Medicinal Plants Mentioned in Tamil Sangam Anthologies

When Tamil Literary Epochal Anthologies were made, in them were identified very many herbal diversities. In Sangam times, people lived well aligned with Nature World, of which they knew they too were a part. Flora and Vegetation were part of their living. Plants were integral to the lifestyle of theirs they knew. Creepers, Climbers, and Herbs were medicinal to them in their life. But in centuries that followed, their minds gradually veered away from the focus of the significant vegetable kingdom. Nowadays, when viruses attack humanity, we by compulsion look back to olden times and are disposed to think of the medicinal uses of forgotten or neglected plant and herbal species which might offer protection from endemics and pandemics like SARS Covid varieties. This article explores the importance of such plant species in their culture, cultivation, growth, extraction and medicinal utility in pharmacological applications.

Biologically Active Aldehydes In Extracts Of Lactarius Pergamenus (Fr.) Fr Fresh Fruiting Bodies

The biologically active aldehydes in extracts of fungi of the genus Lactarius were identified. It’s established that these substances are unstable, they are found in fresh and frozen fungi, but are absent in dried mushrooms and interact with 1,4-phenylenediamine to form a colored compound. Methylene chloride is the best extragent for these substances. TLC on silufol plates showed that there were several substances in Lactarius pergamenus fruiting bodies and they had varying degrees of stability. For selection of these substances, methylene chloride extract was separated on a column of silica gel. Fraction, which gave the most expressive reaction with 1,4-phenylenediamine on thin-layer chromatograms were analyzed by GC-MS both in the absence and in the presence of 1,4-phenylenediamine. As a result, it was found that 1,4-phenylenediamine or other aromatic amines interacted with highly active aldehydes, that were present in fruiting bodies. Among them 2,2-dimethylocta- 3,4-dienal was the most stable and was present in the biggest quantity. This substance very rarely occurs in the vegetable kingdom and in fungi extracts of Lactarius genus wasn’t previously described. Its possible function in fungi is prevention of damage by parasites and eating by animals.