Objective: According to our best knowledge, this is the first and also a relatively comprehensive review on the cold and hot (or warm) nature of common Iranian traditional herbal medicines, based on the evidence-based and directly collected from the user and native-healers, instead of reviewing the classical texts of Iranian traditional medicine. This column resulted from a wide field study on the common Iranian traditional herbal medicine for their so-called effects of cold, hot and also balanced natures, used currently among ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers. Methods: The junior medical students were grouped into several groups for data collection. The information gathered from ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers, from different regions of Iran, especially Northwest, Southwest, Central and Northern provinces. For each repeated report of a certain indication, we added “a point” to the specification of that plant. If the number of every reported indication was, more than 5-20 times we reported that indication or pharmacological effect in our final report in this article.Results:The data recorded for every plant included: scientific name, family names, English name, Persian name, therapeutic nature (cold, hot or balanced), suggested actions and pharmacology, indication and usage, used parts/preparation, mode of administration. The plants were grouped into 25 families. Of a total 61 plants 16 were with cold (26%) and 43 were with hot nature (70%) and the rest were with balanced nature (4%). Conclusions: Almost of them have been long used as the components of the ancient receipts, hence, they may be more readily tried as suitable candidates in the future modern pharmacological investigations. Nevertheless, almost of them have been already evaluated in pharmacological laboratories, and their efficient properties have been confirmed. Considering the pharmacological properties of these plants, for finding a clear correlation of the pharmacological activities with the hot or cold nature, more detailed studies need to be conducted. Here we presented 61 plants currently used in Iranian traditional herbal medicine.

Background: Terminalia chebula Retz is traditionally used to relieve constipation. The current study was performed to investigate the pharmacological action of aqueous extract of Terminalia chebula seeds (ATC) in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Terminal pieces of rat ileum were suspended in organ bath containing Tyrode solution. The ileum spontaneous motility frequency and contractility were recorded isotonically. To induce ileal contraction, carbachol and ATC were added to the organ bath. In addition, the effect of hexamethonium, indomethacin, atropine, and verapamil on the ATC-induced ileal contractions was also investigated. The effectiveness of ATC on relieving morphine-induced constipation was investigated in an in vivo study by measuring the faecal number, faecal water content, and intestinal transit ratio. Results: ATC increased the frequency of ileum motility and tension of contraction dosedependently (P < 0.05). Responses induced by ATC were inhibited by pre-treatment of the tissue with verapamil. The ATC activities were not affected by atropine, hexamethonium, and indomethacin. The faecal number and faecal water content were increased dose-dependently by ATC (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The excitatory effects of ATC on ileal contractile frequency and tension are possibly mediated through Ca2+ channels activation. The results of the present study support the traditional usage of ATC for the treatment of constipation.