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Since 1978, SCIENCE, CULTURE, ACTUALITY
OF THE OFFICINAL PLANTS.

STUDIO EDIZIONI CATALOG

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AZADIRACHTA INDICA, the NEEM:
AYURVEDIC TRADITION AND PHARMACHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

by Ambrogio Saibene.

(From Erboristeria Domani / no 200, January 1997, pages 61-79)

The great variety of uses suggested by the ayurvedic tradition for A. indica have been subjected to pharmachological tests.
Besides its employment in inflammatory, cardiovascular and central nervous system diseases, new researches suggest also its employment as anti-diabetic and insect-repellent.

TAXONOMY

A. indica was first described by Linneo in his "Species plantarum" (1793) as Melia azadirachta. A. de Lussieu (1830) was the first to separate Azadirachta from Melia. Now A. indica is considered as belonging to the tribe Meliae, one of the five tribes of subfamily Melioideae, family Meliaceae (Harms, 1940).

DESCRIPTION

A. indica is a quick growing evergreen tree, with rounded top; it can be 25 m heigh and 5-6 m large. It bears many flowers in panicles; the production of fruits begins after the fifth year and reaches its maximum after 10 years; the plant can live up to 200 years.

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION

A. indica is endemic of the Indo-pakistani sub-continent. Nowadays it is found in India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh, North Birmania and dry lands of Sri Lanka. In South.East Asia it is found in Thailandia, Malaysia and Indonesia; it has been introduced also into Philippines, Mauritius and Fiji islands. In the Middle East it can be found in Yemen and Saudi Arabia; in Africa in Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritania, Togo, Ivory Cost, Camerun. It grows in Haiti and Suriname, and has been introduced into Cuba and Nicaragua.

AZADIRACHTA picture : drawing in Erboristeria Domani No 200, January 1997, page 61.

ESSENTIAL OILS / PROFESSION

MIND THE TARGET
BIOAVAILABILITY, METABOLISM AND TOXICITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

by Massimo Rossi
(From Erboristeria Domani No 200, January 1997, pages 26-32)

One gram of pure essential oil derives from over a hundred grams of the plant. This implies an increase not only of the pharmacological activities of the substances, but also of their potential toxicity. The knowledge of their side effects is indispensable if they are to be safely employed. The essential oils, specially if taken orally, quickly reach the target organ, i. e. the organ which modifies non self-molecules or molecules produced by the organism metabolism.

POTENTIAL TOXICITY. Some active compounds can be toxic to the liver, promoting the formation of free radicals or modifying the physico-chemical characteristics of the bile. Particularly significant is the case of menthol. Other essential oils can be toxic to the kidneys, particularly those containing aldehydes or phenols. On the contrary, no renal damage was found to be caused by juniper, which was once believed to be toxic. Finally, some essential oils have vasodilatating activity which affects the circulatory system.

MUCOUS MEMBRANES. When applied to the skin, before reaching the blood capillaries the essential oils penetrate through the epidermal and dermal cells, and in this transitional phase can cause irritation to the mucous membranes. Their cutaneous absorption is influenced by many factors, such as skin conditions, solvent type, interface temperature, skin hydration and treatment.

Essential oils and hepatic functionality

INQUIRY / PROFESSION

HERBALISTS "SANS PAPIER"

by Demetrio Benelli.

(From Erboristeria Domani No 199 - December 1996, pages 20-24)

Inquiry by Erboristeria Domani on the necessary requirements for the opening of a herbal shop, in view of the uncertainty of the law and the jungle of licences.

A collaborator followed the bureaucratic itinerary to open a herbal shop, choosing Milan as a sample town.

The Chamber of Commerce and the Municipality, after some uncertainty in the procedure, stated that the diploma required by law No 99 of 1931 (link document 1), which up to now has been given only by the University of Urbino, is necessary only if one wants to cultivate, harvest, prepare and sell medicinal plants. To open a shop where only already packaged and sealed herbal products are commercialized, registration followed by municipal licence is enough.

The document issued by the Licence Bureau of Milan Municipality (link document 2) confirms that no particular professional licence is require if one intends to sell only industrial products. This is not an extension of the commercial regulations regarding other sectors (e.g. the cosmetic or food sector), but a different procedure applied just to table XIV, which regulates the opening of herbal shops.

Some of our readers confirm that similar procedures are adopted in other towns: from Ancona to Cuneo cases are signalled of herbal shops opened with licences given on the basis of the commercial law No 425/71, without further restrictions.

The risk of different interpretations by different Municipalities causes uncertainty and urgently calls for a new law to better regulate this sector.

PLANTS AND MAN / CULTURE

BOTANICAL XYLOGRAPHIES AND THE DAWN OF SCIENCE
by Sergio Toresella

(From Erboristeria Domani No 200 January 1997, pages 48-58)

In the Renaissance age the development of scientific illustration is linked with the growth of descriptive disciplines such as botany, anatomy and geography. It is the age of printed herbaria, made with the collaboration of three different specialists: a printer (picture A), .

a "delineator" who reduced the picture to the size of the wooden tablet (picture B) and an engraver (picture C).
Xylography, one of the most ancient techniques of image reproduction much used also for printing decorative patterns on tissues, is strictly related to the development of botany. Actually, the first illustrated botany book is also the first xylographic reproduction of the text and drawings of an ancient codex, codex 97 v of Montecassino Abbey, which according to hunger is the model used by Philip de Lignamine to print his Herbarium Apulei in Rome in 1481. However, in the introduction to the facsimile of this edition William Stearn maintains that there are differences in the drawings which suggest that two twin Herbaria existed in Montecassino, and that the one used by Lignamine was lost.

The scientific revolution on which is based the Modern age was favoured by the large diffusion of mechanically reproduced pictures, all identical. In this way, a drawing was no longer modified through different interpretations of the same object, but could be examined by anybody interested in different places and at different times.

In Milan works one of the last woodengravers, Adriano Porazzi, born in 1914, who made the two reproductions of Mandragola from ancient Herbaria, for the twentieth anniversary of our magazine.

MONOGRAPHIES / RESEARCH

LATEX OF "SANGRE DE DRAGO", FROM FOREST TO LABORATORY
by Antonio Bianchi

(From Erboristeria Domani No 201 February 1997, pages 49-53)

Sangre de Drago or Sangre de Grado is the name used in the amazonian forest to indicate the red latex produced by some species of Croton (Euphorbiaceae) through a mere cut of the cortex. The latex is used by the healers of the rural areas of the amazonian region and is now sold in many shops of natural products in the main towns of Peru and Equador. Recent laboratory researches have discovered the mechanism of its wound-healing activity. If taken orally, the latex is indicated against cough, influenza, infections, lung diseases, diarrhoea and gastropathies. Applied externally, it is used to heal wounds and sores, in cases of herpes, on the gums after tooth extraction and in all oral pathologies. It is also used for diabetes, hepatitis, tumour prevention, to increase fertility and to lose weight

After reviewing the most recent laboratory studies, the article hints at the problems caused by the intensive exploitation of vast areas of the peruvian forest, and emphasizes how the increased market demand may endanger the very life of the plant.