The land of Jordan was covered with a green garment that came as a result of the winter that descended on it in the past months. However, the question that appears is, where did these green plants come from?, and who planted their seeds in the desert, desert, mountain peaks and the valleys of Jordan?, and what is the extent of their value and benefit to humans and animals?

During the past months of March and April, the Jordan News Agency (Petra) monitored several areas in Jordan in the north, south, east and west, and researched deeply about the Jordanian spring and its plants and asked specialists in Jordanian environmental associations, and it was found that more than 30 plants and wild herbs in the land have benefit and medicinal value, but threaten them extinction and action must be taken to protect it.

During a tour of “Petra”, many weeds were observed growing in the desert areas, plains, and northern and central mountains of the Kingdom, but they are toxic to humans and animals, but they play a role in the ecosystem in general.

Specialist environmentalists advised the need to invest in these seasonal herbs, as the propagation and cultivation of medicinal plants is one of the useful and economically feasible projects in the event that funding is contributed and training is provided on ways to benefit from it after conducting a geographical study of the places of its production in a more efficient and less costly way.

They pointed out the importance of managing the manufacture of these herbs and extracting their essential oils and benefiting from them in the form of medicinal compounds, noting that herbal medicine dates back to the early ages of history and developed, and some of them are included in the medical pharmaceutical industry.

Environmental associations agree in the interviews of their officials to Petra that wild thyme, Persian thyme, and thrush are among the most endangered types of medicinal plants due to over-picking from the roots. It applies to Jordan similar to what is in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Engineer Mervat Shamayleh, assistant director of the Rural Development and Women’s Empowerment Directorate and head of the Poverty and Unemployment Programs Project Department, indicated that there are more than 30 species of medicinal, aromatic and nutritional herbs in Jordan, some of which are common and others are threatened with extinction.

She stressed that the most prominent causes of extinction are climate change, urban sprawl, overgrazing, the need for special environmental conditions, the difficulty of post-harvest operations for some of them, and the lack of knowledge and experience in the nature of propagation.

She stated that most medicinal plants are used to obtain leaves and fruits for the purposes of cooking flavorings, extracting oils, or for medical treatments, and are used fresh and direct, but sometimes they need to be cultivated and more of them are needed to develop the possibility of selling them at economically viable prices and commensurate with the size of the effort provided by their producers and encouraging them to continue with them. Therefore, it is recommended It produces and manages its processing in post-harvest operations for processing in various shapes and ingredients other than spices.

She emphasized that the most prominent uses of these plants, which grow naturally and without human intervention in their cultivation, lie in cosmetics, skin cleansers, treatments, ointments, and nutritional supplements.

She said that the exploitation of these plants to serve people needs equipment and advanced training to choose the added percentages and reduce the concentration in a way that guarantees efficient use and builds a good reputation among the consumer to continue the demand for them, which leads to the sustainability and continuity of projects.

The Environment Association in the Northern Shuna, in turn, proposed a set of projects that would contribute to the employment of local workers, especially women, because they need a long breath to deal with them, and the female possesses this characteristic over the male, in addition to the characteristic of tasting and smelling.

The association developed more than one pioneering idea, including rosemary, as it is possible to increase its cultivation and exploitation of the product by extracting oils as well as drying it, and blossom water. It is possible to work on it to extract oils from it through simple workshops.

And the head of the Al-Khanasri Station for Livestock and Pasture Research at the National Center for Agricultural Research, Dr. Mustafa Al-Shdaifat, stated that there are many poisonous plants and herbs in the pastures, and these plants cause great losses in livestock, including what leads to a decrease in the productivity of meat and milk and the death of livestock.

He pointed out that the large numbers of poisonous plants and herbs that the pastures contain could pose a threat to livestock, yet the livestock do not like them because they contain a repulsive smell and an undesirable taste unless another fodder source is available.

He noted the exacerbation of the danger of poisonous plants in the pastures in the dry seasons and in the autumn season due to the decrease in palatable fodder, which forces livestock to eat exotic and unpalatable plants and herbs, most of which are poisonous plants.

He emphasized the existence of hundreds of poisonous plants and herbs, and the intensity of their toxicity depends on the quantities ingested, the type of animal, the part of the plant, the condition of the plant that is eaten, the level of soil moisture, the general health of the animal before eating the substance, the age, the size of the animal, and the percentage of its content of toxic substances such as hydrocyanic acid and nitrates. Therefore, some livestock can To eat some poisonous plants and under many of the aforementioned conditions do not show symptoms of infection or poisoning, and death may occur at other times.

He pointed to the most important procedures that can be followed to reduce the intake of poisonous plants and herbs by livestock, namely, evaluating the pasture before entering the livestock for grazing and knowing the types of plants and herbs present and the proportions they contain toxic substances. Like barley to rival poisonous plants and herbs.

He added that when a new pasture is available, large livestock that have experience in distinguishing poisonous plants and herbs must be introduced, and the livestock must be given a meal of fodder before entering the pasture to reduce their appetite and appetite for poisonous plants and herbs, and they should be given fodder rich in sugars such as molasses, to reduce the formation of hydrocyanic acid. And nitrites in the animal’s rumen, and provide sufficient water before introducing animals to dry pastures, to avoid eating green plants and herbs, which are mostly toxic in dry pastures.

And he indicated that among the apparent symptoms of livestock poisoning due to these plants, including lack of appetite, distancing and seclusion from the herd, weakness and lack of movement, drinking large amounts of water, and difficulty breathing.

And he indicated that among the most poisonous plants and herbs in Jordan are jade, bitter melon, yellow chrysanthemum, acacia, castor bean, poisonous mushroom, yellow and white daffodil, rue, oleander, loofah, borage, sparrow’s leg, ivy, and serpent grapes.

He said that the effect of poisonous plants and herbs on livestock is according to the toxic substance in the plant, as some of them lead to direct death if veterinary treatment is not intervened, and some of them lead to death later.

The expert on herbs and therapeutic nutrition, Mahmoud Abd al-Rahman al-Hamidat, attributed herbal medicine to the early ages of history.

He added that some of these healing herbs were found among the artifacts and monuments contained in the tombs of the Pharaohs, and there is also evidence that the ancient Indians, like the ancient Egyptians, had practiced this profession as well, and were skilled in it.

He drew attention to the ancients and sages of Greece who wrote books on herbal medicine in the fourth and fifth centuries BC, and the most famous of them in this regard were (Hippocrates), (Theophrastus), (Dioscorides) and (Plinos).

He noted that their writings on herbal medicine remained the main source of this science, until the Muslim Arabs came and expanded this science with new experiences with the presence of a scientifically and materially advanced Islamic state that urges and supports them to discover and invent, led by (Al-Razi) and (Ibn Sina). And Ibn Al-Bitar, Ibn Qurra, and others.

He emphasized that in the twelfth century AD, monks in Europe monopolized the profession of herbal medicine and cultivated it on themselves, and many monks became famous in medicine and herbal medicine, the most famous of them being the nun (Hildecard), and her author, who called it (Al-Faysika), a very famous book on medicine and herbs at that time. And he indicated that many people know about the monk Mendel, who was one of the first founders of the science of genetics in the world, and who discovered it while he was cultivating some types of flowers and medicinal roses in the garden of the church in which he used to live.

He stressed that the science of Arab medicine, or what is known as herbal medicine, spread in Europe, and Muslims provided Europe with a lot of medical information.

-(Petra)