The high prevalence of diabetes and its complications, increasing use of complementary therapies (especially herbal remedies) and the need of developing countries for indigenous medicine are our inspirational methods of introducing some plants in traditional Iranian medicine that are used in the treatment of diabetes. By studying the subject of “ziabat” (synonymous with diabetes) which is mentioned in some traditional Iranian medical texts, we collected the text related to anti-diabetic edible plants and determined their scientific name. Pub-med and Scopus databases were used to search for the effects of blood sugar of these herbs on laboratory or laboratory animals. Many medicinal plants and minerals have been used singly or in combination in traditional Iranian medicine. Plants such as Punica granatum, Rosa damascene, Plantago psyllium, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Coriandrum sativum, Portulaca oleracea and Rumex are the most popular among them. The effects of blood sugar of some of these plants on laboratory animals or humans have been presented in various published articles. The effect of some anti-diabetic plants used in traditional Iranian medicine was studied and their effects were mainly shown on animals. However, we need more clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of these plants in humans.