Emin Uğurlu

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Some Endemic Scrophulariaceae. Members from Turkey

Abstract The methanol extracts obtained from endemic Scrophulariaceae. members Verbascum protractum. Fenel ex Tchihat., Verbascum bellum. Hub.-Mor., Verbascum dalamanicum. Hub.-Mor., Scrophularia mersinensis. Lall, Scrophularia cryptophila. Boiss. & Heldr., Pedicularis olympica. Boiss., and Veronica lycica. E. Lehm. have been investigated for their antimicrobial activity. Antimicrobial activity was determined with Escherichia coli. ATCC 11230, Staphylococcus aureus. ATCC 6538P, Klebsiella pneumoniae. UC57, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ATCC 27853, Proteus vulgaris. ATCC 8427, Bacillus cereus. ATCC 7064, Mycobacterium smegmatis. CCM 2067, Listeria monocytogenes. ATCC 15313, Micrococcus luteus. CCM 169, Candida albicans. ATCC 10231, Rhodotorula rubra. DSM 70403, and Kluyveromyces fragilis.ATCC 8608 by the disk diffusion method. The extracts of all Scrophulariaceae members used in this study had strong antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria and yeast cultures.

Medicinal plants used by traditional healers in Bozüyük (Bilecik-Turkey)

ETHNOBOTANICAL RELEVANCE Turkey is one of the richest countries in terms of plant diversity, owing to its unique geographical location with different climatic and geomorphological structures. For this reason interest in ethnobotanical studies has been rising. The goal of this study is to document traditional uses of medicinal plants and supply phytomedicines with efficacy and safety for use in primary health care in Bozüyük in Bilecik district, located in the nortwestern part of Anatolia in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS The ethnomedicinal data was collected during 2009-2010 using semi-structured questionnaires, personal interviews and group discussion with 60 informants (22 men and 38 women). As a statistical method, informant consensus factors (FIC) and fidelity level (FL) values were calculated to analyze the importance of ethnobotanical plant species. RESULTS 104 Plant species belonging to 47 families were found in this study. Among them 59 species were wild and 45 species were cultivated plants. The most common wild species belongs to Lamiaceae (15.3%), Apiaceae (6.8%), Fabaceae (5.1%), Asteraceae (5.1%), Polygonaceae (5.1%) and the most common cultivated species belongs to Rosaceae (24.4%), Apiaceae (11.1%), Fabaceae (11.1%), Brassicaceae (8.9%) and Poaceae (6.7%) families. The most common preperation method is infusion with the rate of 45%. According to use value (UV) the most important plant is Linum usitatissimum L. (0.86). The highest Consensus Informants Factor (FIC) of the ailments are skeletomuscular and conjunctivitis diseases with the same value of 0.80. The most frequent species is Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson which is used for diuretic ailments with the amount of 88.33% fidelity level. CONCLUSIONS This paper reserves valuable ethnobotanical information for research area. The importance of traditional medicines and indigenous knowledge should be conserved and encouraged. In addition to this further laboratory investigations should be conducted on plants to produce pharmaceutical output.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Some Endemic Verbascum., Sideritis., and Stachys. Species from Turkey

Abstract Methanol extracts obtained from endemic Verbascum pseudoholotrichum. Hub.-Mor., Verbascum cymigerum. Hub.-Mor., Verbascum cholorostegium. Bornm. & Murb., Verbascum linguifolium. Hub.-Mor., Verbascum pellitum. Hub.-Mor., Sideritis brevidens. P.H. Davis, Sideritis cilicica. Boiss. & Bal., Sideritis vuralii. H. Duman & Baser, Stachys aleurites. Boiss. & Heldr., and Stachys pinardii. Boiss. have been investigated for their antimicrobial activity. Antimicrobial activity was determined with Escherichia coli. ATCC 11230, Staphylococcus aureus. ATCC 6538P, Klebsiella pneumoniae. UC57, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ATCC 27853, Proteus vulgaris. ATCC 8427, Bacillus cereus. ATCC 7064, Mycobacterium smegmatis. CCM 2067, Listeria monocytogenes. ATCC 15313, Micrococcus luteus. CCM 169, Candida albicans. ATCC 10231, Rhodotorula rubra. DSM 70403, and Kluyveromyces fragilis. ATCC 8608 by the disk diffusion method. Verbascum. L. extracts had strong antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and yeast cultures. The extracts of Stachys. L. were effective only against bacteria. The extracts of Sideritis. L. demonstrated antimicrobial effects against the bacteria and the yeast cultures used in this study.

Species response curves of oak species along climatic gradients in Turkey

The genus Quercus is one of the most important tree species in Turkey. However, little is known on the ecological preferences of Turkish oak species regarding climate. We analyzed species response curves using a HOF-model approach to describe the general pattern of oak distributions along climatic gradients and to identify the driving climatic factors for eight oak species in Turkey. While climate data were extracted from the free available worldclim dataset, occurrence data on oak species were assembled from the literature into a vegetation database (n = 1,104). From the analyzed species response curves, only fa ew (16%) showed unimodal responses, while most were linear (31%) or exhibited a threshold response (31%). The driving factors were seasonality of temperature and seasonality of precipitation, indicating that Turkish oak species can be characterized best by the preference of climatic stability. These findings have important implications for conservation and climate change research, which usually focuses on trends of the mean values of temperature or precipitation but less often on the seasonality. In this study, we further tested whether niche optima derived from raw mean values of occurrences could replace missing model optima due to non-responsiveness of HOF models of type I. However, we did not find this to be a satisfactory solution. Finally, we discuss the need for the construction of a national database based on phytosociological relevés for Turkey.

Contribution to the traditional uses of medicinal plants of Turgutlu (Manisa--Turkey).

ETHNOBOTANICAL RELEVANCE The aim of this study is to document and describe important ethnobotanical features of 14 villages of Turgutlu (Manisa - Turkey). MATERIALS AND METHODS The regular ethnobotanical surveys were carried out during different seasons in the years 2009 and 2010 in 14 villages of Turgutlu. The data was collected from 91 village inhabitants using semi-structured interviews. Use value (UV) was used to calculate the relative importance of species known by the inhabitants. Informant Consensus Factor (FIC) was used to calculate the level of homogeneity of diseases. RESULTS Twenty-nine plant families and 54 plant species were found in this ethnobotanical survey. Among them, 22 (40.7%) species were wild and 32 (59.3%) species were cultivated plants. Rosaceae (14.8%), Asteraceae (9.3%), Lamiaceae (9.3%), Apiaceae (5.6%) and Brassicaceae (5.6%) were the most common plant families. According to results of the use value (UV) calculations, Agropyron repens (L.) P.Beauv., Lactuca sativa L., Beta vulgaris L. var. crassa (Alef.) Helm, Spinacia oleracea L., Brassica nigra (L.) Koch, Capsella bursa-pastoris L. and Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb. yielded the highest use value. Consensus Informants Factor (FIC) ranges were between 0.87 and 0.95. Blood disorders, wounds, dermatological diseases and chest infections were 0.95, 0.93, 0.92, 0.90 while both gastrointestinal and skeletomuscular ailments were 0.87 informant consensus values, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The usage of medicinal plants for traditional healers is still popular among the inhabitants of the village. This study documents valuable information for traditional remedies and contributes to the usage of medicinal plants in the research area.

Traditional uses and ecological resemblance of medicinal plants in two districts of the Western Aegean Region (Turkey)

We interviewed 91 people who use plants for medicinal purposes regularly in Altınova (Balıkesir) and Kozak (İzmir) during 2009–2010. We recorded the local names of plants, useful parts of plants, ailments treated, preparation and application methods during the interviews. We performed a use value (UV) calculation to assess the relative importance of local species. We carried out informant consensus factor ( F IC ) analysis to find out the level of disease homogeneity. Finally, we identified 63 plant taxa belonging to 32 families. Among these were 47 wild and 16 cultivated. Lamiaceae (14.3%), Asteraceae (12.7%), Rosaceae (9.5%), Chenopodiaceae (6.3%) and Brassicaceae (4.8%) families were the most common. Use values showed Urtica dioica L. and Malva sylvestris L. were the most commonly used species. Homogeneity of diseases ( F IC ) values were the highest for dermatological, gastrointestinal and blood disorders, 0.93, 0.92 and 0.91, respectively. In our study, herb medicinal species showed more ecological differences than shrub and tree species in terms of altitudinal range and flowering period. Our results also showed that herbal remedies are substantially important among the local people.

Plant communities, diversity and endemism of the Kula Volcano, Manisa, Turkey

Volcanoes often harbour specialized plant communities and shelter endemic plant species. Kula Volcano is one of 14 volcanoes in Turkey. Although this volcano is clearly a landmark of the Aegean region, only few botanical studies analysed the vegetation pattern at the Kula Volcano. None performed a phytosociological classification to delimit different plant communities. We applied a stratified random sampling design according to altitude and aspect and sampled 112 vegetation plots. We classified plant community types using a modified TWINSPAN analysis followed by the determination of diagnostic species based on φ coefficient fidelity values. Floristic relationships between plant community types were interpreted by ordination and ANOSIM analyses. Further, we used partial correlations of the ordination axes and environmental parameters in order to identify relationships between vegetation zonation and environment. We identified five major plant community types based on 85 diagnostic species. These plant community types were significantly correlated with altitude and aspect. Further, 13 endemic plant species were found from which one was endangered and one was classified as vulnerable according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Ovacık (Karabük) ve Çevresinin Floristik Özellikleri

Ovacik (Karabuk) ve Cevresinin Floristik Ozellikleri Arastirma alani Karabuk ilinin Ovacik ilcesini ve yakin cevresindeki koyleri kapsamaktadir. Arastirma alaninda 2015-2016 yillari arasinda toplanan 283 bitki orneginin degerlendirilmesi ile 58 familyaya ait 163 cins ve 237 tur ve tur alti takson tespit edilmistir. Endemik bitkilerin sayisi 15’tir (%6.33). Taksonlarin % 10’u Iran-Turan, %12’si Akdeniz ve %18’i Avrupa-Sibirya fitocografik bolgeleri elementi olup %59’u cok bolgeli ve bilinmeyen taksonlardan olusmaktadir. En fazla takson sayisina sahip familyalar Fabaceae, Asteraceae ve Lamiaceae’dir Floristic Characteritics of Ovacik (Karabuk) District The research area is situated in Ovacik district and its villages located nearby in Karabuk province. In research area, during the period of 2015-2016 283 plant specimens were collected and 58 families, 163 genus and 237 specific and intraspecific taxa were identified. Fifteen (6.33%) of endemic species were found. Phytogeographical regions of identified species are 10% of Irano-Turanian, 12% of Mediterranean and 18% of Euro-Siberian elements and 59% of unknown and cosmopolits. The most common families regarding to species richness are Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae.