming (gibberellic acid), matrix priming (vermiculite, perlite, zeolite,), hydropriming (distill water), and control (without priming) in seed technology laboratory  of natural resource gene bank in Research Institute of Forest and rangeland, Tehran, Iran in 2015. The maximum seedling length and seedling weight were observed in T. lancifolius via matrix priming.  The T. kotschyanus application of Gibberellic acid and hydro-priming, led to increasing seedling length and seedling weight, respectively. For the species of Z. clinopodioides, the seed priming using vermiculite, led to the increase of seedling length and weight of up to 34% and 17%, respectively. The seed treatment with perlite caused higher seedling weight (13%) of Z. capitata to that of control. The result showed that priming with solid material (matrix priming) had more effect on the seed enhancement.

 Medicinal plants are first and most available resources for disease treatment. The aim of this study is investigation of professional characterization and the level of knowledge of the sellers of medicinal plants and finding top bestselling medicinal plants in Sistan. All identified apothecaries shop in Sistan were determined as statistical population. Data was collected using standard questionnaire. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were also assessed. The results show that average age of the individuals is around 38.29 ±12.47 years with work experience of 9.95±8.63 years. The study has showed that the 12.9% has college education that 4.84% of them are related to medicinal plants, 56.4% are diploma and the others are under the diploma. Ten high demand medicinal plants were determined as Anethum graveolens, Cuminum cyminum, Foeniculum vulgare, Coriandrum sativum, Zataria multiflora, Elettaria cardamomum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Piper nigrum, Peganum harmala and Curcuma longa. Those who work as a medicinal plant vendor, do not have Science and knowledge in the field of medicinal plants of side effects and interactions with chemical drugs. It seems necessary to train all herbal drug sellers for medicinal plants, it is complications and interactions.

The conservation status of Ferula flabelliloba Rech. f. & Aell., an endemic medicinal species The Ferula flabelliloba Rech. f. & Aell., belonging to the Apiaceae family is one of the Iranian endemic medicinal species, whose natural habitat is located exclusively in Binaloud Mountains in Khorasan Razavi province. Baised on field visits and harvesting of plots in its habitats, area of occupancy (AOO) of this species was 40 square kilo meter and the extent of occurrence (EOO) was estimated to be 3990 square kilometer. Therefore, according to the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this species is classified as an endangered (EN). Therefore, in order to preserve the species, habitat as a genetic reserve should be protected.