Background: Iran is a land of great heritage of ancient medical scholars. Herbal medicines, as a basement of treatment of diseases have been clearly described in the medical texts of these scholars including Rhazes, Avicenna, and others. Numerous plants are introduced in these texts to treat those diseases likely to be infective ones. Few attempts have been made to evaluate ethnopharmacological aspects of these plants. Objective: In the present study selected specimens of plants described in ancient Iranian medical texts to treat infective conditions were evaluated for antibacterial activity. The hypothesis of this study was that the plants described in the ancient medical texts possess antibacterial properties. Methods: In this study, ten specimens of these plants were selected from various texts. Their scientific terminologies were prepared based on various respected sources. The antibacterial activity of hydroalcoholic extracts of these herbs, as well as their MICs and MBCs were evaluated according to standard techniques. Results: Results of this study showed that almost all of 10 specimens showed considerable antibacterial activity. The MIC and MBC of some herbs showed strong activity against gram positive and gram negative microorganisms. MICs and MBCs of Heracleum persicum and antibacterial activity of Zea mays are reported for the first time in this study. Conclusion: The antibacterial activity of the selected plants supports their old uses as anti-infective agents. The results of this survey also showed antibacterial activity of Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johst. and Teucrium polium L. traditionally used as poultice for infective wounds. H. persicum traditionally used in Iran as spice can play a valuable role in preventing food poisoning. The data of this study supported the importance of ethnopharmacological approach and opened also the new doors to future researches in this field.

Background: Apiaceae family is one of the largest plant families with wide distribution all around the world. The genus Hippomarathrum has 28 species around the world which among them the species H. microcarpum outspread in the North, Northwest, West and Central of Iran, and also Turkey, Caucasus and Iraq. Objective: In this study, the main compounds in ethyl acetate extract from aerial parts of the plant Hippomarathrum microcarpum have been studied. Methods: The isolation and purification of the compounds were carried out using column chromatography. The structure of isolated compound established according 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectral data. Results: Two coumarins (osthole and isoimperatorin) and one sterol (β-sitosterol) have been isolated and identified from ethyl acetate extract. Conclusion: The presence of coumarines like osthole and isoimperatorin in H. microcarpum cause of the importance of this plant. This coumarines have verity of usages in traditional medicine and recent studies have supported most of these usages and revealed new effects of these coumarines. As regard that more research haven't been done about this plant and also because of significance effects of isolated coumarines, it seems necessary to perform further studies on biological effects of this plant.