CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF SOME IRANIAN STACHYS SPECIES

Abdolhossein Rustaiyan Prof.*, Afsaneh Faridchehr PhD and Mahdieh Ariaee Fard MSC

ABSTRACT

Stachys is one of the largest genera in the flowering plant family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species in the genus vary from about 300, to about 450. The type species for the genus is Stachys sylvatica. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae. Generic limits and relationships in this subfamily are poorly known. The distribution of the genus covers Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and North America. Common names include hedgenettle, heal-all, self-heal, woundwort, betony, and lamb's ears. Wood betony, Stachys officinalis, was the most important medicinal herb to the Anglo-Saxons of early medieval Great Britain. The Chinese artichoke (St. affinis), is grown for its edible tuber. Several species are cultivated as ornamentals. Woolly Betony (St. byzantina) is a popular decorative garden plant. Stachys was named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753. The name is derived from the Greek word σταχυς (stachys), meaning "an ear of grain", and refers to the fact that the inflorescence is often a spike. The name woundwort derives from the past use of certain species in herbal medicine for the treatment of wounds. Stachys species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the moths Coleophora auricella, C. lineolea, and C. wockeella, all recorded on St. officinalis. They are also widely used by the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), which scrape the hairs from the plant in order to use them for building their nests. The present review descripts the chemical and biological activities of some Iranian Stachys species, Stachys acerosa Boiss., Stachys asterocalyx Rech. f., Stachys byzanthin C. Koch., Stachys inflata Benth., Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl., Stachys multicaulis Benth., Stachys obtusicrena Boiss., Stachys persica Gmel., Stachys pilifera Benth., Stachys turcomanica Trautv. and Stachys schtschegleevii.

Keywords: Iranian Stachys Species, Lamiaceae, Constituents and Biological Activities.