A systematic review of traditional uses bioactive phytoconstituents of genus ehretia

Abstract

The plants of the genus Ehretia composed of about 150 species mainly distributed in tropical Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America. They have been used as traditional and folk medicines to treat various ailments in Japan, India, and China for a long time. Previous phytochemical screenings demonstrated that the Ehretia plants mainly contain fatty acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, cyanogenetic glycosides, and benzoquinones and other constituents from different chemical classes. The pharmacological studies confirmed that the crude extracts or individual compounds from the genus showed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiarthritic, antitubercular, and antiallergic activities, as well as anti-snake venom property. In this review, we presented a summary of the secondary metabolites isolated from different species of Ehretia based on the published literatures up to March 2017. In addition to the traditional medicinal use of Ehretia plants, we focused on the known biological activities of the plants and discussed them in detail here.