author(s) : Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk
description
The family Orchidaceae is considered as one of the largest family of flowering plant and is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. The family consists of approximately 736 genera with over 30, 000 species (Auberon et al., 2017). Tropical orchids are famous for their showy, strongly, colored flowers, which are exploited on an ornamental level such as the genera Cattleya, Dendrobium, Epidendrum, Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, Brassia, Cymbidium, Laelia, Miltonia, Oncidium, Encyclia, and Coelogyne (Sut et al., 2017).
Genera Count
represented in egypt with 1 Genus
Species
represented in egypt with 1 Specie
Several classes of phytoconstituents have been isolated from therapeuticallyused orchids showing a great chemical diversity. Among them, phenolic derivatives have been studied for their biological activities, especially in the field of cancer, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. On the other hand, limited information has been so far obtained on the numerous alkaloids and terpenoids isolated from several orchid species. Recent articles revealed pronounced effects of some alkaloids on the CNS (Sut et al., 2017). Reviews were reported on traditional and folklore uses, pharmacological effects and phytoconstituents (alkaloids and nitrogenous compounds, bibenzyls, flavonoids, phenanthrenes, terpenoids and others) isolated from the orchid’s family (e.g., Gutiérrez, 2010; Sut et al., 2017). Several species in the family Orchidaceae are known to accumulate stilbenoids, known as phytoalexins as a means of protection against predation (Auberon et al., 2017).
- EPIPACTIS
location
egypt