South African 'wooly umbrella' plant could be used to treat pain - Israeli study

• Author: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

In a study published today in the prestigious journal Nature Plants, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot identified more than 40 cannabinoids in the woolly umbrella. The team revealed the series of biochemical steps the plant takes when it makes these compounds and also showed how these steps can be reproduced in the lab to synthesize or even engineer new cannabinoids

Known to botanists, as Helichrysum umbraculigerum, the woolly umbrella is a tufted perennial herb that can reach one meter in height and is popular for making a garden border. The young parts are gray and thinly woolly, velvety and leafy, and the golden yellow flowers grow in clusters webbed together with "wool," forming a parasol-like structure between January and April.

The familiar cannabis plant makes more than 100 different cannabinoids, and it remains their iconic producer. But the woolly umbrella – which grows very fast – is a respectable runner-up. "We have found a major new source of cannabinoids and developed tools for their sustained production that can help explore their enormous therapeutic potential," said Dr. Shirley (Paula) Berman, who led the study in Prof. Asaph Aharoni's lab...