UNLABELLED Ferula ovina (Boiss.) Boiss. is a traditional Iranian flavoring agent used as an ingredient of spices and condiments. METHODS AND RESULTS GC-MS analyses of F. ovina aerial parts' essential oil revealed the presence of a number of rare aromatic esters of monoterpenic alcohols. The structures of these esters were corroborated by synthesis, and one of them, bornyl 4-methoxybenzoate, t...

Jaundice begins in the infants from the very early days of birth; the symptoms usually appear with yellow skin and sometimes eyes, jaundice first involves only the face, but it also affects the chest, abdomen, legs, and the soles of the feet and the lower limbs.  In this ethnobotanical study, attempt was made to identify medicinal plants used in the herbal medicine of Shahrekord region to treat...

Absorption of selenate and selenite by excised roots of Astragalus Crotalariae, a selenium accumulator, and of A. lentiginosus, a non-accumulator, was favored by CaCl(2) and a pH of 4.0. The uptake of selenate and possibly selenite, is metabolically linked. Roots of a number of Astragalus species were examined, and in all cases selenate entered the roots much faster than selenite. In these shor...

Although Astragalus, Ligusticum and Schizandrae have a long history of medicinal use within the traditional Chinese system, only recently has the West begun to understand their pharmacological possibilities and clinical applications. Astragalus has demonstrated a wide range of immunopotentiating effects and has proven efficacious as an adjunct cancer therapy. Ligusticum, and its active componen...

Conservationists often propagate rare species to improve their long-term population viability. However, seed dormancy can make propagation efforts challenging by substantially lowering seed germination. Here I statistically compare several pretreatment options for seeds of Astragalus cicer L.: unscarified controls and scarification via physical damage, hot water, acid, and hydrogen peroxide. Al...

Astragalus (Fabaceae), the largest genus of plants in the world with an estimated 3270 species, is known for large numbers of rare endemic species. An inventory of patterns of climatic, topographic, and edaphic diversity of Astragalus taxa in California (98 native species and 144 named taxa) provides a means to understand the occurrence of rarity in relation to climatic equitability and regiona...