Ndhlala AR, Ncube B, Okem A, Mulaudzi RB, Van Staden J. Toxicology of some important medicinal plants in southern Africa.
Food Chem Toxicol 2013;
62:609-21. [PMID:
24075916 DOI:
10.1016/j.fct.2013.09.027]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2013] [Revised: 08/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/19/2013] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Africa is home to two major floral kingdoms: the Paleotropical kingdom of central Africa and the Capensis kingdom of the Western Cape province of South Africa, the latter of which consists of approximately 10,000 species, representing about 20% of Africa's floral 'gold mine', better known as the Cape herbal medicine. Needless to say, such rich flora comes with numerous plants with a potential to cause poisoning to humans. This review document reports important toxic medicinal plants and their toxic ingredients for plant species resident in the southern African region. These include important medicinal uses and pharmacological properties ranging from antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory as well as those that are used as aphrodisiacs and for maternal health care.
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