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Artemisia afra: A potential flagship for African medicinal plants?
N.Q. Liu, F. Van der Kooy ⁎, R. Verpoorte
Division of Pharmacognosy, Section of Metabolomics, Institute of Biology, Leiden University,
PO Box 9502, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Abstract
The genus Artemisia consists of about 500 species, occurring throughout the world. Some very important drug leads have been discovered
from this genus, notably artemisinin, the well known anti-malarial drug isolated from the Chinese herb Artemisia annua. The genus is also known
for its aromatic nature and hence research has been focussed on the chemical compositions of the volatile secondary metabolites obtained from
various Artemisia species. In the southern African region, A. afra is one of the most popular and commonly used herbal medicines. It is used to
treat various ailments ranging from coughs and colds to malaria and diabetes. Although it is one of the most popular local herbal medicines, only
limited scientific research, mainly focussing on the volatile secondary metabolites content, has been conducted on this species. The aim of this
review was therefore to collect all available scientific literature published on A. afra and combine it into this paper. In this review, a general
overview will be given on the morphology, taxonomy and geographical distribution of A. afra. The major focus will however be on the secondary
metabolites, mainly the volatile secondary metabolites, which have been identified from this species. In addition all of the reported biological
activities of the extracts derived from this species have been included as well as the literature on the pharmacology and toxicology. We aim at
bringing together most of the available scientific research conducted on this species, which is currently scattered across various publications, into
this review paper.
© 2008 SAAB.Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Artemisia afra; Traditional African Medicine; Volatile secondary metabolites
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
86
2. Botanical aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
2.1. Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
2.2. Taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
2.3. Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
3. Ethnopharmacology and utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
4. Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
4.1. Volatile secondary metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 187
4.2. Non-volatile secondary metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
5. Chemical variation in A. afra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6. Biological effect of A. afra extracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.1. Biological activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.2. Spasmolytic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.3. Cardiovascular effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.4. Antioxidant activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.5. Sedative and CNS-acting activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
