Valeriana wallichii, an Indian medicinal plant, has been on trial for its role in stress disorders in hospital based clinical set-up. Hamilton’s Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was used and thorough clinical investigations were carried out to screen the subjects. Thirty-three subjects (20 male and 13 female; average age 34.2 years) were medicated with the plant extract in a fixed dose reg...

In recent popular publications as well as in widely used information websites directed to cancer patients, valerian is claimed to have a potential of adverse interactions with anticancer drugs. This questions its use as a safe replacement for, for example, benzodiazepines. A review on the interaction potential of preparations from valerian root (Valeriana officinalis L. root) was therefore cond...

The study aimed at determination of the optimum conditions for high yielding and high quality of Valeriana officinalis L. production by selecting the best variety and plantation establishment method. A higher content of active substances but lower yields of underground parts of plants were obtained in a thin-rooted variety (‘Polka’) culture, whereas an adverse tendency was observed in a thick-r...

We evaluated the sleep enhancement activity of the medicinal herbs valerian (Valeriana officinalis), jujube (Ziziphus jujube), lotus seed (Nelumbo nucifera), Gastrodia elata, Polygonatum sibiricum, and baekbokryung (Poria cocos), which can relieve insomnia in a Drosophila model. Locomotor activity was measured in the Drosophila model to evaluate the sleep activity of Korean medicinal herbs trad...

A study was carried out to elaborate the medicinal plant diversity at higher altitude of District Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The district is located between 33°-31' to 34°-08' North latitudes and 72°-33' to 73°-01' East longitude. Floristically the area comes under SinoJapanese region. The study revealed that there were 25 medicinal plant species belonging to 21 families. Among thes...

BACKGROUND The use of food supplements containing botanicals is increasing in European markets. Although intended to maintain the health status, several cases of adverse effects to Plant Food Supplements (PFS) have been described. OBJECTIVES To describe the self-reported adverse effects collected during the European PlantLIBRA PFS Consumer Survey 2011-2012, with a critical evaluation of the p...

In vitro propagation method was developed for obtaining large number of plantlets of Valeriana wallichii DC. (Valerianaceae), an indigenous high value medicinal and aromatic plant species of Indian Himalayan region, using nodes of in vitro grown seedlings. High frequency shoot proliferation was induced in explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentra...