author(s) : Ibrahim A. El Garf and Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk

Mistletoe is the common name for hemi-parasite plants belonging to several families of the order Santalales, where Loranthaceae is the largest pantropical plant family, with approximately 70 genera and 800 species around the world. Members of this family parasitize a broad range of Gymnosperms and Angiosperms and can cause important damages to their hosts leading to great economic losses (Leitão et al., 2013). Members of the family are semi-parasitic shrubs attached to the hosts by modified roots (Dévéhat et al., 2002). Mistletoes of the Loranthaceae and Viscaceae are hemi-parasitic plants and their preparations in the form of injectable extracts, infusions, tinctures, fluid extracts or tea bags are widely used in various cultures in almost every continent to treat or manage various health problems including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory conditions, irregular menstruations, menopause, epilepsy, arthritis, cancer, etc.
The medicinal values of some species of Mistletoes (Loranthaceae) growing in the West African sub-region have been reviewed along with some considerations of their chemistries and local uses (Adesina et al., 2013).
The essential chemical constituents of 27 species (including subsp.) of Loranthaceae were determined. The results show that: (1) the species are obviously grouped into Loranthoid species and Viscoid species.
There are olenanolic acid and other triterpene constituents in Viscoid species, but flavonoids in Loranthoid species; (2) the constituents of Viscoid species are influenced more than those of Loranthoid by different host species; (3) there is significant different between Taxillus species and Scurrula ones, so they should be dealt as two genera independly (Gong et al., 2004). Different kinds of constituents, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, lectins, polypeptides, arginine, histamine, polysaccharides, tannins, terpenoids and/or steroids, acidic compounds, glycosides and gallic acid, were identified from species of the family Loranthaceae (Ameer et al., 2015)