Ethnobotanical Review and Dataset Compiling on Wild and Cultivated Plants Traditionally Used as Medicinal Remedies in Italy

Over the centuries, wild plants have constituted the main food ingredients and traditional medicine in rural communities. In the last decades, thousands of ethnobotanical studies have been conducted, with the aim of documenting the traditional knowledge on wild and cultivated plants both for food and therapeutic purposes. In the present work, 75 published papers related to Italian ethnobotanical knowledge on wild and cultivated plants traditionally used for medical purposes were analyzed and data on 1117 different species organized in the first dataset to target medicinal applications only. For each plant species, the Italian region of use, plant organs, mode of preparation, specific pathological group of application, citation index, and use index were listed. The different therapeutic applications were subdivided into nine main pathological groups according to the targeted human apparatus. Overall, the cited species with highest number of uses were related to the treatment of the digestive system and skin-ears-eyes-hair diseases, followed by diseases of the genito-urinary and respiratory systems. The 13 most relevant species were identified on the basis of their citation and use indexes. The present review on Italian medicinal flora aims to provide valuable information on wild and cultivated species, which are potential sources of plant-based therapeutic remedies, to preserve and reevaluate endangered traditional folk knowledge

Impact of climate change and urban development on the flora of a southern European city: analysis of biodiversity change over a 120-year period

Ecological studies in cities are not only aimed at investigating floristic diversity, but also represent informative test cases for understanding ecological system dynamics and responses to urban and climate changes since cities represent microcosms of environmental changes happening globally. The city of Bologna was selected as a case study since two specific and complete studies have been carried out in a 120-years timespan, one in 1894 and one in 2018. Since 1894, a large increase occurred in the number of taxa (families from 41 to 101, species from 176 to 477) and alien species (from 22 to 144), with a 65% total species turnover. The comparison of species life forms pointed out a noticeable recent expansion of phanerophytes and geophytes at the expense of therophytes and hemicryptophytes. The correlation between urbanistic features and plant richness indicated that the main factor affecting plant richness is the presence of green spaces (parks, tree lines, flowerbeds, etc.). Analysis of variation in Ellenberg\u2019s indicator values over the last 120 years evidenced a shift toward shade-tolerant species, mainly connected to the increased presence of parks and trees within the city. Climate change and the presence of artificially irrigated areas within the city has led to an increase in both hygrophilous and drought-resistant species. In particular, the temperature index showed a significantly higher amount of macrothermal species in accordance with a warmer climate and the urban heat island effect

Root foraging and avoidance in hyperaccumulator and excluder plants: a rhizotron experiment

Aims: Metal hyperaccumulation is a rare phenomenon described for an increasing number of plant taxa. In this study we investigated the root growth responses of the well-known nickel, zinc, cadmium hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens and of the metal tolerant (non-accumulator) Stellaria media, in order to observe root foraging vs avoidance responses to nickel. Methods: To allow for observations of root growth and foraging preferences, two accessions of Noccaea caerulescens and two accessions of Stellaria media orginating from high nickel and low nickel habitats were grown in rhizotrons with localized nickel enrichment. Results: The root density in the control and nickel-enriched soil areas in the rhizotrons with different N. caerulescens accessions had distinct responses: moderate nickel avoidance was recorded for the non-nickel accession, while a clear foraging response was observed in N. caerulescens from the nickel accession. In contrast, nickel rooting avoidance was observed for both S. media accessions and was more pronounced in the non-nickel accession. Conclusions: This study shows that N. caerulescens originating from different accessions responded differently to soil nickel enrichment, with the nickel accession of N. caerulescens actively foraging for nickel, suggesting a physiological adaptation and demand for this metal. In contrast, a clear nickel avoidance response by a metal tolerant species, S. media, was observed in this study, a phenomenon which has not been previously described; this suggests that root avoidance responses might play a role in the adaptation of metal tolerant species to Ni-rich soils

Phytoextraction of arsenic, nickel, selenium and zinc from sewage sludge: from laboratory to pilot scale

Aims The present study aimed at: (i) verifying the suitability of pure sewage sludge (SS) as growing medium for the hyperaccumulator species (Pteris vittata, Odontarrhena chalcidica, Astragalus bisulcatus and Noccaea caerulescens); (ii) evaluating the removal of As, Ni, Se and Zn operated by the chosen species; (iii) estimating the potential metal yields (bio-ore production) and connected monetary rewards in a small-scale field experiment. Methods Hyperaccumulator plants were first tested under controlled conditions, on three different SS (P1, P2, P3) characterized by the presence of one or more contaminants among As, Ni, Se and Zn. P1 sludge was then chosen for a small-scale field experiment. Hyperaccumulator seedlings were transferred on SS and cultivated for 16 weeks before harvesting. Results All hyperaccumulator species grew healthy on P1 SS, with A. bisulcatus and O. chalcidica reaching an average biomass of 40.2 and 21.5 g DW/plant. Trace metal concentrations in aerial parts were: As (P. vittata) 380 mg/kg DW, Ni (O. chalcidica) 683 mg/kg DW, Se (A. bisulcatus) 165 mg/kg DW, Zn (N. caerulescens) 461 mg/kg DW. The total removal of As, Ni, Se and Zn from SS due to phytoextraction was 5.8, 19, 18, 29% respectively. Conclusions This study demonstrated that phytoextraction can be applied to SS for the removal contaminants while recovering valuable metals. Se and As were identified as the most promising target element, while Ni and Zn removal was poorly efficient under the present experimental conditions

Induction of hormesis in plants by urban trace metal pollution

Hormesis is a dose–response phenomenon observed in numerous living organisms, caused by low levels of a large number of stressors, among which metal ions. In cities, metal levels are usually below toxicity limits for most plant species, however, it is of primary importance to understand whether urban metal pollution can threaten plant survival, or, conversely, be beneficial by triggering hormesis. The effects of Cd, Cr and Pb urban concentrations were tested in hydroponics on three annual plants, Cardamine hirsuta L., Poa annua L. and Stellaria media (L.) Vill., commonly growing in cities. Results highlighted for the first time that average urban trace metal concentrations do not hinder plant growth but cause instead hormesis, leading to a considerable increase in plant performance (e.g., two to five-fold higher shoot biomass with Cd and Cr). The present findings, show that city habitats are more suitable for plants than previously assumed, and that what is generally considered to be detrimental to plants, such as trace metals, could instead be exactly the plus factor allowing urban plants to thrive

Comparison of some chemical parameters of a naturally debittered olive (Olea europaea L.) type with regular olive varieties

Some olives grown in Karaburun peninsula in the west part of Turkey and mostly coming from Erkence variety lose their bitterness while still on the tree and are called Hurma among locals. This olive type does not require further processing to remove the bitter compounds. In this study, sugar, organic acid and fatty acid profiles of Hurma, Erkence (not naturally debittered) and Gemlik (commonly consumed as table olive) olives were determined throughout 8 weeks of maturation period for two consecutive harvest seasons, and the results were analysed by principal component analysis (PCA). PCA of sugar and organic acid data revealed a differentiation in terms of harvest year but not on variety. Hurma olive is separated from others due to its fatty acid profile, and it has higher linoleic acid content compared to others. This might be an indication of increased desaturase enzyme activity for Hurma olives during natural debittering phase.TUBITAK (TOVAG-110O780

Foraging for selenium: a comparison between hyperaccumulator and non-accumulator plant species

Selenium (Se) hyperaccumulators are a unique group of plants that can accumulate this element in their aerial parts at concentrations exceeding 100 mg kgDW−1. These plants actively search for Se in the soil, a phenomenon known as root foraging, reported to date only by few studies. In this study, the effect of localized Se enrichment, in the form of selenite and selenate, was investigated on the root architecture of two Se-hyperaccumulators (Stanleya pinnata and Astragalus bisulcatus) and two non-accumulators (Brassica juncea and Medicago sativa). Rhizoboxes were divided into two halves: one half was filled with control soil while the other with selenate or selenite (30 mg kgDW−1) spiked soil. Seedling were transferred into the interface of the two soils and allowed to grow for three weeks under controlled light and temperature conditions. Staneya pinnata exhibited equal root density in both halves of the rhizobox when grown in control/control and selenite/control soil treatments. However, in the presence of selenate, S. pinnata developed 76% of the roots towards the selenate-enriched half, indicating an active root foraging. In contrast, A. bisulcatus and the non-accumulators B. juncea and M. sativa did not show any preferential distribution of roots. This study revealed that only S. pinnata showed the ability to detect and forage for Se when provided as selenate. Non-accumulators did not show any morphological or Se-accumulation difference associated with the presence of Se in soil in either form

Production of antioxidant molecules in Polygonum aviculare (L.) and senecio vulgaris (L.) under metal stress: A possible tool in the evaluation of plant metal tolerance

Plants growing on heavy metal (HM)-polluted soils show toxicity symptoms, such as chlorosis and growth reduction, and undergo oxidative stress due to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Plants overcome oxidative stress by producing a wide range of antioxidant molecules, such as polyphenols and flavonoids. The aim of the present work was to study the accumulation of these molecules in response to increasing concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn and to assess whether they can be used as a tool in assessing metal-related stress in Polygonum aviculare and Senecio vulgaris. On average, P. aviculare shoots accumulated lower amounts of metals than S. vulgaris shoots. The uptake of all six elements was correlated and proportional to their concentration in the nutrient solution (\u3c1 > 0.9), with the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) being >1 for most of them. The present research demonstrated that 82% of the samples showed a good correlation (|\u3c1| > 0.5) between the level of polyphenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity and the metal concentration in plant shoots, confirming that the metal stress level and production of phenolic compounds having antioxidant activity were strictly connected. Nonetheless, the mere quantification of these molecules cannot identify the type of metal that caused the oxidative stress, neither determine the concentration of the stressors. The five tested populations of each species did not show any specific adaptation to the environment of origin