Medicinal plants used during the plague described in Herbarium of Simon Syrenius (1613) Before effective methods treatment and prevention infections all other infectious diseases were known, attempts made to treat them with natural means. The blight, among others considered following plants: angelica (Angelica archangelica), valerian (Valeriana officinalis), pimpinella, (Pimpinella sp.) common ...

Plant food supplements (PFS) are products of increasing popularity and wide-spread distribution. Nevertheless, information about their risks is limited. To fill this gap, a poisons centres-based study was performed as part of the EU project PlantLIBRA. Multicentre retrospective review of data from selected European and Brazilian poisons centres, involving human cases of adverse effects due to p...

In recent popular publications as well as in widely used information websites directed to cancer patients, valerian is claimed to have a potential of adverse interactions with anticancer drugs. This questions its use as a safe replacement for, for example, benzodiazepines. A review on the interaction potential of preparations from valerian root (Valeriana officinalis L. root) was therefore cond...

The study aimed at determination of the optimum conditions for high yielding and high quality of Valeriana officinalis L. production by selecting the best variety and plantation establishment method. A higher content of active substances but lower yields of underground parts of plants were obtained in a thin-rooted variety (‘Polka’) culture, whereas an adverse tendency was observed in a thick-r...

Valeriana jatamansi is an indigenous medicinal plant used in the treatment of a number of diseases. In the present study, chemical composition of the essential oil was determined by GC-MS. Seven major components were identified in Valeriana jatamansi essential oil, namely, β-vatirenene, β-patchoulene, dehydroaromadendrene, β-gurjunene, patchoulic alcohol, β-guaiene, and α-muurolene. Methanolic,...