Commercialized non-Camellia tea:traditional function and molecular identification

Non-Camellia tea is a part of the colorful Chinese tea culture,and is also widely used as beverage and medicine in folk for disease prevention and treatment.In this study,37 samples were collected,including 33 kinds of non-Camellia teas and 4 kinds of teas(Camellia).Traditional functions of non-Camellia teas were investigated.Furthermore,non-Camellia teas of original plants were characterized and identified by molecular methods.Four candidate regions(rbcL,matK,ITS2,psbA-trnH)were amplified by polymerase chain reaction.In addition,DNA barcodes were used for the first time to discriminate the commercial non-Camellia tea and their adulterants,and to evaluate their safety.This study showed that BLASTN and the relevant phylogenetic tree are efficient tools for identification of the commercial non-Camellia tea and their adulterants.However,some sequences from original plants have not been found and there is a limitation of sequence number of original plants in GenBank.Submitting more original plant sequences to the GenBank will be helpful for evaluating the safety of non-Camellia teas.

An ethnopharmacological investigation of medicinal Salvia plants (Lamiaceae) in China

In China,over 40 species of the genus Salvia have been used as medicinal plants for various diseases,some for thousands of years.Recently,research has focused on the biological activities of Salvia medicinal plants used in traditional chinese medicine(TCM).However,to date a scientific survey of the genus Salvia in China has not been carried out.In this paper,we report the results of 10 field surveys of Salvia medicinal plants collected in 17 provinces including detailed information on their local names,growing environment,distribution and therapeutic effects.We also summarize the results of research on the materia medica,phytochemistry and pharmacology of some of the important Salvia medicinal plants.Our study reveals that 35 Salvia plants have been used in TCM in different regions of China,including 20 species used as Danshen to treat heart diseases,and 15 species used to treat a range of other conditions including gynecological diseases,muscular or skeletal problems,hepatitis,urological diseases,and mouth and eye conditions.It is clear that some species of Salvia L.possess significant pharmacological activity in the context of ethnopharmacological knowledge,especially in the treatment of heart disease.Further studies of the phytochemistry and pharmacology of Salvia species will no doubt improve their medical utilization and contribute to the development of new natural drugs.