WILD ASPARAGUS SPECIES OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE – A MINIREVIEW

Compared with Europe, the communities of Israel and Palestine (the reviewed region, RR) did not consume WILD species of Asparagus and hardly grew domesticated species. This fact reflects also on lack of clear reported ethnomedicinal and ethnobotanical uses. Contrary to this, modern research found notable interest in these plants, with clear differences between published literature about each one. In this minireview article, the published ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, along with findings of modern studies about these plants will be presented. Among the medicinal activities-properties, some were largely published (anticancer) while others were hardly reported or not at all. The chemical compositions of these plants were also partially reported, and among the isolated natural products, saponins were some of the earliest.