Traditional Herbal Medicine as a Tool to Explore New Frontiers in Pharmacology

The aim of this Special Issue, entitled “Botany, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology in Traditional Herbal Medicine”, was to expand our knowledge about natural products of plant origin that are largely used in traditional phytotherapy. This Special Issue contains 12 scientific articles contributing to our knowledge of therapeutic tools that may lead to the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of numerous disease

Wild plants used as herbs and spices in Italy: An ethnobotanical review

Wild edible plants are an essential component of people’s diets in the Mediterranean basin. In Italy, ethnobotanical surveys have received increasing attention in the past two centuries, with some of these studies focusing on wild edible plants. In this regard, the literature in Italy lacks the coverage of some major issues focusing on plants used as herbs and spices. I searched national journals for articles on the use of wild food plants in Italy, published from 1963 to 2020. Aims of the present review were to document plant lore regarding wild herbs and spices in Italy, identify the wild plants most frequently used as spices, analyze the distribution of wild herbs and spices used at a national scale, and finally, to describe the most common phytochemical compounds present in wild plant species. Based on the 34 studies reviewed, I documented 78 wild taxa as being used in Italy as herbs or spices. The studies I included in this systematic review demonstrate that wild species used as herbs and spices enrich Italian folk cuisine and can represent an important resource for profitable, integrated local small-scale activities

Biodeteriogens at a southern Italian heritage site: Analysis and management of vascular flora on the walls of Villa Rufolo

Colonisation of vascular plants on ancient historical buildings is known to cause severe damage. The aim of the present work was to analyse the deteriogenic vascular flora of Villa Rufolo in Ravello, one of the most famous heritage sites in southern Italy. The deteriogenic flora were analysed in terms of diversity, structure, chorology, origin and potential damage to the building. The hazard index (HI) was applied to evaluate the impact of the biodeteriogens in question. The total flora included 61 taxa with the prevalence of therophytes (42.6%) and widely distributed species (42.6%), mostly derived from natural or semi-natural environments in the surrounding area (95.1%). The plant colonisation pattern showed the presence of some very harmful but not very abundant vascular plants (6.6%), including Ficus carica, Hedera helix subsp. helix, Capparis orientalis and Parthenocissus tricuspidata. Analysing the potential deteriogenic impact of each species (DI), a new index proposed by the authors, it emerged that the most dangerous were Centranthus ruber subsp. ruber and Parietaria judaica. Methods for the eradication of the most damaging species are discussed and proposed

Wild and cultivated plants used in traditional alcoholic beverages in Italy: an ethnobotanical review

This study aims to gather, analyze, and discuss the ethnobotanical information regarding wild and cultivated plants used in traditional alcoholic beverages in Italy. The online literature search allowed data collection from 161 articles concerning the use of wild and cultivated plants in Italy for liqueurs preparation. Overall, we identified 130 taxa belonging to 35 families, among them Rosaceae is the most cited (21.4%) followed by Asteraceae (14.3%), Lamiaceae (12.7%), Apiaceae and Pinaceae (5.6% each). Tuscany (N=49), Friuli Venezia Giulia (N=46) and Lombardy (N=36) show the largest number of species used in a single region. The common use of liqueurs as aperitif and digestive is also discussed. This work increases the ethnobotanical data of traditional alcoholic beverages from Italy, till now not well explored. This study can be the basis for future research on the supposed bioactivity and toxicity of alcoholic beverages

The Role of Lichens, Mosses, and Vascular Plants in the Biodeterioration of Historic Buildings: A Review

Biodeterioration is defined as the alteration of a given substrate due to a combination of physical and chemical factors produced by living organisms when attached to such materials. This phenomenon attracts scientific research attention due to its risk in causing destruction to outdoor cultural rock heritage sites. In this review, an update on the state-of-art regarding the biodeterioration phenomenon is represented in order to highlight the type of colonizing vegetation and possible mechanisms behind the corresponding deterioration. For this reason, 62 articles with a focus on lichens, mosses, and higher plants were investigated by evaluating the role of construction materials and different plant species related to the hazard index. The results showed that trees and shrubs are the most harmful plant life forms, for example, Ficus carica, Ailanthus altissima, and Capparis spinosa, while regarding building materials, those characterized by high porosity, such as andesite and argillaceous limestone, are more vulnerable to plant colonization. Further studies are needed to examine in detail the relationship between colonizing organisms, intrinsic elements of the substrate, and external factors, as well as the refinement of measures to prevent and control colonization by plants

Climatic and anthropogenic factors affect Ailanthus altissima invasion in a Mediterranean region

Ailanthus altissima is an aggressive invasive tree worldwide, but the ecological factors that lead to the spread of this species in Mediterranean ecosystems are still unclear. Here we aim to identify such factors, focusing on the interaction of human activity with climatic conditions. We determined the occurrence and abundance of Ailanthus in 240 sites and studied their relationship with 20 variables representing climatic, geographic, and topographic factors, as well as land use, in the region of Campania (southern Italy). Overall, we found that temperature and rainfall in Campania are suitable for Ailanthus, with the only major constraint being the temperature at an altitude exceeding 900 m a.s.l. We found that Ailanthus is unable to spread where the mean annual temperature is lower than 11.1 °C. By contrast, precipitation variables showed poor correlation with Ailanthus distribution, suggesting that rainfall in the selected study sites is suitable to sustain the growth of this tree. About land use variables, roads were the primary landscape feature along which this species spread and invaded new areas. Roads probably combine high propagule pressure and favorable growing conditions in terms of available resources i.e., light, water, and mineral nutrients, that allow Ailanthus to establish and spread along roadside edges in different ecosystems. In conclusion, we found that climate and human-associated variables are correlated with the current occurrence of Ailanthus, with the temperature being more influential at high elevation sites and road distance playing a prominent role in low elevation areas

Decomposition and temperature sensitivity of fine root and leaf litter of 43 mediterranean species

Aims: Data on the decomposition of fine roots are scarce for the Mediterranean basin. This work aims to compare chemical traits, decomposition rate, and temperature sensitivity (Q10) for root and leaf litter of 43 Mediterranean species. Methods: We carried out a two-years litterbag decomposition experiment using 43 fine roots litter and leaf litter types incubated in laboratory conditions at three different temperatures, i.e. 4 °C, 14 °C, and 24 °C. Litter was characterized for carbon (C), nitrogen (N), lignin and cellulose concentration, C/N, and lignin/N ratios. Results: Fine root litter had lower N content but higher lignin concentration, lignin/N, and C/N ratios compared to leaf litter. The decay rate of fine root litter was slower than leaf litter. For both tissues, the decay rate was negatively associated with lignin concentration, lignin/N, and C/N ratios but positively with N concentration. Q10 was higher for fine root than leaf litter, with a positive correlation with lignin while negative with N concentration. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a higher Q10 accompanied by a slower decomposition rate of fine root litter compared to leaf litter in Mediterranean ecosystems. These results must be considered in modeling organic C at the ecosystem scale

PdI2 as a simple and efficient catalyst for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines

The hydroamination reaction is a convenient alternative strategy for the formation of C– N bonds. Herein, we report a new versatile and convenient protocol for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines using palladium iodide in the absence of any added ligand as catalyst. Mild conditions, excellent regio-and stereoselectivity, and high functional group tolerance are the main features of this methodology. A subsequent reduction step gives access to a wide variety of secondary aromatic amines

Ingestion of microplastic debris by green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Great Barrier Reef: validation of a sequential extraction protocol

Ocean contamination by plastics is a global issue. Although ingestion of plastic debris by sea turtles has been widely documented, contamination by microplastics ( 100 μm. Two macroplastics and seven microplastics (two plastic paint chips and five synthetic fabric particles) were isolated from subsamples of two green turtles. Our results highlight the need for more research towards understanding the impact of microplastics on these threatened marine reptiles