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Review
. 2020 Jan 24;10(2):181.
doi: 10.3390/biom10020181.

Vascular Epiphytic Medicinal Plants as Sources of Therapeutic Agents: Their Ethnopharmacological Uses, Chemical Composition, and Biological Activities

Ari Satia Nugraha  1 , Bawon Triatmoko  1 , Phurpa Wangchuk  2 , Paul A Keller  3
Affiliations
Review

Vascular Epiphytic Medicinal Plants as Sources of Therapeutic Agents: Their Ethnopharmacological Uses, Chemical Composition, and Biological Activities

Ari Satia Nugraha et al. Biomolecules. .

Abstract

This is an extensive review on epiphytic plants that have been used traditionally as medicines. It provides information on 185 epiphytes and their traditional medicinal uses, regions where Indigenous people use the plants, parts of the plants used as medicines and their preparation, and their reported phytochemical properties and pharmacological properties aligned with their traditional uses. These epiphytic medicinal plants are able to produce a range of secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, and a total of 842 phytochemicals have been identified to date. As many as 71 epiphytic medicinal plants were studied for their biological activities, showing promising pharmacological activities, including as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer agents. There are several species that were not investigated for their activities and are worthy of exploration. These epipythes have the potential to furnish drug lead compounds, especially for treating cancers, and thus warrant indepth investigations.

Keywords: drug leads; epiphytes; medicinal plants; pharmacology; phytochemistry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic data collection approach.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Five most popular medicinal epiphytes. (A) C. filiformis L. (B) B. odoratissimum (Sm.) Lindl. ex Wall. (C) C. goeringii (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f. (D) A. aureum Limme. (E) F. natalensis Hochst.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Density map showing a number of epiphytic medicinal plant species used by different countries. The number of species used is proportional to colour intensity.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Components of epiphytic plants used in medicinal preparations (represented in percentages). LF: leaf; WP: whole; RT: root; ST: stem, RZ: rhizome; FT: fruit; PdB: pseudobulbs; BK: bark; LT: latex; TB: tuber; PT: pith; SD: seed; SP: spore; BD: buds; BL: bulbs: NT: nutmeg; PD: pedi; PdTB: pseudotuber; STh: sheath.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Modes of preparation and administration of epiphytic medicinal plants (represented in percentages).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Number of epiphytic medicinal plant species used traditionally to treat infectious diseases.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Number of epiphytic medicinal plant species producing the same secondary metabolites.
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