Background: This study examined the chemistry and safety of Heteromeles arbutifolia, also called toyon or California holly, which is a traditional California Indian food and treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Plant extracts were examined by HPLC/MS, NMR and other techniques to identify compounds. Volunteers were recruited to examine the acute safety of the plant medicine using a standa...

Ethnomedical questionnaires were distributed in Chicago, Costa Rica, and Colombia to identify the most common over-the-counter (OTC) plant or plant-based products advocated for treating oral pain, ulcerative conditions, and cancer within these locations. Over 100 plants or plant-based herbal preparations and commercial products, purchased from local botanical markets and pharmacies, were advoca...

Human has a duty to preserve the nature. One of the examples is preserving the ornamental plant. Huge economic value of plant trading, escalating esthetical value of one space, and medicine efficacy that contained in a plant are some positive values from this plant. However, only few people know about its medicine efficacy. Considering the easiness to obtain and the medicine efficacy, this plan...

For centuries, Aloe Vera has been used by many different cultures. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Babylonians, Indians and the Chinese have all used Aloe Vera as a medicinal plant. One of the common experimental cancer models is sarcoma-180. When Aloe was administered to mice bearing S-180 tumors, the tumor growth was inhibited. Aloe vera is a dietary supplement and not a regulated drug. T...

For centuries, Aloe Vera has been used by many different cultures. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Babylonians, Indians and the Chinese have all used Aloe Vera as a medicinal plant. One of the common experimental cancer models is sarcoma-180. When Aloe was administered to mice bearing S-180 tumors, the tumor growth was inhibited. Aloe vera is a dietary supplement and not a regulated drug. T...

Saw palmetto, Serenoa repens (Arecaceae), is a traditional medicine of American Indians of the southeast. The berries are used as medicine and as food. The leaves are used to make thatching, baskets, fans, brushes, brooms, rope, fire kindling, fish traps and dolls [1]. European immigrants to the Florida area learned from American Indians to use the berries as medicine. S. repens is the third mo...