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TerminaliaLinn, a genus of mostly medium or large trees in the family Combretaceae with about 250 species in the world, is distributed mainly in southern Asia, Himalayas, Madagascar, Australia, and the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa. Many species are used widely in many traditional medicinal systems, e.g., traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, and Indian Ayurvedic medicine practices. So far, about 39 species have been phytochemically studied, which led to the identification of 368 compounds, including terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, simple phenolics and so on. Some of the isolates showed various bioactivities, in vitro or in vivo, such as antitumor, anti HIV-1, antifungal, antimicrobial, antimalarial, antioxidant, diarrhea and analgesic. This review covers research articles from 1934 to 2018, retrieved from SciFinder, Wikipedia, Google Scholar, Chinese Knowledge Network and Baidu Scholar by using “Terminalia” as the search term (“all fields”) with no specific time frame setting for the search. Thirty-nine important medicinal and edible Terminaliaspecies were selected and summarized on their geographical distribution, traditional uses, phytochemistry and related pharmacological activities.

Panax notoginseng(Araliaceae) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine mainly cultivated in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China. Two new alkaloids, rigidiusculamide E (1) and [-(α-oxyisohexanoyl-N-methyl-leucyl)2-] (2), together with two known ones, (−)-oxysporidinone (3) and (−)-4,6′-anhydrooxysporidinone (4) were isolated from the mycelia culture of Fusarium tricinctumSYPF 7082, an endophytic fungus obtained from the healthy root of P. notoginseng. Their structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses. Compounds 1–4were tested for their inhibitory effects against NO production on Murine macrophage cell line, and the new compound 2showed significant inhibitory activity on NO production with the IC50value of 18.10 ± 0.16 μM.

Panax, a genus of the Araliaceae family, is an important herbal group in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Nine species and three varieties are included in the genus of Panax, in which nearly all species have been used for medicinal purposes. Among them, Panax notoginseng(Burk) F. H. Chen, Panax ginsengC. A. Meyer and Panax quinquefoliusL. are the most representative and valuable herbs world-wide, with a long history of cultivation. As the main bioactive chemical constituents, saponins with different aglycones are the major components in various Panaxspp., and their pharmacological activities are mainly reflected in the effects on blood system, cardio- and cerebro-vascular systems, nervous system, metabolism, and immune regulation. Researchers of Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), have put many efforts into conducting the investigations on Panaxspecies. Herein, we reviewed the research progress on Panaxspp. in KIB, CAS, over the past few decades, from the aspects of history and origin, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities.

RumexL., a genus in Polygonaceae family with about 200 species, is growing widely around the world. Some Rumexspecies, called "sorrel" or "dock", have been used as food application and treatment of skin diseases and hemostasis after trauma by the local people of its growing areas for centuries. To date, 29 Rumexspecies have been studied to contain about 268 substances, including anthraquinones, flavonoids, naphthalenes, stilbenes, diterpene alkaloids, terpenes, lignans, and tannins. Crude extract of Rumexspp. and the pure isolates displayed various bioactivities, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antioxidant, cardiovascular protection and antiaging activities. Rumexspecies have important potential to become a clinical medicinal source in future. This review covers research articles from 1900 to 2022, fetched from SciFinder, Web of Science, ResearchGate, CNKI and Google Scholar, using “Rumex” as a search term ("all fields") with no specific time frame set for the search. Thirty-five Rumexspecies were selected and summarized on their geographical distribution, edible parts, traditional uses, chemical research and pharmacological properties.

Chemical study on the roots of Gentiana crassicaulisDuthie ex Burk (Gentianaceae) afforded 15 compounds, including two new iridoid glycosides, qinjiaosides B (1) and C (2). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and chemical evidence. The isolated iridoid glycosides 1, 4–6and 8–11were tested for their anti-inflammatory activity by the inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO and TNF-αproduction in macrophage RAW264.7 cells. All of them showed inhibitory effects on inflammatory mediators NO at a concentration of 15 µM, while 5and 9displayed the most potential inhibitory effects on TNF-αwith IC50 of 0.06 and 0.05 µM, respectively. The structure-activity relationships (SARs) of these iridoid derivatives were discussed.