Search results for "ASTERACEAE"
showing 10 items of 209 documents
Retrospective study of small pet tumors treated with Artemisia annua and iron.
2019
Artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. and its derivatives are well‑known antimalarial drugs. In addition, in vitro studies, in vivo studies and clinical trials have demonstrated that these drugs exhibit anticancer activity in human patients with cancer. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether a phytotherapeutic A. annua preparation exerts anticancer activity in veterinary tumors of small pets. Dogs and cats with spontaneous cancer (n=20) were treated with standard therapy plus a commercial A. annua preparation (Luparte®) and compared with a control group treated with standard therapy alone (n=11). Immunohistochemical analyses were performed with formalin‑fixed paraf…
Ethnobotanical uses of wild taxa as galactagogues in Sicily (Italy)
2018
<p>Breastfeeding furnishes optimal nutrition, immune support, and a multitude of health benefits to mothers and newborns. Since ancient times plants have been employed as galactagogues in the folk medicine of many human cultures. In Sicily, a region with great floristic diversity in the Mediterranean area, where a conspicuous pool of species is traditionally used for food and aromatic, cosmetic, handicraft, agricultural, forestry, and medicinal purposes, some people recognize the galactagogue properties of some spontaneous plants.</p><p>The goal of this study was to identify wild plants with galactagogue properties and vegetable-food remedies traditionally used by women du…
Expanding the Therapeutic Spectrum of Artemisinin: Activity Against Infectious Diseases Beyond Malaria and Novel Pharmaceutical Developments
2016
The interest of Western medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a source of drug leads/new drugs to treat diseases without available efficient therapies has been dramatically augmented in the last decades by the extensive work and the outstanding findings achieved within this kind of medicine. The practice of TCM over thousands of years has equipped scientists with substantial experience with hundreds of plants that led to the discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu), which is extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. (qinghao). The unexpected success of artemisinin in combating malaria has drawn strong attention from the scientific community towards TCM. Artemisinin was d…
Volatile Components from Aerial parts of Centaurea diffusa and C. micrantha ssp. melanosticta and their biocidal activity on microorganisms affecting…
2018
The chemical composition of the essential oils from aerial parts of two taxa of Centaurea belonging to subgenus Acrolophus, Centaurea diffusa Lam. and C. micrantha Hoff. ssp. melanosticta (Lange) Dostàl, respectively collected in Croatia and Spain, were evaluated by GC and GC-MS. The main components of C. diffusa were hexadecanoic acid (31.1%), (Z,Z)-9,12-octadecadienoic acid (10.7%) and damascenone isomers (6.4%), whereas hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (27.8%), hexadecanoic acid (8.3%) and caryophyllene oxide (6.4%) were the most abundant components of C. micrantha ssp. melanosticta. The oils showed good antibacterial and antifungal activities against some microorganisms that infest historical …
The metabolites of the genus onopordum (asteraceae): Chemistry and biological properties
2011
Onopordum is an interesting genus belonging to the tribe Cardueae (Asteraceae family), and the species of this genus are used as food and in the popular medicine of several countries. The present paper reviews all the metabolites present in all the species of this genus, reported up to 2009, and several chemotaxonomic consideration have been made. Furthermore, the occurrence in other genus, the spectral data, the synthetic approaches, the chemical modifications and the biological properties of the sesquiterpenes of genus Onopor- dum have been reviewed.
Allopolyploidisation in a geological collision zone: on the origin of the tetraploid Anthemis cupaniana Nyman (Compositae, Anthemideae) in Sicily
2022
AbstractThe genus Anthemis has a circum-Mediterranean distribution and comprises c. 175 annual, biennial, and perennial species with polyploid species and species complexes found in its section A. sect. Hiorthia. In Sicily, the genus is represented by 13 species, one of these being the tetraploid A. cupaniana, which is endemic to the island and is distributed throughout the limestone mountains at elevations between 500 and 1800 m a.s.l. Discordant positions in phylogenetic trees based on two plastid regions (psbA-trnH and trnC-petN) and on one nuclear marker (nrDNA ITS1 + 5.8S + ITS2) reveal that the species is of allopolyploid origin, with the maternal parent from the species group around …
A conspectus of Tephroseris (Asteraceae: Senecioneae) in Europe outside Russia and notes on the decline of the genus
2021
Tephroseris is generally considered a difficult genus. Based on the examination of extensive herbarium material and considering the existing literature, we recognize seven species in Europe outside Russia. These are T. palustris, T. integrifolia with subsp. integrifolia, subsp. aurantiaca, subsp. capitata, subsp. maritima, subsp. serpentini and subsp. “tundricola”, T. balbisiana, T. crispa, T. helenitis, T. longifolia and T. papposa. Phylogenetic analysis of ITS and ETS sequences showed that these species fall into three lineages. These are: (1) T. palustris, clearly related to Arctic species of the genus; (2) T. integrifolia; and (3) the remaining species. Molecular dating of the T. integr…
Propagation of Calendula maritima Guss. (Asteraceae) through Biotechnological Techniques for Possible Usage in Phytotherapy
2022
The genus Calendula (Asteraceae) includes several species that are renowned for their therapeutic properties and/or use as ingredients in the preparation of cosmetics. The rare and critically endangered sea marigold, Calendula maritima Guss., an endemic species from Western Sicily, has also been recognized as a potential “farm plant species” for several important compounds used in cosmetics. However, the few remnant populations of this species are currently threatened with extinction because of several factors, such as hybridization with the congeneric species Calendula suffruticosa subsp. fulgida (Raf.) Guadagno and anthropogenic disturbance of its habitat. Therefore, in order to preserve …
Variation in the Senecio aethnensis group (Asteraceae) along an altitudinal gradient
2003
ABSTRACT The variability of the Senecio aethnensis group was investigated through morphometric analyses of seven populations along an altitudinal transect on Mt. Etna (E Sicily). The data obtained show a separation into two groups, one including the populations of the upper and middle belts, at and above 1700 m, the other including the populations from lower altitudes. In the first group a clinal morphological variation in several reproductive and vegetative characters was observed in relation to altitude. The analysis of leaf characters in progeny cultivated under uniform conditions confirmed the differentiation into the two groups, which are to be treated as separate species, i.e. S. aeth…
Recent and new taxonomic acquisitions in some native genera of Asteraceae from southern Italy and Sicily
2021
After a brief review of the recent acquisition in some native genera of family Asteraceae from southern Italy and Sicily, a new endemic species of Anthemis (sect. Hiorthia) is described from Sicily and named Anthemis parlatoreana. The locus classicus of the new taxon, falling in the NW Tyrrhenian coast of the island (Castellammare del Golfo, Trapani), coincides with that of Ptilostemon greuteri, another endemic very rare species of the Sicilian flora. Data on the morphology, distribution, ecology and conservation status of the new species are provided. The taxonomic relationships with the other Sicilian taxa of the same section, in particular A. cupaniana, are also analyzed. The simultaneou…