Abstract

GERANIUM PLANTS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: DIVERSITY OF INGREDIENTS WITH HIGH MEDICINAL ACTIVITIES

Abdullatif Azab*

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Abstract

Geranium genus is part of the Geraniaceae plant family. Geranium species are beautiful flowering plant. The species of Israel and Palestine were scarcely studied and published. Most of the published studies focused on chemical compositions. The traditional medicine and ethnobotany extensively utilized these plants. Very few review articles were published about these plants, which is another ―strange‖ fact. Moreover, there was very limited number of publications about the archaeological findings that link these plants with ancient human societies. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were significantly published, compared with other medicinal activities and other properties that were rarely published or not at all. Important natural products structures will be presented in figures. The discussion section will mainly focus on the known activities of some of these natural products, in a comparative presentation with other plants. Finally, and based on our literature survey, conclusions and recommendations for future research will be drawn.

Keywords: Geraniaceae, Geranium, antimicrobial, antioxidant, ethnomedicine, chemical composition, enzyme inhibition, Palmatine, Columbamine, Geranioside.