Phytotherapy for depression: A review of the most important medicinal plants of flora of Iran effective on depression

Depression is one of the main affective disorders in community, and a common, debilitating, and dangerous disease which affects the life and behaviors of affected people and has affected many people across the world to date. Avoiding family and friends, lack of motivation, sexual desire disorders, sleep disorder, depressed mood, and lack of pleasure are some of the symptoms of depression. Passing of time and past experiences of humans have caused increase in the use of medicinal plants as a pharmacological resource. Given the necessity of producing nature and plant-based drugs to treat depression and identifying their effective compounds to produce more effective drugs, the aim of this review article is to report the native antidepressant medicinal plants of Iran. Lavandula officinalis, Scrophularia striata, Crocus sativum L, Zingiber officinale, Echium amoenum, Oenothera biennis L., and Rosa canina L.are some of the commonly used native antidepressant medicinal plants of Iran with already confirmed antidepressant effects