Plants used for making recreational tea in Europe: A review based on specific research sites

This paper is a review of local plants used in water infusions as aromatic and refreshing hot beverages (recreational tea) consumed in food-related settings in Europe, and not for specific medicinal purposes. The reviewed 29 areas are located across Europe, covering the post-Soviet countries, eastern and Mediterranean Europe. Altogether, 142 taxa belonging to 99 genera and 40 families were reported. The most important families for making herbal tea in all research areas were Lamiaceae and Asteraceae, while Rosaceae was popular only in eastern and central Europe. With regards to botanical genera, the dominant taxa included Mentha, Tilia, Thymus, Origanum, Rubus and Matricaria. The clear favorite was Origanum vulgare L., mentioned in 61% of the regions. Regionally, other important taxa included Rubus idaeus L. in eastern Europe, Chamaemelum nobile (L.) All. in southern Europe and Rosa canina L. in central Europe. Future research on the pharmacological, nutritional and chemical properties of the plants most frequently used in the tea-making process is essential to ensure their safety and appropriateness for daily consumption. Moreover, regional studies dedicated to the study of local plants used for making recreational tea are important to improve our understanding of their selection criteria, cultural importance and perceived properties in Europe and abroad. © 2013 Sõukand et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

The Sierra Norte of Madrid An agrobiodiversity refuge for common bean landraces

At the mountain area close to the city of Madrid, common beans were one of the main food crops present in everyday diet until 1960. This paper describes the morphological diversity, for forty-six phenological and morphological traits, found in forty-three traditional varieties of common beans collected in this area and seven commercial varieties used as reference. That comparison suggests that common bean breeding programs have led to later varieties with a higher production of straight pods. Quantitative traits showed also similar values when compared to the Iberian common bean collection, except for the phenological and seed size characters. The phenological differences could suggest an ecological adaptation of the studied landraces to the regional environmental conditions. The different seed size averages of both collections might correspond to the scarce presence of smaller seed-type common beans in Madrid collection. All the accessions collected in the Sierra Norte of Madrid belong to any of the groups included in the Spanish core collection. Madrilenian collection is also composed by indeterminate growth habit varieties, while the presence of bush accessions is relatively uncommon. Most of the Madrilenian landraces have a remarkable fitness for green-pod consumption (42 %) and their seeds are mainly white (30 %), ovate-shape (49 %) and medium-large (40 %). The study of seed storage protein allowed to classify the landraces according to their domesticated gene pools. Most of them (72 %), with T and C phaseolin type, seem to belong to Andean germplasm, while the remaining (28 %), with S and B phaseolin type, to Mesoamerican one. The remarkable morphological diversity of common beans found in this small area is a symptom of a broad genetic base despite genetic erosion, what indicates a widespread crop in the past. Therefore, it is advisable to design agro-environmental policies to promote the production and commercialization of common bean landraces in Sierra Norte of Madrid. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht