The most important medicinal plants effective on constipation by the ethnobotanical documents in Iran: A review

Constipation is a prevalent gastrointestinal disease in both children and adults. This disease which is associated with the inability to empty rectum completely is diagnosed when defecation is difficult and delayed for two weeks or more and obviously causes discomfort. The culture of Iran traditional medicine is full of the medicinal plants with purgative property which have the potential to be used for production of purgative drugs. Therefore, we reported the medicinal plants used to treat constipation in the cultures and customs of different regions of Iran. In this review article, the relevant articles, books, and documents of Iran traditional medicine were searched for with the key words including constipation, bowel disorders, rectal discharge, ethnobotany, Iran traditional medicine, medicinal plants, and natural components in the databases, WOS, PubMed, Scopus, Islamic World Science Citation Center, and Magiran. The findings indicated that in East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Ilam, Khouzestan, Sistan va Balouchestan, Kerman, Mazandaran, and Hormozgan, local people used 41 plant species to treat constipation