Study on diversity of medicinal plants has important significance in development of Koryo medicine.
This paper was designed to document medicinal plants in Mt Kumgang which are known to be efficacious for the prevention and cure of cancer. Cancer-curable plants have been selected from the literatures, Mt Kumgang natives and local investigation.
Among 1 876 vascular plants in this area, 87 plant species and 2 varieties belonging to 50 families and 78 genera have been listed as efficacious ones for cancer treatment.
As for the type of cancer treated, breast cancer has the largest number of curative plants followed by gastric cancer and liver cancer.
In terms of the particular parts used for treatment, those whose underground parts such as root, rhizome or tuber assume a large proportion.
The result lays a foundation for the selection of medical plants in the development of conventional Koryo medicine, and the study of natural medical therapy for cancer treatment, as well as making a contribution to enriching the content of the Korean eFlora.
The result has been published in the "Genetic Resoueces and Crop Evolution" under the title of "Diversity of medical plants of Mt Kumgang, DPR Korea-efficacious plants for cancer treatment"(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-024-02028-w).
