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Ptisan was a barley soup, consumed as the staple food of the Greeks. Hippocrates chose to feed it to his feverish patients, because its use was very widespread in his time. Soon after Hippocrates, wheat superseded barley as the main consumed cereal in antiquity. But owing to numerous medical polemics, this barley soup survived as food for the sick up until the seventeenth century, even though barley had become an animal feed since the Hellenistic period. Polemics by Hippocrates, Galen, Ibn Zuhr or Giovanni Manardi generated authoritative and controversial texts that insured the longevity of ptisan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Algerian northern Sahara, Stipagrostispungens with a note of 5 on the Braun Blanquet scale, is the most abundant and dominant species. It alone accounts for more than 80% of rate the rangeland vegetation. The tonnage of its aerial phytomass in sandy soils exceeds 2900 kg DM.ha-1. Because of the many traditional uses practiced by the Saharan populations of this plant, its valorization is promising. e.g., it is used for roofinf to cover the precarious dwellings called "Zriba"; For human food, the seeds are pillaged to be mixed with dates;In traditional pharmacopoeia, where it is used in herbal tea to treat constipations and stomach aches. Its pastoral interest stems from these pastoral characteristics notably that nutritive vegetation:0.46 Ufl.kg-1 DM and 50 g of PDIE.kg-1 DM. For this purpose, the "Drinn" is the perennial plant most grazed by dromedaries;it is even mowed and sold like hay to feed the other livestock in stalls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe a case report of poisoning after ingestion of a herbal tea made with two traditional medicinal plants in Reunion Island. In order to feel relaxed and refreshed, a sixty-eight-year-old healthy man decided to make a decoction following a recipe with Aphloia theiformis leaves and Rubus alceifolius roots (the combination of both plant extracts is not recommended by the local traditional medicine). After ingestion, his blood pressure was low enough to need hospitalization and symptomatic treatments. This case emphasizes the problem of hazardous traditional auto-medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Star anise is used as herbal tea, for the treatment of colicky pain in infants. It may cause neurological troubles.Case reports. – We report 2 cases of star anise poisoning in infants before 6 months of age. Star anise herbal tea was given by parents. Tremors or spasms, hypertonia, hyperexcitability with crying, nystagmus, and vomiting were observed. Contamination or adulteration of Chinese star anise (Illicium verum Hook), with Japanese star anise (Illicium religiosum) was proved in one child.Conclusion. – Confusion or blending between Chinese and Japanese star anise may cause poisoning. Japanese star anise is a neurotoxic plant indeed, because it contains sesquiterpenic lactones. From november 2001, star anise products are theoretically prohibited in France, but they may be still available in some small groceries, or imported by families themselves. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]