Peganum harmala

Rue for the perennial evergreen shrub was first used in 14th century English, deriving from Old French rue (13c.) and the Latin ruta. Espand is derived from Middle Persian , which is thought, along with the English word spinach, to be ultimately derived from Proto-Iranian *, 'holy' (compare Avestan , , 'holy', and Middle Persian , 'holy'), itself thought to be ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *. Common names It is known by many names across regions and languages—including "African rue" in North America, "harmel" in India and North Africa, "espand" in Persian, and other local names in Pashto, Urdu, Turkish, Chinese, Spanish, French, and ancient Aramaic, reflecting its wide cultural and geographic significance. It is known as اسپند in Persian, which is transliterated as , but may also be pronounced or transliterated as , , , , , , or depending on source or dialect. The Persian word is also the name of the last month of the year, approximately March, in the traditional Persian calendar. African rue is a common name. Harmel is a name used in India, and Morocco. It is known as in Pashto. In Urdu it is known as , , or . In Turkish it is known as . In Chinese it is , , or , . In Spain, it is called , or , In French, it is known as . In classical antiquity, it was known in Aramaic as šabbārā (, ). In later Eastern Aramaic languages, it was also borrowed from the Middle Persian as spendā. ==Description==

Habitus It is a perennial, herbaceous, suffrutescent, hemicryptophyte plant, which dies off in the winter, but regrows from the rootstock the following spring. It can grow to about tall, between April and October in Pakistan, The flowers are white or yellowish white, and has 3 locules Fruit The plant fruits between July and November in China. which measures about 6–10(−15) mm in diameter, ==Distribution==

Native Peganum harmala is native to a wide area stretching from Morocco in north Africa and Spain and Italy in Europe, north to Serbia, Romania (possibly), Dagestan, Kazakhstan, south to Mauritania (possibly), Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Pakistan In Zhob district, and east to western Mongolia, northern China and possibly Bangladesh. parts of Israel, eastern and central Anatolia (Turkey), It likely does not occur in Mauritania. In Morocco it is quite common and occurs throughout the country, excepting Western Sahara. In Libya it is found in the maritime zone, especially around Bengazi, and is not abundant. In Egypt it grows in the Sinai, and been rarely collected on the mid-west of the Mediterranean coast. In Turkey it is found both in Thrace and across most of Anatolia, but is absent from the northern Black Sea coast. It is abundant in some regions of south and central Anatolia. but is possibly only native to the Kashmir and Ladakh regions. The distribution in China is in dispute. The 2008 Flora of China considers it to be native to northern China in the provinces of Gansu, western Hebei, western Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, northern Shanxi, Tibet and Xinjiang. One database has it occurring as a non-native in Hungary. "Because it is so drought tolerant, African rue can displace the native saltbushes and grasses growing in the salt-desert shrub lands of the Western U.S." ==Habitat and ecology==

It grows in dry areas in the United States. In Israel it is a common dominant plant along with Anabasis syriaca and Haloxylon scoparium in a low semi-shrubby steppe ecosystem which during dry years is almost devoid of plant cover, growing on saline, loess-derived soils. In rainy times Leontice leontopetalum and Ixiolirion tataricum appear here. It also grows in Israel in semi-steppe shrublands, Mediterranean woodlands and shrublands, and deserts. It is often found with Euphorbia virgata in the foothills of Mount Ararat, Iğdır Province, Turkey. The floral morphology, nectar amount and composition – high in hexane sugars, presence of toxic alkaloids and high proline content together suggest pollination by short-tongued bees (see pollination syndrome). A species of tiny, hairy beetle, Thamnurgus pegani, has been found inhabiting stems of P. harmala in Turkey and elsewhere. It feeds only on P. harmala. When the aerial parts of the plant begin to die off in the autumn, the adult beetles retreat to overwinter in the soil underneath the root-crown, or in old larval tunnels in the dead stems; emerging in the spring (May in Turkey), the females bore small holes in the now shooting stems of the plant, in which they lay their eggs. The hatched larvae bore inward toward the pith. The beetles somehow infect the surrounding tissue in the tunnels with a fungus, Fusarium oxysporum. The infected plant tissue turns blackish and is then used by the adult beetles and their larvae as a food source, until they are ready to pupate within the stem tunnels. It has been proposed as a candidate for using in biological control of P. harmala, as a relative of it, T. euphorbiae, has been approved for use against invasive Euphorbia in the United States. ==History==

As the plant is popular in Persian cultural traditions, and is a hallucinogen, the linguists David Flattery and Martin Schwartz wrote a book in 1989 in which they theorised that the plant is the Avestan haoma mentioned in Zoroastrianism. The transcribed word haoma is thought to be likely related to the Vedic word soma; these names refer to a magical, purportedly entheogenic plant/drink that is mentioned in ancient Indo-Iranian texts but whose exact identity has been lost to history. Metabolic analysis of residues from Iron Age censers at Qurayyah shows that in the Middle Iron Age (~2700 years ago), P. harmala was fumigated in domestic settings, likely for hygienic and therapeutic purposes. Traces of P. harmala, and Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea were identified in an Egyptian ritual Bes-vase, of the 2nd century BCE. This plant was first described in a recognisable manner under the name () by Dioscorides, who mentions it is called μῶλυ (moly) in parts of Anatolia (although Dioscorides distinguishes the 'real' μῶλυ as another, bulbaceous plant). Galen later describes the plant under the name , following Dioscorides by mentioning numerous other names it was known by: , (harmala), and in Syria , (besasa). For much of the subsequent history of Europe Galen was seen as the pinnacle of human medical knowledge. As such, during the early Middle Ages, the herb was known as moly or . The 12th century Arab agriculturist Ibn al-'Awwam from Seville, Spain, wrote that the seeds were used in the baking of bread; the fumes being used to facilitate fermentation and help with the taste (he usually quotes older authors). By the mid-16th century, Dodoens relates how apothecaries sold the plant under the name harmel as a type of extra-strength rue. ==Taxonomy==

Rembert Dodoens in 1553, illustrated and described the plant (republished 1583 with better illustration, calling it Harmala, and basing his work on Galen and Dioscorides). In 1596, Gaspard Bauhin had his Phytopinax published in which he attempted to list all plants known in an ordered manner. He judges Ruta sylvestris Dioscorides to be a type of Hypericum. Later, in his Pinax Theatri Botanici of 1623, he attempts to sort the synonymy in all the previously published names by the botanists from earlier in history. In this work, he sorts Ruta into five species, distinguishing this plant from the others by its three-locular fruit, large white flowers and being only known as a wild plant (as opposed to cultivated). He considers his 'Ruta sylvestris flore magno albo' (=Peganum harmala) to be (not all writers named in the following): Tabernaemontanus', Dodoens' and Clusius' Harmala; Matthias de l'Obel's Harmala syriaca; Andreas Cæsalpinus' and Conrad Gesner's (in his report on Ottoman plants) Harmel; Pietro Andrea Mattioli's and Clusius' (in another work) Ruta sylvestris Harmala; Valerius Cordus' (in his Annotations on Dioscorides), Gesner's (in his Hortus), and Aloysius Anguillara's Ruta sylvestris; and Castore Durante's and Joachim Camerarius the Younger's Ruta sylvestris secunda. In 1753, Carl Linnaeus named the species Peganum harmala. He cites this species as based on Bauhin's Pinax Theatri Botanici of 1623, and Stirpium Historiae Pemptades Sex of 1583 by Rembert Dodoens. Type In 1954, Brian Laurence Burtt and Patricia Lewis designated 'Cult. in Horto Upsaliensi (Linn!)' as the lectotype for the species. This lectotype appeared to be two sheets (621.1 and 621.2) in the Linnean Herbarium, not being part of a single gathering, and hence ICBN Art. 9.15 (Vienna Code) did not apply. In 1993, Mohammed Nabil El Hadidi designated 'Clifford Herbarium 206, Peganum no. 1', stored at the British Museum of Natural History, as the lectotype for P. harmala. Infraspecific variability '''Peganum harmala var. garamantum' – P. harmala var. garamantum was originally described by René Maire in 1953 in his Flore de l'Afrique du Nord. It is not mentioned in the Flora Iberica. Sometimes incorrectly spelled var. multisectum''. Occurs in Dzungaria, Hexi, Qaidam Basin, Ordos and the Altai regions in China and Mongolia. Others consider it a synonym of the nominate form. although it is not recognised in the Flora of Pakistan. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, and the northern Caucasus. In India it is found in Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. It can be distinguished from the nominate form by having finer leaves with more narrow lobes, shorter sepals and broader-shaped seed capsules. ==Legal issues==

In the United States, it is considered an invasive, noxious weed in the following states: Arizona (prohibited noxious weed), California (A listed noxious weed), Colorado (A listed noxious weed), Nevada (noxious weed), New Mexico (class B noxious weed), and Oregon (A designated weed, under quarantine). This may require land owners to exterminate infestations on their land or be fined, and allows access to government grants to buy herbicides to do so. It is illegal to sell plants of this species in the states listed above. Since 2005, with caveats, the cultivation, possession or sale of this species is also illegal in Louisiana. Since 2005, the possession of the seeds, the plant itself, and the alkaloids harmine and harmaline, which it contains, is illegal in France. In Finland, the plant is officially listed as a medicinal plant, which means one would require a doctors prescription to acquire it. In Canada, harmaline is illegal. In Australia, harmala alkaloids are illegal. ==Uses==

Weed and livestock poisoning In some regions, it is a common weed. Infestations can be invasive and very difficult to exterminate. Leaves and seeds are considered poisonous due to the β-carbolines such as: harmalol, harman harmaline, harmine, and quinazoline derivatives they contain. Side effects after ingestion can manifest themselves as hallucinations, neurosensory syndromes, bradycardia, nausea, vomiting. Control is possible only with powerful herbicides. Manually uprooting the plants is near impossible from the seeds (but usually obtained from madder) is often used in western Asia to dye carpets. It is also used to dye wool. When the seeds are extracted with water, a yellow fluorescent dye is obtained. If they are extracted with alcohol, a red dye is obtained. According to one source, for a time the traditional Ottoman fez was dyed with the extract from this plant. It is widely used for protection against Djinn in Morocco (see Légey "Essai de Folklore marocain", 1926). Esfand (called 'isband' in Kashmiri) is traditionally burnt in Kashmiri weddings to create an auspicious atmosphere. It is also used on other ceremonial and festive occasions, as well as in households, for its fragrant smoke and to ward off negative energies. Burning esfand seeds is also common in Persian cultures for warding off the evil eye, as in Persian weddings. Peganum harmala has been used as an analgesic, emmenagogue, and abortifacient agent. In a certain region of India, the root was applied to kill body lice. As related in Des Cruydboeks of 1554 by Rembert Dodoens, in Europe, this plant was considered to be a wild type of rue and identical in medicinal uses -the identity of the two plants and their Ancient Greek and Roman uses had merged, though it was considered stronger, even dangerously so. It could be bought under the name harmel in the apothecaries, and was also known as 'wild' or 'mountain' rue. It could be used for a few dozen ailments, such as to treat woman of their natural disease when the leaves were used in only water, or when the juice were drunk with wine and the leaves pressed against the wound it could cure bites and stings from rabid dogs, scorpions, bees and wasps and the like. From supposedly Pliny, he relates how those covered in the sap, or having eaten it sober, would be immune to poison for a day, as well as to poisonous beasts. Other cures were for 'drying' sperm, 'purifying' woman after childbirth, curing earache, getting rid of spots and blemishes on the skin, and soothing bumps and pain caused by hitting something, among many others. All the cures call for either juice or the leaves; none call for the seeds. It has also been used in Changa, a DMT-infused smoking blend. ==Alkaloids==

{{multiple image|horizontal|total_width=330 Seed alkaloids Total harmala alkaloids were at least 5.9% of dried weight, in one study. ==References==