Potential Toxicity of Medicinal Plants Inventoried in Northeastern Morocco: An Ethnobotanical Approach

Abstract

Herbal medicine and its therapeutic applications are widely practiced in northeastern Morocco, and people are knowledgeable about it. Nonetheless, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding their safety. In this study, we reveal the toxic and potential toxic species used as medicines by people in northeastern Morocco in order to compile and document indigenous knowledge of those herbs. Structured and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, and simple random sampling was used as a sampling technique. Based on this information, species were collected, identified, and herbarium sheets were created. The collected data were analyzed using two quantitative indices: informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (Fl), as the degree of these indices give an insight into the level of toxicity of a given plant. The results revealed the knowledge of 55 species belonging to 36 families. The most represented families were Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Solanaceae, and Fabaceae. Furthermore, the majority of the species cited were herbs (67%), and the most common toxic parts were seeds, followed by leaves and roots. According to the informant consensus factor, death (0.81%) had the highest agreement, followed by the urological (0.76%) and skin (0.75%) categories. The most significant plants in terms of fidelity level were Solanum sodomaeum L. and Nerium oleander L. for death, Arisarum vulgare O. Targ. Tozz., Mentha spicata L., and Morus alba L. for the digestive category, Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss. and Citrus x aurantium L. for cardiovascular category, Urtica dioica L. for skin category, Datura stramonium L, and Ephedra altissima Desf. for neurological category, and finally Crocus sativus L. for general and unspecified category. This work highlights a valuable traditional knowledge of poisonous and potential poisonous plants in northeastern Morocco. Further phytochemical and toxicological research is needed to determine the safety of these prized herbs.

Inventory of Medicinal Plants Used Traditionally to Manage Kidney Diseases in North-Eastern Morocco: Ethnobotanical Fieldwork and Pharmacological Evidence

“…As indicated in Table 1 , participants in the age group [46–65 years] have more knowledge of medicinal plants than other age groups, with a frequency of use 53%, followed by the group [25–45 years] with 27%, age group [over 65 years] with 11% and the last group [under 25 years], with a percentage 9%. These results confirm the data indicated previously in other ethnobotanical studies conducted in other areas in Morocco [ 11 , 12 ]. The high proportion of participants was dominated by women, with 58% followed by men with 42%.…”

Antileukemic Activity and Molecular Docking Study of a Polyphenolic Extract from Coriander Seeds

“…Alterations in body weight and internal organs, which serve as early indicators of drug toxicity [ 44 ], but the female mice in both research groups gained weight gradually and were active during the whole study period, indicating regular food and water intake. Furthermore, there were no substantial differences in relative organ weights between the control and CSP-treated groups, indicating that the extract was not harmful to the internal organs ( Table 2 ).…”

Nephroprotective Plants: A Review on the Use in Pre-Renal and Post-Renal Diseases

“…However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how plants act as therapeutic agents. Further, effective doses for plant intakes as food or supplements as treatment are usually not established, and dose-related toxicity of plant chemicals is questioned [ 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”