Abstract

ANCHUSA PLANTS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. A CONCISE REVIEW

Abdullatif Azab*

Abstract

Anchusa species are part of the flowering plants of Israel and Palestine, with small, very beautiful blue or white colors, and hairy stems and leaves. These plants possess very interesting chemical compositions. In traditional medicines of the reviewed region and other places over the globe, these plants were extensively used, but surprisingly, modern science is far from a situation of sufficient research of theses species, generally speaking. In this mini-review article, the documented ethnobotanical-ethnomedicinal uses will be presented, along with modern research finding. The information will be provided it two separate tables, and to make it more reader-user friendly, the tested activities-properties in modern research will be highlighted. In addition, the structures of the reported natural products isolated from these plants will be presented in separate figures. An extended discussion section will follow the findings listing, followed by conclusions. Finally, it is important to mention that each one of the six species of Israel and Palestine has a major botanical name and synonyms that will be mentioned, but we will use the major name of each species.

Keywords: Anchusa, Anchusa azurea, ethnobotany, chemical composition, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiulcer, anticancer, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory.