COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM THE LEAF, FRUIT AND STEM BARK OF HARUNGANA MADAGASCARIENSIS (HYPERICACEAE)
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Title | COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM THE LEAF, FRUIT AND STEM BARK OF HARUNGANA MADAGASCARIENSIS (HYPERICACEAE) |
Authors | |
Abstract | Leaves and stem bark of H. madagascariensis are used in African traditional medicine as a remedy for anaemia, wounds and malaria. Leaf aqueous extracts of the plant were reported to show antimicrobial and antitrichomonal activities among others. No report has been documented on the essential oil constituents of the plant. As part of the efforts to generate a data bank for essential oils of Nigeria, we undertook for the first time a comparative analysis of hydro-distilled oils of the leaf, stem bark and fruit of the plant by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Both qualitative and quantitative differences existed in the composition of the three oils which comprised mainly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (66.8 - 69.6 %). â-caryophyllene (32.4 % and 18.4 % respectively for leaf and fruit oils only),á-humulene (10.4 %, 9.8 % and 7.3 % respectively for leaf, stem bark and fruit oils), germacrene D (8.7 % for leaf oil only), and á-farnesene (37.4 % and 10.4 % respectively for stem bark and fruit oils only) are the predominant constituents, which may possibly account for the various reported biological activities of the plant. |
Publisher | African Ethnomedicines Network |
Date | 2009-06-07 |
Source | African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative medicines (AJTCAM) ABSTRACTS OF THE WORLD CONGRESS ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS, CAPE TOWN NOVEMBER 2008 |
Rights | Articles can be used for educational and non-comercial purposes. The copyrights of articles are retained by the authors with publication rights granted to AJTCAM. |