Sceletium for Managing Anxiety, Depression and Cognitive Impairment: A Traditional Herbal Medicine in Modern-Day Regulatory Systems.

Modern-day regulatory systems governing conditions for how health products enter national markets constitute a barrier of access for traditional herbal medicines on an international level. Regulatory intentions are focused on ensuring that consumers are being provided with safe, efficacious and high-quality products that, however, collaterally limit opportunities for traditional herbal medicinal products, especially those that do not already have a long-standing tradition of use established in the respective national marketplaces. This case study investigates and compares how a Southern African herbal medicine with great potential as an anxiolytic and mild antidepressant - Mesembryanthemum tortuosum L. [syn. Sceletium tortuosum (L.) N.E.Br.] aerial parts - fares internationally in today's regulatory environments. It is argued that inadvertent regulatory favoritism combined with the lack of means for adequate protection of intellectual property may obstruct innovation by creating an almost insurmountable economical hurdle for successful product development and introduction of botanicals from developing countries into most of the world's health product markets.

A molecular phylogenetic study of southern African Apiaceae.

It has been suggested that southern Africa is the origin of the predominantly herbaceous Apiaceae subfamily Apioideae and that the woody habit is plesiomorphic. We expand previous molecular phylogenetic analyses of the family by considering all but three of the approximately 38 genera native to southern Africa, including all genera whose members, save one, have a woody habit. Representatives of five other genera are included because they may be closely related to these southern African taxa. Chloroplast DNA rps16 intron and/or nuclear rDNA ITS sequences for 154 accessions are analyzed using maximum parsimony, Bayesian, and maximum likelihood methods. Within Apioideae, two major clades hitherto unrecognized in the subfamily are inferred. The monogeneric Lichtensteinia clade is sister group to all other members of the subfamily, whereas the Annesorhiza clade (Annesorhiza, Chamarea, and Itasina) plus Molopospermum (and Astydamia in the ITS trees) are the successive sister group to all Apioideae except Lichtensteinia. Tribe Heteromorpheae is expanded to include Pseudocarum, "Oreofraga" ined., and five genera endemic to Madagascar. The southern African origin of subfamily Apioideae is corroborated (with subsequent migration northward into Eurasia along two dispersal routes), and the positions of the herbaceous Lichtensteinia and Annesorhiza clades within the subfamily suggest, surprisingly, that its ancestor was herbaceous, not woody.

The taxonomic value of fruit wing types in the order Apiales.

This study shows that structural data, when carefully examined, can provide valuable characters for delimiting monophyletic groups and can complement DNA with observable features to recognize and circumscribe taxa. In the angiosperm order Apiales, traditional classification has relied heavily (often exclusively) on fruit characters. Recent molecular systematic studies, however, provided a radically different picture of relationships, calling into question the utility of fruit characters. We have studied fruit anatomy from 18 genera (Annesorhiza, Asteriscium, Astrotricha, Choritaenia, Dasispermum, Elaeoselinum, Heptaptera, Hermas, Heteromorpha, Laretia, Molopospermum, Myodocarpus, Pachypleurum, Peucedanum, Polemanniopsis, Polylophium, Rouya, and Tordylium) that represent all major taxonomic groups of Apiales characterized by winged fruits and the full range of wing types. Fruit anatomy closely corresponded with the phylogenetic position of these genera, as suggested by molecular studies. Fruit features of taxonomic importance include developmental origin of the wings, carpel shape, presence of vittae, woodiness of the endocarp, position of crystals, and type of carpophores. Despite the long history of recognizing umbellifers as a "natural group," few studies have been able to provide structural characters to help circumscribe the clades identified by molecular data. The interpretations presented are an important step toward erecting a stable system of classification for this difficult family.