Actaea racemosa, the black cohosh, black bugbane, black snakeroot, rattle-top, or fairy candle, is a species of flowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae. It is native to eastern North America from the extreme south of Ontario to central Georgia, and west to Missouri and Arkansas. It grows in a variety of woodland habitats, and is often found in small woodland openings. The roots and rhizomes are used in traditional medicine by Native Americans. Its extracts are manufactured as herbal medicines or dietary supplements. Most dietary supplements containing black cohosh are not well-studied or recommended for safe and effective use in treating menopause symptoms or any disease. In contrast, some herbal medicinal products containing black cohosh extract hold a marketing authorization in several states of the European Union and are well-studied and recommended for safe and effective use for the relief of menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes and profuse sweating attacks. Such differentiation between the product types seems to be important.
Saponins, also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed but found particularly in soapwort, a flowering plant, the soapbark tree, common corn-cockle, baby’s breath and soybeans. They are used in soaps, medicines, fire extinguishers, as dietary supplements, for synthesis of steroids, and in carbonated beverages. Saponins are both water and fat soluble, which gives them their useful soap properties. Some examples of these chemicals are glycyrrhizin and quillaia, a bark extract used in beverages.
Pilosella officinarum, known as mouse-ear hawkweed, is a yellow-flowered species of flowering plant in the daisy family Compositae, native to Europe and northern Asia. It produces single, lemon-coloured inflorescences. Like most hawkweed species, it is highly variable and is a member of a species complex of several dozens of subspecies and hundreds of varieties and forms. It is an allelopathic plant.
Bacopa monnieri is a perennial, creeping herb native to the wetlands of southern and Eastern India, Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. It is known by the common names water hyssop, waterhyssop, brahmi, thyme-leafed gratiola, herb of grace, and Indian pennywort. Bacopa monnieri is used in Ayurveda. In 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned manufacturers of dietary supplement products containing Bacopa monnieri against making illegal and unproven claims that the herb can treat various diseases.
Phellodendron amurense is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the Amur cork tree. It is a major source of huáng bò, one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Ainu people used this plant, called shikerebe-ni, as a painkiller. It is known as hwangbyeok in Korean and (キハダ) kihada in Japanese.
Lagerstroemia speciosa is a species of Lagerstroemia native to tropical southern Asia. It is a deciduous tree with bright pink to light purple flowers.
Stellaria media, chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad crop or for poultry consumption.
Calendula officinalis, the pot marigold, common marigold, ruddles, Mary's gold or Scotch marigold, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is probably native to southern Europe, though its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown. It is also widely naturalised farther north in Europe and elsewhere in warm temperate regions of the world.
Oleanane is a natural triterpenoid. It is commonly found in woody angiosperms and as a result is often used as an indicator of these plants in the fossil record. It is a member of the oleanoid series, which consists of pentacyclic triterpenoids where all rings are six-membered.
Barringtonia asiatica, also known as fish poison tree, putat or sea poison tree, is a species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats from islands of the Indian Ocean in the west to tropical Asia and islands of the western Pacific Ocean.
Ginsenosides or panaxosides are a class of natural product steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins. Compounds in this family are found almost exclusively in the plant genus Panax (ginseng), which has a long history of use in traditional medicine that has led to the study of pharmacological effects of ginseng compounds. As a class, ginsenosides exhibit a large variety of subtle and difficult-to-characterize biological effects when studied in isolation.
Oleanolic acid or oleanic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid related to betulinic acid. It is widely distributed in food and plants where it exists as a free acid or as an aglycone of triterpenoid saponins.
An aurone is a heterocyclic chemical compound, which is a type of flavonoid. There are two isomers of the molecule, with (E)- and (Z)-configurations. The molecule contains a benzofuran element associated with a benzylidene linked in position 2. In aurone, a chalcone-like group is closed into a 5-membered ring instead of the 6-membered ring more typical of flavonoids.
Momordin is one of several saponins derived from oleanolic acid, a triterpenoid. These chemical compounds are found in some plants of the genus Momordica, which includes the bitter melon and the balsam apple, as well as in other Asian herbal medicine plants such as Kochia scoparia and Ampelopsis radix.
Combretum molle, the velvet bushwillow, is a medium to large tree species in the genus Combretum found in western, eastern and southern Africa.
Taraxerol is a naturally-occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid. It exists in various higher plants, including Taraxacum officinale (Asteraceae), Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae), Litsea dealbata (Lauraceae), Skimmia spp. (Rutaceae), Dorstenia spp. (Moraceae), Maytenus spp. (Celastraceae), and Alchornea latifolia (Euphobiaceae). Taraxerol was named "alnulin" when it was first isolated in 1923 from the bark of the grey alder by Zellner and Röglsperger. It also had the name "skimmiol" when Takeda and Yosiki isolated it from Skimmia (Rutaceae). A large number of medicinal plants are known to have this compound in their leaves, roots or seed oil.
Gordonia ceylanica is a species of plant in the family Theaceae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Maesa lanceolata, the false assegai, is a tree species that is widespread in the Afrotropics, including Madagascar. It occurs from the southern Arabian Peninsula, southwards to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It grows on stream verges, river banks and forest verges, where it is often a pioneer plant.
Couepia polyandra, also known as olosapo, zapote amarillo, baboon cap, and monkey cap, is a flowering tree in the family Chrysobalanaceae.
Cyclamin is an organic compound that has been used by the pharmaceutical industry as an ingredient for nasal sprays.
