Indicators for the medicinal and aromatic potential of endemic plants in the Peloponnese (Greece)

Abstract

The interest in new natural products and herbal raw materials increases in a variety of scientific and industrial fields, but many plant taxa of restricted distribution tend to be overlooked as potential assets. Their large number precludes their study and valorisation. Therefore, there is a dire need to develop tools for assessing the plant taxa potential as ecosystem service providers, to prioritise the research efforts and to enhance conservation priorities. With the aim of identifying taxa of interest as potential medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP), amongst the taxa of a given flora, we developed a set of indicators. These indicators are based on the available scientific literature and are formulated even for taxa of restricted distribution, based on their closely-related species in terms of phylogeny, taxonomy (same species or same genus within the flora) or in use as approved herbal medicine or edible crops. The developed indicators are herein applied to the endemic flora of the Peloponnese, a floristic region of Greece with high total - and endemic - species diversity. Even though only 12.5% of the endemic taxa have previously been documented as MAP, the use of indicators suggests 58.3% of the flora as of non-null MAP potential (Indicator I 1 ), while 74.1% of the taxa obtained a non-null value of Study Interest Index (Indicator I 2 ). The results suggest 25 taxa as of high MAP potential, whereas 24 taxa are emphasised as of high-priority for further studies. This is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to establish a systematic literature-based method to assess potentially significant edible, medicinal and/or aromatic taxa.

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