Abstract
The true scientific study of plants began as a consequence and a part of the great intellectual movement of the sixth century BC in Asia Minor and in the Mediterranean Region. Greek and Roman scholars viz., Theophrastus, Cato the Elder, Varro, Vergil, Columella and Pliny the Elder wrote treatises on agriculture dealing with aspects of good crop husbandry used to minimize weed interference with crops by hand weeding, mechanical methods, tillage, burning and mulching. They were the forerunners of allelopathy. In this chapter we combined our expertise in reviewing the agricultural and ethnobotanical knowledge of ancient Greeks and Romans. In particular we focused our attention on medicinal and edible plants (rue, olive, squill and lavender). Their ethnobotanical information suggests great opportunities for the future through full evaluation of their potential allelochemicals in plant interactions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G., De Feo, V., Di Blasio, B., Iacovino, R. and Oliva, A. (2000) Allelochemicals from Rue (Ruta graveolens L.) and Olive (Olea europaea L.) oil mill waste waters as potential natural pesticides. Curr. Topics Phytochem. 3, 167–177.
Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G., De Feo, V., Palumbo, A.D. and Strumia, S. (1996) Infusion of rue for control of purslane weed: biological and chemical aspects. Allelopathy J. 3, 207–216.
Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G., De Feo, V. and Sacchi, R. (1994) Potential allelochemicals from Ruta graveolens L. and their action on radish seeds. J. Chem. Ecol. 20, 2761–2775.
Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G. and Fiorentino, A. (2002) Phenolic compounds from olive mill wastewater against the “tricky germination” of two worst weeds. In: M.R. Reigosa and N. Pedrol (Eds.), Allelopathy from Molecules to Ecosystems. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrect, The Netherlands, pp. 129–138.
Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G., Oliva, A. and Pinto, G. (1996) Ethnobotany of Rue (Ruta graveolensL.): an overview. Delpinoa. 37, 63–72.
Aliotta, G., De Feo, V., Pinto, G. and Pollio, A. (1999) In vitro inhibition of algal growth by Ruta graveolens L. extracts: biological and chemical aspects. Plant Biosyst. 133, 185–191.
Aliotta, G., De Santo, N.G., Pollio, A., Sepe, J. and Touwaide, A. (2004) The diuretic use of Scilla from Dioscorides to the end of the 18th century. J. Nephrol. 17, 342–347.
Aliotta, G., Fiorentino, A., Oliva, A. and Temussi, F. (2002) Olive oil mill wastewater: isolation of polyphenols and their phytotoxicity in vitro. Allelopathy J. 9(1), 9–17.
Aliotta, G., Ligrone, R., Ciniglia, C., Pollio, A., Stanzione, M. and Pinto, G. (2004) Application of microscopic techniques to the study of seeds and microalgae under olive oil wastewater stress. In: F.A. Macias, J.C.G. Galindo, J.M.G. Molinillo and H.G. Cutler (Eds.), Allelopathy Chemistry and Mode of Action of Allelochemicals. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 289–314.
Buenzen, E.J., Schnepple, D.J., Bauer, B.A., Elkin, P.L., Riddle, J.M. and Motley, T.J. (2004) Techniques: bioprospecting historical herbal texts by hunting for new leads in old tomes. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 25(9), 494–498.
Capasso, R. (1997) The chemistry, biotechnology and ecotoxicology of the polyphenols naturally occurring in vegetable wastes. Curr. Topics Phytochem. 1, 145–156.
Capasso, R., Cristinzio, G., Evidente, A. and Scognamiglio, F. (1992) Isolation, spectroscopy and selective phytotoxic effects of polyphenols from vegetable waste waters. Phytochemistry 31, 4125–4128.
Cato, M.P. (1979) On Agriculture. (Davis Hooper W. translator), Loeb Classical, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus (1994) On Agriculture. (Heffner E. and Foster E.S. translators), Loeb Classical, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Duke, J.A. (1986) Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Duke, S.O., Dayan, F.E., Rimando, A.M., Schrader, K.K., Aliotta, G., Oliva, A. and Romagni, J.G. (2002) Chemicals from nature for weed management. Weed Sci. 50, 138–151.
Farnsworth, N.R. (1990) The role of ethnopharmacology and the search for new drugs. In J. Chadwick and J. Marsh (Eds.), Bioactive Compounds from Plants. John Wiley & Sons, Chicester, UK, pp. 2–21.
Grieve, M. (1967). A Modern Herbal. Hafner Publishing Co., London, UK.
Holland, B.K. (1994 Prospecting for drugs in ancient texts. Nature 369, 702
Karamanoli, K., Vokou, D., Menkissoglu, U. and Costantinidou, H.I. (2000) Bacterial colonization of phillosphere of Mediterranean aromatic plants. J. Chem. Ecol. 26, 2035–2048.
Molisch, H. (2001) Der Einfluss einer Pflanze auf die andere Allelopathie. Jena: Verlag G. Fisher, 1937. (English translation by A.B.M. Mallik and S.S. Narwal (Eds.), Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur).
Morton, A.G. (1981) History of Botanical Science. Academic Press, London, UK.
Oliva, A., Lahoz, E., Contillo, R. and Aliotta, G. (1999) Fungistatic activity of Ruta graveolens L. extract and its allelochemicals. J. Chem. Ecol. 25, 519–526.
Oliva, A., Lahoz, E., Contillo, R. and Aliotta, G. (2002) Effects of Ruta graveolens leaves on soil characteristics and early seedling growth of four crop species. Ann. Appl. Biol. 141, 87–91.
Oliva, A., Meepagala, K.M., Wedge, D.E., Harries, D., Hale, A.L., Aliotta, G. and Duke, S.O. (2003) Natural fungicides from Ruta graveolens L. leaves, including a new quinolone alkaloid. J. Agric. Food Chem. 51(4), 890–896.
Pachlatko, J.P. (1998) Natural products in crop protection. Chimia 52, 29–47.
Papachristos, D.P., Karamanoli, K., Stamopoulos, D.C. and Menkissoglu-Spiroudi U. (2004) The relationship between the chemical composition of three essential oils and their insecticidal activity against Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say). Pest Manag. Sci. 60, 514–520.
Pascual-Villalobos, M.J. (2002) Anti-insect activity of bufadienolides from Urginea maritima. In: J. Janick and A. Whipkey (Eds.), Trends in New Crops and New Uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA, pp. 564–566.
Pliny Secundus (1938–1963) Naturalis History (Rackman H., Eichholz D.E., Jones W.H.S. translators), Loeb Classic Library, Cambridge, Harvard University Press; London, Heinemann.
Piomelli, D. and Pollio, A. (1994) Medicinal plants. Nature. 371, 9.
Polunin, O. and Walters, M. (1985) A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Raven, J.E. (2000) Plants and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece. Leopard’s Head Press, Oxford, UK.
Rice, E.L. (1984 Allelopathy. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida, pp. 422.
Theophrastus (1980) Enquiry into Plants. (Hort A.F. translator), Loeb Classical, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Varro Marcus Terenzius (1979) On Agriculture. (Davis Hooper W. translator), Loeb Classical, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Verbiscar, A.J., Patel, J., Banigan, T.F. and Schatz, R.A. (1986) Scilliroside and other scilla compounds in red squill. J. Agric. Food Chem. 34, 973–979.
Vergil Publius Maro (1989) Eclogue, Georgics Aeneid. (Goold G.P. translator), Loeb Classical, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Vokou, D. (1992) The allelopathic potential of aromatic shrubs in phryganic (east Mediterranean) ecosystems. In: S.J.H. Rizvi and V. Rizvi (Eds.), Allelopathy Basic and Applied Aspects. Chapman & Hall, London.
Vokou, D. (1999) Essential oils as allelochemicals: research advances in Greece. In: S.S. Narwal (Ed.), Allelopathy Update: Basic and Applied Aspects. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi.
Zobel, A.M. and Brown, S.A. (1988) Determinations of furocoumarins on the leaf surface ofRuta graveolens with an improved extraction technique J. Nat. Prod. 51, 941–946.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aliotta, G., Mallik, A.U., Pollio, A. (2008). Historical Examples of Allelopathy and Ethnobotany from the Mediterranean Region. In: Zeng, R.S., Mallik, A.U., Luo, S.M. (eds) Allelopathy in Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77337-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77337-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77336-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-77337-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)