CONTEXT Traditional medicinal plants have long been used in Ethiopia to treat human and livestock ailments. Despite a well-documented rich tradition of medicinal plant use in the country, their direct antimicrobial effects are still poorly known. OBJECTIVE To investigate the antimicrobial activity of 19 medicinal plant species that were selected based on the ethnobotanical information on thei...

Ethnopharmacological studies are important for documenting and protecting cultural and traditional knowledge associated with the medical use of biodiversity. In this paper, we present a survey on medicinal plants used by locals in a community of Nova Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil, as a strategy to select medicinal plants for a phytotherapy-based local healthcare program. Eleven knowledgeable local...

This study explores patterns of medicinal plant species richness along an elevational gradient in Nepal and the effectiveness of existing protected areas for their conservation. We used published data on the distribution of medicinal plants. The number of medicinal plants and the number of protected areas present in each 100 m elevation band were collated by interpolation. We tested the number ...

IntRoductIon Herbs are one of remedial agents which God has created for afflicted humans. Herbal extracts have been used in traditional medicine for several thousand years [1]. The knowledge on medicinal plants has been accumulated in the course of many centuries, based on different medicinal systems such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. In India, it has been reported that traditional healers use...

Forests play key roles in the lives of people living in both mountains and lowland areas by supplying fresh water and a diversity of valuable forest products. Among the various kinds of forest products available to local people, the use of plant species for therapeutic purposes has gained a tremendous importance in the present century. The importance of plants used in therapy can be evaluated b...

Interest in traditional medicine and in particular herbal medicine has increased in both developed and developing countries over the past two decades. Some reported adverse events following the use of certain herbal medicines have been associated with a variety of possible explanations, including the inadvertent use of the wrong plant species, adulteration with undeclared other medicines. The s...

BACKGROUND Due to its diverse geographical and habitat conditions, northern Pakistan harbors a wealth of medicinal plants. The plants and their traditional use are part of the natural and cultural heritage of the region. This study was carried out to document which medicinal plant species and which plant parts are used in the region of Swat, which syndrome categories are particularly concerned,...

Mushrooms are a recognized component of the human diet, with versatile medicinal properties. Some mushrooms are popular worldwide for their nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, some species are dangerous because they cause toxicity. There are many reports explaining the medicinal and/or toxic effects of these fungal species. Cases of serious human poisoning generally caused by the i...

The European medicinal leech is one of vanishingly few animal species with direct application in modern medicine. In addition to the therapeutic potential held by many protease inhibitors purified from leech saliva, and notwithstanding the historical association with quackery, Hirudo medicinalis has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a prescription medical device...

Out of about 258,650 species of higher plants reported from the world; more than 10% are used to cure ailing communities. Beside many known drugs (e.g. tubocurarine, reserpine, aspirin and morphine etc) are discovered based on traditional knowledge. Majority of the people in Pakistan rely on medicinal plants to find treatment for their minor, even in some cases major diseases. Some wild plants ...