DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs

The Gonosperminae (Asteraceae) are composed of three genera endemic to the Canary Islands (Gonospermum Less., and Lugoa DC.) and southern Africa (Inulanthera Kallersjo), and they are considered an example of a floristic link between these two regions. Phylogenetic analyses of ITS sequences reveal that the Canarian genera are not sister to Inulanthera and do not support the monophyly of the Gonosperminae. These results, coupled with previous phylogenetic studies of other groups, suggest that many of the putative biogeog. links between Macaronesia and southeast Africa need to be evaluated by rigorous phylogenetic analyses. Inulanthera forms part of the basal southern African radiation of the Anthemideae, and therefore it is closely related to other taxa from this region. Maximum likelihood and weighted parsimony analyses support a monophyletic group in the Canary Islands, that includes Lugoa, Gonospermum, and three Tanacetum species endemic to the island of Gran Canaria. Bootstrap support for the monophyly of this Canarian group is weak, and it collapses in the strict consensus tree based on unweighted parsimony. Lugoa is nested within Gonospermum, and both interisland colonization among the western islands of La Gomera, El Hierro, La Palma and Tenerife, and radiation on the central island of Gran Canaria have been the major patterns of species diversification for these Canarian endemics. 

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) The compn. of the essential oil of the aerial parts of the Santolina chamaecyparissus L. plants collected from the campus of CIMAP field station Kodaikanal (southern hills) was analyzed by GC and GC/MS.  The oil yield obtained upon hydrodistn. was 1.1% (v/w) on fresh wt. basis.  The anal. of the oil led to the identification of 25 constituents totaling 97.4% of the oil.  The identified constituents included monoterpene hydrocarbons (30%) oxygenated monoterpenes (56%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (10.6%) and oxygenated sesquiterpene (0.8%).  The major constituents of the oil were artemisia ketone (32%), 1,8-cineole (15.6%) and myrcene (14.5%).

2) The essential oils of the fresh aerial parts of Artemisia vulgaris L. and Santolina chamaecyparissus L. were prepd. by hydrodistn.  The percentage yield, sp. gr. and refractive index of each oil were detd.  Anal. of the oils was carried out by gas chromatog.-mass spectrometry (GC/MS).  The essential oil of Artemisia vulgaris L. amounted to 0.26% v/w; 112 components (94.27% of total oil components) were identified.  alpha-Thujone (36.92%) was found to be the major component.  The essential oil of Santolina chamaecyparissus L. amounted to 0.59% v/w; 74 components (85.88% of total oil components) were identified.  Artemisia ketone (35.49%) was found to be the major component.  The two oils showed a good antimicrobial activity in vitro against certain strains of bacteria and fungi.  The oils also showed strong anthelmintic action against some types of worms.

3) The hydrodistd. essential oil of Santolina chamaecyparissus (Asteraceae) was analyzed by GC/MS.  Seventy-one compds. were identified representing 91.16% of the total oil with monoterpenes constituting 81% of the oil in which oxygenated monoterpenes predominated over monoterpenes hydrocarbons.  The main components were artemisia ketone (38.1%), camphor (11.7%) and beta-phellandrene (9.2%).

PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Partes aéreas. 

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Antiespasmódica, emenágoga, vermífuga. 

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Han sido aislados de esta planta flavonoides, acetilenos y terpenos. El estudio fitoquímico permitió detectar la presencia de taninos y de ácidos cafeico, vanílico, p- y o-cumárico (Iglesias, et al., 1973). En las hojas se registran, además, las agliconas patuletina (6-metoxiquercetina), luteolina, apigenina, pectolinaringenina, hispidulina, jaseosidina y nepetina y glicósidos apigenina 7-ramnoglucósido, apigenina-7-glucósido, apigenina-7-glucurónido, luteolina-7-ramnoglucósido, luteolina-7-glucurónido, crisoeriol-7-glucósido, patuletina-7-glucósido y axilarina-7-glucósido (Adzet, et al., 1973; Becchi, et al., 1976; Becchi & Combier, 1976; Lam, et al., 1989). De la raíz de esta especie se han obtenido los Z- y E-isomeros de 2-[4-(2-tienil)-but-3-in-1-enil ] furano (Bohlmann & Zdero, 1968). Más recientemente fue aislado de la raíz un ésterisovaleriato acetilénico y de la parte aérea de la planta una serie de derivados acetilénico y de la parte aérea de la planta una serie de derivados acetilénicos conocidos como constituyentes de la raíz (Lam, et al., 1989). El análisis de los compuestos volátiles por GC/MS permitió la identificación de 70 productos diferentes, en que los dos mayoritarios tienen la estructura de artemisia cetona y de mirceno y constituyen el 45% y el 15%, respectivamente, de la mezcla inicial (Vernin, 1991). El contenido sesquiterpénico de las hojas de Santolina chamaecyparissus de cultivo es diferente al de la planta espontánea. En el primer caso fue aislado por primera vez el compuesto bioactivo vulgarona B (Baig, et al., 1989). 

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Uruguay.

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Droga: Capítulos florales.

Propiedades: aniinflamatorio, espasmolítico, aperitivo, digestivo, carminativo, expecorante, antiséptico, antifúngico, antihelmíntico, y estrogénico. En uso externo es antiflogístico y cicatrizante.

Origin

Mediterranean region. Grown as an ornamental on the hills of South India.

Action:

Plant—stomachic, antispasmodic, vermifuge, emmenagogue, analgesic, anti-inflammatory.

1) GONZALEZ, Matías ; LOMBARDO, Atilio ; VALLARINO, Aida. Plantas de la medicina vulgar del Uruguay. Montevideo : Talleres Gráficos, 1937.

2) 270 (doscientos setenta) plantas medicinales iberoamericanas. Santiago de Bogotá : CYTED-SECAB, 1995, 617p.

3) FRANCISCO-ORTEGA, Javier; Barber, et al. Origin and evolution of the endemic genera of Gonosperminae (Asteraceae: Anthemideae) from the Canary Islands: evidence from nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacers of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. American Journal of Botany . 2001, vol.88, nº1, p.161-169 .
 
4) GARG, S. N., et al. Volatile constituents of the essential oil of Santolina chamaecyparissus Linn. From the southern hills of India.    Journal of Essential Oil Research . 2001, vol.13, nº4, p.234-235.
 
5) HAGGAG, M. Y. Study of chemical composition, antimicrobial and anthelmintic activities of the essential oils of Artemisia vulgaris L. and Santolina Chamaecyparissus L. cultivated in Egypt. Al-Azhar Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences . 2000, vol.26, p.23-39.
 
6) DEMIRCI, B.; OZEK, T.; BASER, K. H. C. Chemical composition of Santolina chamaecyparissus L. essential oil. Journal of Essential Oil Research . 2000, vol.12, nº5, p.625-627.

7) ALONSO, Jorge R. Tratado de fitomedicina : bases clínicas y farmacológicas. Buenos Aires : ISIS, 1998, p. 141.

8) Linares Gimeno, Nuria/ Plantas Medicinales: cuaderno de trabajo. UPA: Madrid, 2013. p . - 67

9) Khare, C.P./ Indian Medicinal Plants. -- Nueva Dheli: Springer, 2007 . - p 581.