Toxicology of some important medicinal plants in southern Africa.

Johannes van Staden, Ashwell R Ndhlala, Bhekumthetho Ncube, Ambrose Okem, Rofhiwa B Mulaudzi

Journal: Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association 2014;62():609-21

PMID: 24075916

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

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.

Address: Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3201, South Africa.

DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.09.027