MEDICINAL USES, BIOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF HELICHRYSUM FOETIDUM (L.) MOENCH. (ASTERACEAE): MEDICINAL USES, BIOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF HELICHRYSUM FOETIDUM

ALFRED MAROYI

doi:10.22159/ajpcr.2019.v12i7.33607

Authors

ALFRED MAROYI Department of Botany, Medicinal Plants and Economic Development Research Centre, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2019.v12i7.33607

Keywords:

Asteraceae,, Ethnopharmacology,, Helichrysum foetidum,, Herbal medicine,, Indigenous pharmacopoeias

Abstract

Helichrysum foetidum is a medicinal plant species with various medicinal applications among different ethnic groups in Africa, Asia, and Europe. This review was aimed at providing a critical appraisal of the existing medicinal uses, biological activities, and phytochemical components of H. foetidum. Literature search for information on medicinal uses, biological activities, and phytochemical components of H. foetidum was conducted using various online search engines such as Scopus, Google Scholar, Mendeley, and Web of Science. Additional information on these aspects was sourced from the university library. Literature studies revealed that H. foetidum is mainly used to induce trances and as herbal medicine against wounds, sores, dysmenorrhea, eye infections, influenza, and as a sedative. Phytochemical compounds identified from the species include chalcones, diterpenoids, flavanols, flavonoids, phenolics, phenols, and proanthocyanidins. Pharmacological studies revealed that H. foetidum extracts and compounds have antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, protease-inhibiting, and cytotoxicity activities. There is a need for advanced phytochemical and pharmacological evaluations and clinical trials aimed at evaluating the therapeutic potential of H. foetidum in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Watt JM, Breyer-Brandwijk MG. The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa. Edinburgh: E & S Livingstone; 1962.

Gelfand M, Mavi S, Drummond RR, Ndemera B. The Traditional Medical Practitioners in Zimbabwe: His Principles of Practice and Pharmacopoeia. Gweru: Mambo Press; 1985.

Kokwaro J. Medicinal Plants of East Africa. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau; 1993.

Hutchings A, Scott AH, Lewis G, Cunningham AB. Zulu Medicinal Plants: An Inventory. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press; 1996.

Morris B. Chewa Medical Botany: A Study of Herbalism in Southern Malawi. London: International African Institute; 1996.

Arnold TH, Prentice CA, Hawker LC, Snyman EE, Tomalin M, Crouch NR, et al. Medicinal and Magical Plants of Southern Africa: An Annotated Checklist. Pretoria: National Botanical Institute; 2002.

Van Wyk BE, Gericke N. Peoples’ Plants: A Guide to useful Plants of Southern Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications; 2007.

Lourens AC, Viljoen AM, van Heerden FR. South African Helichrysum species: A review of the traditional uses, biological activity and phytochemistry. J Ethnopharmacol 2008;119:630-52.

van Wyk BE. A review of Khoi-San and Cape Dutch medical ethnobotany. J Ethnopharmacol 2008;119:331-41.

Van Wyk BE. The potential of South African plants in the development of new medicinal products. S Afr J Bot 2011;77:812-29.

Van Wyk BE. A review of commercially important African medicinal plants. J Ethnopharmacol 2015;176:118-34.

Van Wyk BE. A review of African medicinal and aromatic plants. In: Nefati M, Najjaa H, Máthé A, editors. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World Africa. Dordrecht: Springer; 2017. p. 19-60.

Moteetee A, Van Wyk BE. The medical ethnobotany of Lesotho: A review. Bothalia 2011;41:209-28.

Van Wyk BE, Oudtshoorn BV, Gericke N. Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications; 2013.

Van Wyk BE, Gorelik B. The history and ethnobotany of Cape herbal teas. S Afr J Bot 2017;110:18-38.

Williams VL, Balkwill K, Witkowski ET. A lexicon of plants traded in the Witwatersrand umuthi shops. Bothalia 2001;31:71-98.

Dold AP, Cocks ML. The trade in medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. S Afr J Sci 2002;98:589-97.

Botha J, Weiersbye IM. Ethnobotanic and forage uses of plants on mine properties in the Witwatersrand basin gold fields, South Africa. In: Fourie A, Tibbett M, Wiertz J, editors. Mine Closure. Perth: Australian Centre for Geomechanics; 2010. p. 325-42.

Svoboda KP, Greenaway RI. Lemon scented plants. Int J Aromather 2003;13:23-32.

Swelankomo N. Helichrysum foetidum (L.) Moench; 2005. Available from: http://pza.sanbi.org/helichrysum-foetidum. [Last accessed on 2019 Feb 11].

Hilliard OM. Gnaphaliinae. In: Leistner OA, editor. Flora of Southern Africa: Asteraceae. Pretoria: National Botanical Institute; 1983. p. 1-135.

Beentje HJ. Compositae part 2. In: Beentje HJ, Smith SA, editors. Flora of Tropical East Africa. London: Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administration; 2002. p. 1-315.

Beentje H, Jeffrey C, Hind DJ. Compositae part 3. In: Beentje HJ, Smith SA, editors. Flora of tropical East Africa. London: Kew Royal Botanic Gardens; 2005. p. 547-869.

Germishuizen G, Meyer NL. Plants of Southern Africa: An Annotated Checklist. Strelitzia. Vol. 14. Pretoria: National Botanical Institute; 2003.

Hedberg I, Friis I, Edwards S. Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Addis Ababa: The National Herbarium; 2004.

Burrows JE, Willis CK. Plants of the Nyikaplateau: An Account of the Vegetation of the Nyika National Parks of Malawi and Zambia. Pretoria: Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31, SABONET; 2005.

Thulin M. Flora of Somalia. Vol. 3. London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 2006.

Friis I, Vollesen K. Flora of the Sudan-Uganda Border Area East of the Nile: I. Catalogue of Vascular Plants. Biologiske Skrifter. Vol. 51. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters; 1998.

Neba NE. Degradation of useful plants in Oku tropical montane cloud forest, Cameroon. Int J Biod Sci Manage 2006;2:73-86.

Chifundera K. Contribution to the inventory of medicinal plants from the Bushi area, South Kivu province, democratic republic of Congo. Fitoterapia 2001;72:351-68.

Velayos M, Cabezas F, Barberá P, de la Estrella M, Aedo C, Morales R, et al. Preliminary checklist of vascular plants of Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea). Bot Complut 2013;37:109-33.

Tadesse M. The physiognomy and floristic composition of the vegetation on some degraded hillsides in southern Wello, Ethiopia. Opera Bot 1993;121:661-71.

Demel T, Granström A. Soil seed banks in dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia. J Veg Sci 1995;6:777-86.

Demel T. Seedling populations and regeneration of woody species in dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia. For Ecol Manage 1997;98:149-65.

Demel T. The impact of clearing and conversion of dry Afromontane forests in to arable land on the composition and density of soil seed banks. Acta Oecologica 1997;18:557-73.

Demel T, Granström A. Seed viability of Afromontane tree species in forest soils. J Trop Ecol 1997;13:81-95.

Demel T. Soil seed bank at an abandoned Afromontane arable site. Feddes Repert 1998;109:161-74.

Demel T. Seed and regeneration ecology in dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia: II. Forest disturbances and succession. Trop Ecol 2005;46:45-64.

Yineger H, Kelbessa E, Bekele T, Lulekal E. Floristic composition and structure of the dry Afromontane forest at Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. Sinet Ethiop J Sci 2008;31:103-20.

Omoigui ID, Aromose OS. Nature of ergastic substances in some Nigerian Asteraceae. Bayero J Pure Appl Sci 2012;5:160-7.

Sindambiwe JB, Calomme M, Cos P, Totté J, Pieters L, Vlietinck A, et al. Screening of seven selected Rwandan medicinal plants for antimicrobial and antiviral activities. J Ethnopharmacol 1999;65:71-7.

Figueiredo E, Paiva J, Stévart T, Oliveira F, Smith GF. Annotated catalogue of the flowering plants of São Tomé and Príncipe. Bothalia 2011;41:41-82.

Goldblatt P, Manning JC. Cape Plants: A Conspectus of the Cape Flora of South Africa. Strelitzia. Vol. 9. Cape Town: National Botanical Institute; 2000.

Manning JC, Goldblatt P. Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape Flora. Strelitzia. Vol. 29. Cape Town: South African National Biodiversity Institute; 2012.

Darbyshire I, Kordofami M, Farag I, Candiga R, Pickering H, Helen A. The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: An Annotated Checklist. London: Kew Publishing, Kew; 2015.

Hemp A. An ethnobotanical study on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Ecotropica 1999;5:147-65.

Legère K, Maganga S, Mkwan’hembo P. Vidunda people and their plant names. Afr Asia 2004;4:115-41.

Cunningham AB. People, Park and Plant Use: Recommendations for Multiple-use Zones and Development Alternatives around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. People and Plants Working Paper 4. Paris: UNESCO; 1996.

Ibrahim HM, Al-Quhbi HA, Murshed AA, Al-Gifri AN. Influence of the African paleotropical floristic categories on the flora of high-altitude mountains in Yemen: Case study of Jabal An-NabiShuáyb, Sana’a (capital of Yemen). Phytol Balcanica 2018;24:75-85.

Osipova EA. The introduction of certain species of Helichrysum into the Crimea. Rastitel Resursy 1970;6:445-8.

Wijnands DO. The Botany of the Commelins: A Taxonomical, Nomenclatural and Historical Account of the Plants Depicted in the Moninckxatlas and in the Four Books by Jan and Caspar Commelin on the plants in the Hortus Medicus Amstelodamensis 1682-1710. Rotterdam: AA Balkema; 1983.

Rasbach H, Rasbach K, Bennert HW. New records and cytological results for the fern flora of Madeira. Br Pteridol Soc Fern Gazette 1990;13:391-5.

Wester L. Origin and distribution of adventive alien flowering plants in Hawaii. In: Stone CP, Smith CW, Tunison JT, editors. Alien Plant Invasions in Native Ecosystems of Hawaii. Honolulu: University of HI Cooperative National Park Resources Study Unit; 1992. p. 99-155.

Morris S. Legacy of a Bishop (Part 2): The flowers of Fulham Palace Gardens introduced 1675-1713. Garden Hist 1993;21:14-23.

Wagner WL, Herbst DR, Sohmer SH. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii. Bishop Museum Special Publication 83. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press and Bishop Museum Press; 1999.

González-Hernández MP, Romero R, Rodríguez-Guitián M, Rigueiro A. Medicinal use of some plants in Galicia (NW Spain). Acta Hort 2004;629:63-75.

Daehler CC. Upper-montane plant invasions in the Hawaiian Islands: Patterns and opportunities. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 2005;7:203-16.

Almeida JD, Freitas H. Exotic naturalized flora of continental Portugal: A reassessment. Bot Complut 2006;30:117-30.

Buján MI. The alien flora of Galicia (Iberian Northwest). Bot Complut 2007;31:113-25.

Benitez DM, Belfield T, Loh R, Pratt L, Christie AD. Inventory of Vascular Plants of the Kahuku Addition, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Technical Report 157. Mānoa: Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawaii; 2008.

Fagúndez J. Effects of wind farm construction and operation on mire and wet heath vegetation in the Monte Maior SCI, North-West Spain. Mires Peat 2008;4:1-12.

Barcelos L, Heiden G. First record of Helichrysum foetidum (L.) Moench. (Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae) for South America. Check List 2017;13:331-4.

Gerstner J. A preliminary checklist of Zulu names of plants with short notes. Bantu Stud 1938;12:321-42.

Hulme M. Wild Flowers of Natal. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter; 1954.

Batten A, Bokelmann H. Wild Flowers of the Eastern Cape Province. Cape Town: Books of Africa; 1966.

De Smet PA. Some ethnopharmacological notes on African hallucinogens. J Ethnopharmacol 1996;50:141-6.

Schutles RE, Hofmann A, Rätsch C. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rochester: Healing Arts Press; 2001.

Pennacchio M, Jefferson LV, Havens K. Uses and Abuses of Plant- Derived Smoke: Its Ethnobotany as Hallucinogen, Perfume, Incense and Medicine. Oxford: Oxford Press; 2010.

Shangali CF, Zilihona IJ, Mwang’ingo PL, Nummelin M. Use of medicinal plants in the Eastern Arc mountains with special reference to the Hehe ethnic group in the Udzungwa mountains. J East Afr Nat Hist 2008;97:225-54.

Maroyi A. Ethnomedicinal uses of exotic plant species in South-central Zimbabwe. Indian J Trad Knowl 2018;17:71-7.

Semenya SS, Maroyi A. Exotics plants used therapeutically by Bapedi traditional healers for respiratory infections and related symptoms in the Limpopo province, South Africa. Indian J Trad Knowl 2018;17:663-71.

Maroyi A. Phytochemical and ethnopharmacological review of heteropyxis natalensis. Asian J Pharm Clin Res 2019;12:8-15.

Maroyi A. Lanneaschimperi: Review of its botany, medicinal uses, phytochemistry and biological activities. Asian J Pharm Clin Res 2019;12:31-6.

Steenkamp V. Traditional herbal remedies used by South African women for gynaecological complaints. J Ethnopharmacol 2003;86:97-108.

Reddy D. The Phytochemistry and Antimicrobial Activity of Selected Indigenous Helichrysumspecies. MSc Dissertation. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand; 2007.

Quattrocchi U. CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms and Etymology. London: CRC Press; 2012.

Pendota SC, Grierson DS, Afolayan AJ. An ethnobotanical study of plants used for the treatment of eye infections in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Pak J Biol Sci 2008;11:2051-3.

Stafford GI, Pedersen ME, van Staden J, Jäger AK. Review on plants with CNS-effects used in traditional South African medicine against mental diseases. J Ethnopharmacol 2008;119:513-37.

Hutchings A. Zulu Medicinal Plants. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press; 1996.

Lourens AC, Reddy D, Başer KH, Viljoen AM, Van Vuuren SF. In vitro biological activity and essential oil composition of four indigenous South African Helichrysum species. J Ethnopharmacol 2004;95:253-8.

Steenkamp V, Mathivha E, Gouws MC, van Rensburg CE. Studies on antibacterial, antioxidant and fibroblast growth stimulation of wound healing remedies from South Africa. J Ethnopharmacol 2004;95:353-7.

Swartz VG. Phytochemical Studies of Helichrysum patulum. MSc Dissertation. Cape Town: University of the Western Cape; 2006.

Mabona U. Antimicrobial Activity of Southern African Medicinal Plants with Dermatological Relevance. MSc Dissertation. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand; 2013.

Mabona U, Van Vuuren SF. Southern African medicinal plants used to treat skin diseases. S Afr J Bot 2013;87:175-93.

Tayade SK, Dhale DA, Patil DA. Psychoactive drugs of plant origin: Lessons and potentials. J Ethnobiol Trad Med Photon 2013;118:340-51.

Matanzima Y. Quantitative and Qualitative Optimization of Antimicrobial Bioactive Constituents of Helichrysumcymosum using Hydroponics Technology. MSc Dissertation. Cape Town: Cape Peninsula University of Technology; 2014.

Suntar I. The medicinal value of Asteraceae family plants in terms of wound healing activity. Fabad J Pharm Sci 2014;39:21-31.

Roberts M. Indigenous Healing Plants. Johannesburg: Southern Book Publishers; 1990.

Grierson DS, Afolayan AJ. An ethnobotanical study of plants used for the treatment of wounds in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. J Ethnopharmacol 1999;67:327-32.

Hussein S, Dhabe A. Ethnobotanical study of folk medicinal plants used by villagers in Hajjah district, Republic of Yemen. J Med Plants Stud 2018;6:24-30.

Waterman PG, Choo GM, Vedder AL, Watts D. Digestibility, digestion-inhibitors and nutrients of herbaceous foliage and green stems from an African montane flora and comparison with other tropical flora. Oecologia 1983;60:244-9.

Tirillini B, Menghini L, Leporini L, Scanu N, Marino S, Pintore G, et al. Antioxidant activity of methanol extract of Helichrysum foetidum moench. Nat Prod Res 2013;27:1484-7.

Barrero AF, Arteaga P, Herrador MM. Ent-Kaurenediterpenoids from Helichrysum foetidum. Fitoterapia 1998;69:83.

Kakam AM, Franke K, Ndom JC, Dongo E, Mpondo TN, Wessjohann LA. Secondary metabolites from Helichrysum foetidum and their chemotaxonomic significance. Biochem Syst Ecol 2011;39:166-7.

Malolo FA, Bissoue Nouga A, Kakam A, Franke K, Ngah L, Flausino O Jr., et al. Protease-inhibiting, molecular modeling and antimicrobial activities of extracts and constituents from Helichrysum foetidum and Helichrysum mechowianum (compositae). Chem Cent J 2015;9:32.

Fong HY, Abd Malek SN, Yee HS, Karsani SA. Helichrysetin induces DNA damage that triggers JNK-mediated apoptosis in Ca ski cells. Pharmacogn Mag 2017;13:607-12.

Lourens AC, Van Vuuren SF, Viljoen AM, Davids H, Van Heerden FR. Antimicrobial activity and in vitro cytotoxicity of selected South African Helichrysum species. S Afr J Bot 2011;77:229-35.

Samie A, Nefefe T, Gundidza M, Mmbengwa V, Magwa M, Mtshali MS. Antimicrobial activities and time kill profiles of five essential oils from Southern Africa against selected bacterial and fungal organisms. Afr J Pharm Pharmacol 2012;6:3086-95.

Samie A, Nefefe T. Antifungal activities of essential oils from Southern African medicinal plants against five Fusarium species. J Med Plant Res 2012;6:465-78.