author(s) : Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk, H. A. Elgindi and Ibrahim A. El-Garf
Synonym
- Pancratium sickenbergeri Asch. & Schweinf. in Barb.-Boiss. & Barbey, Herb. Levant 158 (May 1882); Asch. & Schweinf. in Boiss., Fl. Orient. 5: 153 (July 1882); Boulos, Fl. Egypt 4: 88 (2005).
- Batn-el-hayyah (abdomen of the viper), aisalan, busseyl, bireyd and zambaq.
family name
AMARYLLIDACEAE
genus name
Pancratium
The proximate composition of the different parts of the plant, growing in Egypt are shown in Table 6 (Rizk, 1959; Fahmy et al., 1960b).
The study of the carbohydrates revealed the presence of fructose, glucose, sucrose, melibiose, raffinose and stachyose, in addition to other two unidentified oligosaccharides assumed to be mannotriose and verbascose (Ahmed and Rizk, 1964a).
The mucilage isolated from the different parts of the plant (Table 7) was found to be composed of D-glucose and proved to be of β-D-glucan type (Ahmed and Rizk, 1964a; Ahmed et al., 1964).
Later, Ali et al. (1990a) reported that the mucilage of Pancratium sickenbergeri consists of rhamnose (2.02%), arabinose (6.02%), mannose (26.29%) and glucose (65.65%)The amino acids identified in the plant were the same as those of Pancratium arabicum (8.2.1).
The fatty acids of the different lipid fractions are shown in Table 9 and 10. The unsaponifiable mather of the lipids yielded ceryl alcohol, 1,21- heneicosanediol and β- sitsterol (Rizk, 1963; Ahmed and Rizk; 1963).
A contribution to the pharmacognostical study of Pancratium sickenbergeri has been carried out (Rizk, 1959; Mahran and Rizk, 1959).
The following alkaloids have been isolated from the plant growing in Egypt: lycorine, homolycorine, hemanthidine, tazettine, sickenbergine, galanthamine, pancratine and vittatine (Rizk, 1959; Sandberg and Agurell, 1959; Fahmy et al., 1960c; Sandberg, 1961; Ahmed and Rizk, 1964b; Ahmed et al., 1964). Later, six other alkaloids were identified from the plant viz. ent-6α/6β-hydroxybufanisine (142), (-)-8-demethylmartidine (143), haemanthamine (7), vittatine (75), lycorine (1), norgalanthamine (130), 11-hydroxy vittatine (140), haemanthidine (77), and panaracine (65), (Abou-Donia et al., 2002).
The pharmacological study of the plant extracts and total alkaloids has been reported. The plant seemed to be of low toxicity.
As large a dose as 30 ml of the total alkaloidal solution (corresponding to 18 gm of the anhydrous plant material or 100 gm of the fresh plant), produced no serious effects on the blood pressure and respiratory movements, when administered interavenously to anaesthetized dogs.
It was shown that, in vitro, the total alkaloids relaxed the intestinal and uterine muscles and in some cases relaxation was followed by stimulation of their motility. Lycorine, isolated from the plant produced stimulation of the intestinal motility, an effect which explains its reported emetic and purgative properties (Sharaf et al., 1960).Ward et al. (1997) investigated the abundance and distribution of calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves of wild populations of a Negev desert lily (Pancratium sickenbergeri) in relation to herbivory.
location
egypt