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Horticulturae
Special Issues
Wild and Cultivated Culinary Plants
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Wild and Cultivated Culinary Plants

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 858

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zoran S. Ilic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture, University in Priština—Kosovska Mitrovica, 38219 Lešak, Serbia
Interests: medicinal and aromatic plants; vegetable production and quality; postharvest
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lidija Milenković

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Priština—Kosovska Mitrovica, 38219 Lešak, Serbia
Interests: phytochemistry; environmental science; agricultural plant science; food quality and safety
Dr. Ljiljana P. Stanojević

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Technology, University of Niš, Bulevar Oslobođenja 124, 16000 Leskovac, Serbia
Interests: phytochemical analysis; plant biochemistry; essential oils; phenolic compounds; natural product chemistry and technology: phytochemicals; antioxidant activity; extraction; biological activities; medicinal and aromatic plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Culinary plants have been used for both medicinal and culinary purposes for thousands years. In many cuisines, culinary plants are used to increase the taste and flavor of foods. Recent reports have revealed that culinary plants act as dietary nutrients, which are known to possess a number of beneficial health properties. Culinary plants are commonly used in cuisines worldwide to determine the true benefits of these herbs from a health viewpoint and identify pharmacologically potent herbs used in disease prevention and health promotion purposes. Herbal medicine, also known as phytomedicine, is the use these plants, plant parts, or plant-derived compounds to treat infections, diseases, or to improve overall health.

Wild and cultivated culinary plants are a cornerstone of many culinary traditions worldwide, with a rich history of use for flavoring, coloring, and preserving food, as well as for medicinal applications. The use of herbs and spices as flavorings in food is a significant global trend. Over the past two decades, the production and export of herbs and spices have seen a worldwide increase (FAO 2023), and they now play a crucial role in trade due to their varied applications. This signifies a comprehensive development that includes innovative product development, contributions to health and wellness, culinary diversity, economic upliftment, sustainability, cultural preservation, and educational advancements.

The growing demand for culinary, aromatic, and medicinal plants encourages investigations into wild and new plant species and their application possibilities. Nowadays, it is very popular to cultivate aromatic spices in living environments. The cultivation of this plant species is limited due to the lack of cultivation technology; therefore, new knowledge and technical solutions are needed that would contribute to the faster spread of this very important plant species that could be an alternative to many vegetable and industrial crops, especially in soils that are salty, poor in nutrients, and short of irrigation water.

As natural products become ever-more in-demand, the use of wild plants, in addition to having economic benefits, enriches agriculture and natural ecosystems, and it is necessary to sustainably manage these plants, as well as create products with added value. An interdisciplinary approach through the preservation of biodiversity, along with the rational management of biological invasions through the economic exploitation of wild plants, should enable the use of culinary plants in the food and cosmetic industries.

The main aim of this Special Issue is to select culinary herbs for the design of solutions with different purposes and adapted to different environmental conditions to reveal the possibilities for using the best properties of these plants, help the persons interested in the use of culinary herbs to decide on the proper plant selection, and provide recommendations on the combination and composition possibilities of these plants. Additionally, it will outline the health benefits of these natural ingredients and various approaches to preserve this rich culinary heritage, thereby enhancing their sustainability for future generations.

Dr. Zoran S. Ilic
Dr. Lidija Milenković
Dr. Ljiljana P. Stanojević
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wild and cultivated culinary plants
  • aromatic plants
  • medicinal plants
  • phytochemicals
  • antioxidant
  • essential oils

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 2758 KiB  
Article
Selenium Improves the Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) Grown in Hydroponics
by Liubov Skrypnik, Pavel Feduraev, Nadezhda Golubkina, Pavel Maslennikov, Maria Antipina, Dmitriy Katserov, Sofia Nebreeva, Otilia Cristina Murariu, Alessio Vincenzo Tallarita and Gianluca Caruso
Horticulturae 2024, 10(12), 1320; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10121320 - 11 Dec 2024
Abstract
Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) is one of the most commercially popular aromatic spices which has long been used in folk medicine as a medicinal plant due to the presence of a wide group of bioactive secondary metabolites. The experimental data available to [...] Read more.
Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) is one of the most commercially popular aromatic spices which has long been used in folk medicine as a medicinal plant due to the presence of a wide group of bioactive secondary metabolites. The experimental data available to date indicate that plants of individual species within the Lamiaceae family implement different strategies for the absorption and distribution of selenium (Se) and differ in their metabolic response to Se treatment. In this regard, the present study investigated the effect of Se application (in the form of sodium selenate) at various concentrations (2.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, and 40.0 μM) on the growth and accumulation of Se in oregano plant shoots and roots, as well as on nutritional components and secondary metabolites in shoots. The addition of Se to the nutrient solution at concentrations of 2–20 μM did not adversely affect the growth and accumulation of biomass in the oregano plants, which were characterized by a significant ability to transfer Se from roots to shoots (the translocation factor was >2). The Se treatment enhanced the nutritional proprieties of the oregano and, particularly, it stimulated the accumulation of carbohydrates and proteins (by 30 and 17%) and minerals (calcium and manganese). The total contents of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids, luteolin-7-glucoside and its derivatives, catechin, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, rosmarinic acid and oleanolic and ursolic acids, as well as the percentage of essential oil, showed a dose-dependent increase in the oregano under the Se treatment. Changes in the relative content of the four main components of oregano essential oil (sabinene, germacrene D, β-caryophyllene, and (Z)-β-ocimene) under the Se treatment were not significant. The relative proportions of β-caryophyllene oxide and terpinen-4-ol increased with Se concentration augmentation in the nutrient solution. The obtained results indicate the prospect of using Se at 5–20 μM concentrations in nutrient solution in hydroponically grown oregano to produce Se-biofortified plants with higher levels of compounds beneficial to health and antioxidant activity without yield reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wild and Cultivated Culinary Plants)
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13 pages, 1012 KiB  
Article
Chemical Profiling of Essential Oils from Main Culinary Plants—Bay (Laurus nobilis L.) and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) from Montenegro
by Zoran S. Ilić, Ljiljana Stanojević, Lidija Milenković, Ljubomir Šunić, Aleksandra Milenković, Jelena Stanojević and Dragan Cvetković
Horticulturae 2024, 10(12), 1249; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10121249 - 25 Nov 2024
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Abstract
The aim of the research was to determine the yield, chemical composition and free radical-scavenging activity of the essential oils (EOs) in the leaves and fruit of wild-grown bay (Laurus nobilis L.) and rosemary(Rosmarinus officinalis L.)from the Montenegro coast. The bay [...] Read more.
The aim of the research was to determine the yield, chemical composition and free radical-scavenging activity of the essential oils (EOs) in the leaves and fruit of wild-grown bay (Laurus nobilis L.) and rosemary(Rosmarinus officinalis L.)from the Montenegro coast. The bay essential oil (BEO) yield was 0.88% in fruit and 2.65% in the leaves. The rosemary essential oil (REO) yield was 1.30%. BEOs obtained from the leaves and fruit display different compositions. Fifty components were identified in leaf BEO, with 1,8-cineole (39.4%), linalool (13.9%), α-terpinyl acetate (11.2%), sabinene (6.7%) and methyl eugenol (5.7%) being the most abundant ones. Fifty-five components were isolated from fruit BEO, with 1,8-cineole (34.2%), α-pinene (6.6%), sabinene (6.1%) and β-bisabolene (5.8%) being the main components. Twenty-seven components were identified in leaf REO, with the main components being camphor (31.9%), borneol (12.2%), 1,8-cineole (11.3%) and myrcene (10.7%). The BEOs isolated from leaves (EC50 value of 1.43 mg/mL) and fruit (EC50 value of 3.74 mg/mL) showed stronger antioxidant activity than REO (EC50 value of 5.00 mg/mL) during an incubation time of 20 min. The results obtained for the bay and rosemary EOs from Montenegro highlight their potential not only for culinary purposes but also as a source of antioxidants and for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wild and Cultivated Culinary Plants)
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