The PhytoAuthent project was structured to gather, test, develop and apply, in real life case scenarios, molecular techniques, such as biochemical fingerprinting and DNA sequence-based methods, for plant identification of ...

Studying herbal products derived from local and traditional knowledge and their value chains is one of the main challenges in ethnopharmacology. The majority of these products have a long history of use, but non-harmonized ...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: More than 15,000 angiosperm species are dioecious, i.e., having distinct male and female individual plants. The allocation of resources between male and female plants is different, and also ...

Local markets provide a rapid insight into the medicinal plants growing in a region as well as local traditional health concerns. Identification of market plant material can be challenging as plants are often sold in dried ...

Many herbal products have a long history of use, but there are increasing concerns over product efficacy, safety and quality in the wake of recent cases exposing discrepancies between labeling and constituents. When it ...

Chikanda is a traditional dish made with wild-harvested ground orchid tubers belonging to three orchidioid genera, Disa, Satyrium and Habenaria, all of which are CITES appendix II-listed. Identification of collected orchid ...

Background Thousands of flowering plant species attract pollinators without offering rewards, but the evolution of this deceit is poorly understood. Rewardless flowers of the orchid Erycina pusilla have an ...

Background: The trade of plant roots as traditional medicine is an important source of income for many people around the world. Destructive harvesting practices threaten the existence of some plant species. Harvesters of ...

Tubers of terrestrial orchids are harvested and traded from the eastern Mediterranean to the Caspian Sea for the traditional product Salep. Overexploitation of wild populations and increased middle-class prosperity have ...

Background and AimsNepenthes attracts wide attention with its spectacularly shaped carnivorous pitchers, cultural value and horticultural curiosity. Despite the plant’s iconic fascination, surprisingly little anatomical ...