1. Nerium spp.: In Vitro Culture and the Production of Secondary Metabolites
- Author
-
Gerhard Franz and D. Paper
- Subjects
Traditional medicine ,Nerium oleander ,Nerium odorum ,Biology ,Suspension culture ,Toxicology ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Nerium indicum ,Ursolic acid ,chemistry ,Genus ,visual_art ,Ornamental plant ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Bark - Abstract
The genus Nerium consists of two species Nerium oleander L. (Fig. 1) and Nerium odorum Sol. (= Nerium odorum Lam. = Nerium indicum Mill.). They are distributed in the Mediterranean region, Arabia, the Near East and East India. In many other areas they are cultivated as ornamental plants (Hegi 1927). Various parts of the plants are reputed to be therapeutic agents in the treatment of swellings, leprosy, eye and skin diseases (Dymock et al. 1891; Chopra et al. 1956). The leaves mainly possess cardiotonic and antibacterial properties and are utilized as eounter-poisons against snake venom (Dymock et al. 1891; Chopra et al. 1956). Because of these applications and their pharmacological effects, many researchers have investigated the various compounds of Nerium spp. The substances which have been found in the leaves, root bark and seeds belong to the flavonoids, saponins, cardenolides, pregnanes and hexadecanoic acid derivatives. The structures of these components will be described in this chapter.
- Published
- 1993
- Full Text
- View/download PDF