Medicinal-Cosmetic Potential of the Local Endemic Plants of Crete (Greece), Northern Morocco and Tunisia: Priorities for Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Neglected and Underutilized Phytogenetic Resources
Soumaya Bourgou,
Imtinen Ben Haj Jilani,
Olfa Karous,
Wided Megdiche-Ksouri,
Zeineb Ghrabi-Gammar,
Mohamed Libiad,
Abdelmajid Khabbach,
Mohamed El Haissoufi,
Fatima Lamchouri,
Vasileios Greveniotis,
Manolis Avramakis,
Stefanos Hatzilazarou,
Ioannis Anestis,
Georgios Tsoktouridis,
Nikos Krigas
Affiliations
Soumaya Bourgou
Centre de Biotechnologie de Borj-Cédria, Laboratoire des Plantes Aromatiques et Médicinales, BP 901, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia
Imtinen Ben Haj Jilani
Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie, Université de Carthage, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, Cité Mahrajène, Tunis 1082, Tunisia
Olfa Karous
Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie, Université de Carthage, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, Cité Mahrajène, Tunis 1082, Tunisia
Wided Megdiche-Ksouri
Centre de Biotechnologie de Borj-Cédria, Laboratoire des Plantes Aromatiques et Médicinales, BP 901, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia
Zeineb Ghrabi-Gammar
Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie, Université de Carthage, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, Cité Mahrajène, Tunis 1082, Tunisia
Mohamed Libiad
Laboratory of Natural Substances, Pharmacology, Environment, Modelling, Health and Quality of Life (SNAMPOPEQ), Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, B.P. 1223, Taza Gare, Taza 35000, Morocco
Abdelmajid Khabbach
Laboratory of Natural Substances, Pharmacology, Environment, Modelling, Health and Quality of Life (SNAMPOPEQ), Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, B.P. 1223, Taza Gare, Taza 35000, Morocco
Mohamed El Haissoufi
Laboratory of Natural Substances, Pharmacology, Environment, Modelling, Health and Quality of Life (SNAMPOPEQ), Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, B.P. 1223, Taza Gare, Taza 35000, Morocco
Fatima Lamchouri
Laboratory of Natural Substances, Pharmacology, Environment, Modelling, Health and Quality of Life (SNAMPOPEQ), Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, B.P. 1223, Taza Gare, Taza 35000, Morocco
Vasileios Greveniotis
Institute of Industrial and Forage Crops, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, 41335 Larisa, Greece
Manolis Avramakis
Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, 71409 Heraklion, Greece
Stefanos Hatzilazarou
Laboratory of Floriculture, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Ioannis Anestis
Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, Thermi, P.O. Box 60458, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Tsoktouridis
Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, Thermi, P.O. Box 60458, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Nikos Krigas
Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, Thermi, P.O. Box 60458, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Medicinal-aromatic plants (MAPs) are important sources for the development of new valuable products of interest to human and animal health, and are also used as ornamentals for the horticulture industry. However, the increased global demand and the uncontrolled exploitation of these plants constitute a threat to their sustainability. To date, few scientific investigations have focused on MAPs valorization and their domestication. The purpose of this study was to evaluate for the first time the medicinal-cosmetic potential of 399 local endemic Mediterranean plants confined to Crete (223 taxa), the Mediterranean coast-Rif of Morocco (94), and Tunisia (82). The new methodological scheme was developed by experts through three multidisciplinary co-creative workshops and was adjusted by end-users to point-scoring of nine attributes evaluating the potential of the targeted neglected and underutilized plants (NUPs) in the medicinal-cosmetic sector. The results were demonstrated as percentage of the maximum possible score. These assessments were further linked and discussed with respect to feasibility and readiness timescale evaluations for sustainable exploitation of the focal NUPs. A great diversity of local endemic NUPs (30 taxa, 11 families) were associated with interesting medicinal-cosmetic properties (>35% up to 94.44%). Among them, 8 taxa showed the highest medicinal-cosmetic potential (>55% of maximum possible score), half of which are threatened with extinction. Although ex-situ conservation efforts and applied research work are needed to safeguard and unlock the full potential of the local endemic NUPs evaluated herein, the proposed multifaceted evaluation scheme revealed that some local endemic NUPs of the studied regions can be sustainably exploited in short- or medium-term, following successful examples of Cretan NUPs e.g., Origanum dictramnus. The sustainable exploitation of high scored taxa of the studied regions can be fastened through targeted species-specific research bridging extant research gaps and facilitating conservation and stakeholder attraction.
