Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Middle-East

About this book

Plants have been known and cultivated for their therapeutic properties in the Middle-East throughout recorded history and most likely beyond that. With the progress of science, they continue to be cultivated and collected for both traditional and innovative purposes.

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Middle-East offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on medicinal plants and their increasing importance as cultivated crops, or as plants with significant potential to become crops in this important region.

In 17 chapters of meticulous research, this unique volume explores history, taxonomy, ecology and biodiversity, cultivation and breeding, agronomy and medicinal properties.

Written by leading scientists, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Middle-East includes:
- The history of medicinal plants used by our ancestors during the early periods of civilization, especially in the Near-East;
- The use of plants for producing health products (pomegranate, pine), pharmaceutical drugs (khat for natural amphetamines, opium poppy, Myrtle); nutrition and food products: (Eruca sativa, citron,) herbs and spices (oregano, sages,) cosmeceutical products and perfumes (rose oil, apharsemon, myrrh and olibanum), liqueurs (Myrtus communis) and many more; Traditional plants used by Bedouin tribes in the Middle-East;
- The use of edible wild plants in tradition and as future health foods;
- The use of Pistacia in veterinary as well as in human medicine;
- The presentation of a native plant from Jordan: Juniperus, with its traditional and promising modern studies;
- Some important traditional medicinal plants with great potential (Capparis spinosa, Sacropoterium spinosum)

From poppy and rose-oil to khat and citron Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Middle-East highlights issues relevant to the collection, conservation, cultivation, production and utilization of a selection of unique medicinal and aromatic plants, with demonstrated promise for the benefit of society-especially in the 21st century.

Contents

Forward

Chapter 1: Medicinal Plants in ancient traditions; Z. Yaniv
Chapter 2: Wild Edible Plants in Israel Tradition versus Cultivation; U. Mayer-Chissick
Chapter 3: Ethnobotany among Bedouin tribes in the Middle-East; A .Abu-Rabia
Chapter 4: Selected Aromatic-Medicinal Plants, Endemic to the Middle-East; N. Dudai and Z. Yaniv
Chapter 5: Capparis spinosa, The Plant on the Wall; M. Faran
Chapter 6: Apharsemon, Myrrh and Olibanum: Ancient Medical Plants; S. Ben-Yehoshua and L.O. Hanus
Chapter 7: Sarcopoterium spinosum; Z. Henkin, T. Rosenzweig and Z. Yaniv Bachrach
Chapter 8: Traditional uses of Pistacia lentiscus in Veterinary and Human Medicine; S. Landau, H. Muklada, A. Marcovics and H. Azaizeh
Chapter 9: Farming Amphetamines: Khat (Catha edulis Forsk) a Traditional Plant with Psychoactive and Medicinal Properties; S. Ben Shabat, P. Goloubinoff, N. Dudai and E. Lewinsohn
Chapter 10: Citron Cultivation, Production and Uses in the Mediterranean Region; J. D. Klein
Chapter 11: Therapeutic Use of Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.); G. Schiller
Chapter 12: Pomegranate: Aspects Concerning Dynamics of Health Beneficial Phytochemicals and Therapeutic Properties; D. Holland and I. Bar-Yaacov
Chapter 13: Juniperus phoenicea from Jordan; M. S. Abu-Darwish, C. Cabral and L. Salgueiro
Chapter 14: Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) A Native Mediterranean and Cultured Crop Species; S. Zilkah and E. E. Goldschdmidt
Chapter 15: Eruca sativa: A Tasty Herb Salad with Health Promoting Properties; O. Barazani and J. Ziffer-Berger
Chapter 16: Rose Oil (Rosa damascena); K.H. Can Baser and N. Arslan
Chapter 17: Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum); K.H Can Baser and N. Arslan

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Biography

Zohara Yaniv is Prof. Emeritus at the Agricultural Research Organization. She Received her PhD from Columbia University in New York (1967) and worked for several years as a researcher at the Institute for Plant Research Boyce Thompson Center at Yonkers, NY, on topics related to biochemical control of parasite relations-host. Dr. Yaniv is an international expert on medicinal plants. Particularly interested in folk medicine related, conventional and renewable ancient cultures in the modern world. Her research work focused on ethnic botanical research of the Middle East and Israel.