Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Oman: Phytochemistry and Ethno-Pharmacological Aspects, Volume 1

Medicinal plants have received an impetus recently due to the revival of attention to natural products in the form of herbal medicines, demanding convincing knowledge on their phytochemistry, status, cultivation, and utilization. Medicinal plants in the Sultanate of Oman have tremendous potential in terms of ethnomedicinal and food applications. However, these treasures of Oman have not been fully explored until recently. Several medicinal plants indigenous to Oman have been used for several centuries in the form of traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of diseases. The first volume of this book covers information about sustainable use of selected medicinal plants, their phytochemistry, and efforts made to conserve them to ensure continued supply. This volume reveals systematic information about 104 to 151 promising medicinal plants in Oman with botanical names, common names, synonyms, local names, family, habitat and distribution, chemical constituents, pharmacological activity, uses (common uses, traditional uses and therapeutic uses), toxicity and clinical data, patents, and their marketed products or industrial application. Each of the 151 plants has a high-resolution color photograph (where available), plant description, and location. The chapters are written by well-experienced authors in the field. A uniform chapter structure throughout this book has been designed to maintain consistency. This book is especially valuable to academicians, phytochemists, pharmacologists, herbalists, agriculturists, biotechnologists, natural product researchers and industrialists involved in the production of herbal drugs. Salient features of this book are as follows:

• Ιt provides common uses, traditional uses, and therapeutic uses of 132 medicinal plants
• It covers the detailed phytochemistry of each medicinal plant
• It offers systematic information about the geographical distribution of these plants
• Updated information about the pharmacology, mechanisms of action, and toxicity of these plants is covered in detail

Overall, this book provides an overview of botanical description, geographical distribution, chemical composition and uses of the medicinal plants native to the Sultanate of Oman.

Many of the plants listed in this book--particularly in Volume One--are endemic, near-endemic, or regionally endemic medicinal and aromatic species of Oman, which remain largely unexplored and are supported by limited scientific literature. Due to this scarcity of information, the authors have included relevant data from closely related species within the same genus. This approach enables readers to better understand the chemistry, taxonomy, and potential uses of the respective species in the context of their taxonomic relatives.

Ahmed Al-Harrasi received his BSc in Chemistry from Sultan Qaboos University (Oman) in 1997. Then he moved to the Free University of Berlin from which he obtained his MSc in Chemistry in 2002 and then his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2005 as a DAAD-fellow under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Ulrich Reissig. His PhD work was on New Transformations of Enantiopure 1,2-oxazines. Then he received the Fulbright award in 2008 for postdoctoral research in chemistry for which he joined Prof. Tadhg Begley group at Cornell University where he worked on Synthesis of isotopically labeled thiamin pyrophosphate. After a postdoctoral research stay at Cornell University in 2009, he started his independent research at the University of Nizwa, Oman where he founded the chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants and Marine Natural Products merging chemistry and biology research that became a center of excellence in natural and medical sciences. He is currently a professor of organic chemistry and the vice chancellor for graduate studies, research and external relations at the University of Nizwa. The budget of his interdisciplinary-funded projects exceeds ＄ 15 million. He is a member of the Scientific Council of UNESCO and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was a chair and invited speaker in many international conferences. He is a referee for more than 20 international chemistry and biotechnology Journals. He has authored and co-authored over 1050 scientific papers, 15 books, 13 patents and 15 book chapters. He taught chemistry courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is named in Stanford University’s global list of top 2% Scientists in years 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. He received the Order of Royal Commendation from His Majesty, The Sultan of Oman as an outstanding Omani individual for his remarkable contribution and active role in research.

Ahmed Al Rawhi earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992 and 1995 respectively. Earlier (1988), he had completed with Honors his B.Sc. in Biological Science at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, USA). Upon his return to Oman, he became a lecturer at Sultan Qaboos University, where he taught courses in the fields of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. He also conducted research in soil-borne pathogens, biocontrol, and disease management programs and published articles in high impact international journals. From December 1997 until May 2001, he had the honor of serving as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and played a major role in developing various strategies and development plans for these vital sectors of the Omani economy. He served as member of the State Council from 2001 to 2011 and led important studies and reports for the government of Oman. He was also Chairman of the Academic Foundation Committee for the University of Nizwa Project from 2000 to 2004, the year he was appointed as Chancellor of the newly founded University. Throughout his tenure as Chancellor, he embarked on bringing the project to reality and creating a functioning academic institution that adheres to institutionalization, quality standards, ethics, and procedures. Under his dynamic leadership, thousands of Omani students graduated with Bachelor’s and higher degrees, and the University contributed strongly to community services and produced innovative research relevant to the needs of Oman. He was promoted to the academic position of Founding Professor by a scholarly independent Academic Committee in December 2006. Professor Ahmed Al Rawahi is a member of various national academic committees including the Education Council, and Research Council. He was also a member of the American Pathological Society. In November 2000, he was greatly honored to receive from HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said the Oman Medal of Merits (2nd degree, civil). In December 2013, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh awarded him the Honorary Doctorate Degree in recognition of his role as ＂a distinguished and visionary academic leader with an international voice and perspective＂.

Saif Amur Al Hatmi is both botanist and ethnobotanist who has worked since 2006 in Oman Botanic Garden specializing mostly on the Omani flora and their economic importance in the society. He studied Environmental Biology at the Sultan Qaboos University. In 2006, with a Bachelor degree in Environmental Biology and a Master’s degree in ethnobotany from the Kent University (UK) in 2012. He has led and conducted numerous scientific expeditions and research teams throughout the country to discover and document the plant heritage of Omani flora and conservation related issues that affect the vegetation and native plant habitats.

Saurabh Bhatia is a pharmaceutical biologist with almost 14 years of research and academic experience in a multitude of transdisciplinary research related to pharmaceutical and food sciences. He earned his Ph.D. Degree (2015) in pharmaceutical technology from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He authored more than 120 articles and 10 books in the area of biopolymers and natural products. His research focus is exploring the food and pharmaceutical application of biopolymer based films as sustainable packaging material and drug delivery system.