author(s) : Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk and Amr M. Saadeldeen
description
The family Ebenaceae contains ca. 500 species of trees and shrubs, of which more than 350 species are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide (Wang et al., 2011).
Diospyros is numerically and economically the most important genus of Ebenaceae.
The uniqueness of the genus is the elaboration of a large number of pentacyclic triterpenes and juglone based 1,4-naphthoquinone metabolites.
These metabolites can be used as chemical markers for taxonomic studies (Mallavadhani et al., 1998).
Diospyros is the largest genus in Ebenaceae that has more than 500 species with remarkable economical values, especially Diospyros kaki Thunb which has traditionally been used as an important food resource in China, Korea, and Japan. Diospyros plants are pantropical and thrive in warm regions of the world such as China, Korea, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, India, and Pakistan, Middle East, and parts of Africa and the United States.
Diospyros species are deciduous and evergreen shrubs and trees.
Several species of this genus are commercially important, either for their edible fruit, leaves, or for their timber.
The edible fruit-yielding varieties are Diospyros kaki (Oriental Persimmon), Diospyros virginiana (North American persimmon), Diospyros digyna (black sapote), Diospyros lotus (date-plum), and Diospyros rhombifolia (princess persimmon). Diospyros kaki fruit mineral profile includes calcium, copper, potassium, iron, magnesium, sodium, and zinc.
The timber-yielding species are black ebony (Diospyros ebenum, Diospyros melanoxylon), and striped ebony (Diospyros celebica, Diospyros muns). The timbers are favored for their dark hard wood. Some species, such as Diospyros crassiflora are used for ornamentals purposes such as wood carvings (Rauf et al., 2017a).
Diospyros gracilipes, Diospyros perrieri and Diospyros platycalyx, commonly known as ebonies are reputed to produce a very good quality of wood which is highly demanded and primarily used in making furniture, music instruments or ornamental articles (Rasamison et al., 2016).
There are several reviews on the medicinal uses and chemical constituents of various Diospyros species (Mallavadhani et al., 1998; Maridass, 2008; Sinha and Bansal, 2008; Kaushik et al., 2013; Sharma, 2017).
Genera Count
represented in egypt with Genera
Species
represented in egypt with Species
Phytochemical constituents such as terpenoids, tannins, hydrocarbons, lipids, benzopyrones, naphthoquinones, polyphenols, and tannins have been isolated from different Diospyros (Rauf et al., 2017a).
The biological activities of extracts of Diospyros species, or the isolated compounds such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-diabetic, antinociceptive, antibacterial, anthelmintic, antihypertensive, cytotoxic,cosmeceutical, enzyme-inhibitory etc. have been reported (Howlader et al., 2012; Rao et al., 2016; Kashif et al., 2017; Rauf et al., 2014, 2017a). Diospyros sylvatica exhibited antiplasmodial properties (Kantamreddi and Wright, 2008).
Diospyros lotus displays a good antioxidant activity and has antiproliferative effects (Loizzo et al., 2009).
Its extract and isolated compounds have been reported to exhibit excellent anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxant, sedative and urease inhibition potential activities (Rauf et al., 2017b).
The plant parts of numerous Diospyros species have been in use as remedies in various folk healing practices, which include therapy for hemorrhage, incontinence, insomnia, hiccough, diarrhea etc. (Rauf et al., 2017a).
Diospyros kaki L.f., commonly known as persimmon is used as a medicinal plant in Chinese traditional medicine since many years for different ailments including cosmetics and dermatologic applications.
Traditionally this plant is used to treat different skin conditions including pimples, skin eruptions and eczema (Kashif et al., 2017).
In folk medicine, the fruits of Diospyros lotus were used as a sedative, astringent, nutritive, and for the treatment of constipation (Loizzo et al., 2009).
Different parts of Diospyros species have been traditionally used for fungal infection, lumbago hiccup, for internal haemorrhage, for bed-wetting in children, insomnia, hypertension, dyspnea, antimicrobial, anticancer, etc. Diospyros are used as carminative, sedative, astringent, febrifuge vermicide and vermifuge (Rauf et al., 2017b).
Extracts of several Diospyros spp. have been used in Indian traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, the African folklore and Chinese medicine for the treatment of whooping cough, leprosy, snake bites, scabies, skin eruptions, dysentry, eye infections, menstrual troubles, abdominal pains, wounds, ulcers, chest pains and gonorrhea (Ganapaty et al., 2006).
Diospyros anisandra is used in Mayan medicine for treating dermatological problems as pimples, scabies and inflammation (Uc-Cachón et al., 2013). Diospyros bipindensis stem bark is traditionally used in Cameroon as a remedy for respiratory diseases (Cesari et al., 2013).
The fruit of Diospyros lotus (date-plum) is used as a sedative, astringent, nutritive, antiseptic, antidiabetic, antitumor, astringent, laxative, nutritive, antipyretic and for the treatment of constipation (Rauf et al., 2014).
Diospyros malabarica bark is bitter, astringent and febrifuge (Kaushik et al., 2013). Barks and roots of Diospyros mespiliformis Hochst. ex A. DC are used for serious infections such as malaria, pneumonia, syphilis, leprosy, and dermatomycoses, as an anthelmintic and to facilitate delivery. Different parts of the tree are used against diarrhea, skin infections, headache, toothache and similar pains and as a psycho-pharmacological drug (Mohamed et al., 2009).
- Euclea murray
location
egypt