Analyzing the Name of "Badranjboyeh" in the Iranian Ethnobotany

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Payame Noor University, Iran.

3 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

10.22091/ethc.2025.11982.1046

Abstract

Objective: "Badranjboyeh" is a challenging name in the local knowledge of medicinal plants of Iran, so that in the market of medicinal plants, the use of this name is common for several different species, and even in some scientific sources, the name Badranjboyeh is referred to more than one species. Using the same name for two or more plants due to similar therapeutic properties and similar morphology is a relatively common thing in the local knowledge of different regions of the world, but in the case of lemon balm, the number of species that are called by this name seems exceptional. Therefore, this study attempted to identify all medicinal species that are used under the name of lemon balm in Iran.
Methods: First, by referring to the perfumer’s guild of different cities, related departments in Jihad of agriculture and natural resources, interviews with botanist professors in different universities of the country, healers and local experts, basic information about the species used under the title Badranjbouye collected and then proceeded to prepare samples from different regions of the country.
Results: Based on the results of this research, 19 species are known as Badranjabuiyeh in the country, 7 species are completely locally used and 12 species are used completely or relatively widely.
Conclusion: The similar therapeutic use, the abundance of each species in each region and the appearance of some species can be the most important reasons for using one name for this number of species, although it seems that this variety is not rooted in local knowledge and in some cases commercial purposes as well has fueled this issue.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Abdollahi, E., Khodaparast, M., Kiashi, F., & Hoormand, M. (2019). Role of medicinal herbs in the development of renal adverse effects: a review study. Journal of Medicinal Plants, 18(4), 23-45. (in Persian)
Alyas, A. A., Aldewachi, H., & Aladul, M. I. (2024). Adulteration of herbal medicine and its detection methods. Pharmacognosy Journal, 16(1), 248-261.
Amin, Gh., Bozorgi, M., Khanavi, M., Khalaj, A., Zolfaghari, B., RaisDana, A., Shirzad, M., Talib, A. M., Shams Ardakani, M. R., & Rahimi, R. (2018). Lemon balm. Journal of Islamic and IranianTraditional Medicine, 9(1), 95-101. (in Persian)
Asadi, M., Maassoumi, A. A., Khatamsaz, M., & Mozaffarian, V. (1990-2013). Flora of Iran (Vol. 1– 77, p. 5730). Tehran: Research Institute of Forests and Rangeland Press. (in Persian)
Bakhtiari, Z., Minaeifar, A. A., Bakshi Khaniki, Gh., Haeri Nesab, M., & Yazdi Niapour, Z. (2023). The most common therapeutic effects and consumption algorithm of plants sold under the name of Lemon balm in the pharmacies and herbal markets of Iran. Complementary Medicine Journal of Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, 131(46), 10-19.
Ghahraman, A. (1988). The colorful flora of Iran. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands Publications.
Heshmati, J., Morvaridzadeh, M., Sepidarkish M., Fazelian, S., Rahimlou, M., Omidi, A., Palmowski, A., Asadi, A., & Shidfar, F. (2020). Effects of Melissa officinalis (Lemon balm) on cardio metabolic outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytotherapy Research, 10, 1-11.
Hooper, D., & Field, H. (1937). Useful plants and drugs of Iran and Iraq (Botanical Series, Vol. 9). Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History.
Jamzad, Z. (2012). Flor of Iran (Vol. 76, Lamiaceae). Research institute of Forests and Rangelands Publishing. (in Persian)
Joharchi, M. R., & Amiri, M. S. (2012). Taxonomic evaluation of misidentification of crude herbal drugs marketed in Iran. Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine, 2(2), 105-112.
Minaeifar, A., Daneshmand, F., & Rasekh, F. (2023). Investigation of commonfrauds in medicinal plants. In The 4th National Biology Conferenceof Iran (pp. 20-28). Payam Noor Universiy, Shiraz. (in Persian)
Minaeifar, A., Ireji, K., Rasekh, F., Tanideh, N., Ireji, A., & Ramezanian, M. (2022). Investigation of antioxidant properties and identification of plant species offered under lemon balm name in perfumeries of Yazd and Shiraz cities. Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, 37(6), 1001-1010. (in Persian)
Minaeifar, A. A., Dehghanpour Farasha, S., & Rasekh, F. (2019). Atlas of microscopy of some common plants in traditional Iranian medicine. Tehran: FaraFar Publishing. (in Persian)
Mozafarian, V. (1996). Dictionary of names of Iranian plants. Farhang Moaser Pulishing. (in Persian)
Mozafarian, V. (2013). Identification the medicinal and aromatic plants of Iran. Farhang Moaser Pulishing. (in Persian)
Nazar, N., Howard, C., Slater, A., & Sgamma, T. (2022), Challenges in medicinal and aromatic plants DNA Barcoding-Lessons from the Lamiaceae. Plants, 11(1), 137-149.
Nithaniyal, S., Vassou, S. L., Poovitha, S., Raju, B., & Parani, M. (2017), Identification of species adulteration in traded medicinal plant raw drugs using DNA barcoding. Genome, 60(2), 139-146.
Noguchi-Shinohara, M., Ono, K., Hamaguchi, T., Nagai, T., Kobayashi, Sh., Komatsu, J., Samuraki-Yokohama, M., Nakamura, H., & Yamada, M. (2020). Safety and efficacy of Melissa officinalis extract containing rosmarinic acid in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease progression. Journal of Scientific Reports, 10(1), 18627.
Petrisor, G., Motelica, L., Craciun, L. N., Oprea, O. C., Ficai, D., & Ficai, A. (2022). Melissa officinalis: composition, pharmacological effects and derived release systems-A review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(7), 3591-3616.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics