Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merrill [Family:Phyllanthaceae Martynov] is a popular leafy-vegetable in South and Southeast Asia and is notable for its high yields and palatability. The leaves and succulent young tips of the plant are normally eaten like tropical asparagus, raw in the form of salads or steamed or alternatively added to stir-fry, rice and egg dishes, soups or casseroles, and sometimes blanched to serve with chilli paste. The rich vitamin content of the leaves has led to its popular name, 'multivitamin green' and has also been recorded as a tropical vegetable by the United States Department of Agriculture. The flowers and the small purplish fruits of the plant are also reported to be eaten. The present paper attempts to review the health-impact of the nutritive factors and other phytometabolites biosynthesized by this functional leafy-vegetable, in addition to its ethnomedical claims.
Alternanthera bettzickiana (Regel) Nicholson (Family: Amaranthaceae) is an erect herb and an ornamental pot plant, claimed to be useful in purifying and nourishing blood, in addition to the acclaimed soft laxative, galactagogue, antipyretic and wound healing characteristics. The tender leaves and shoots are commonly consumed like vegetable or spinach and in soups, either cooked alone or mixed with other vegetables and served with a staple food like rice or ugali. From the hydrophilic extract of the fresh leaves that exhibited in vitro antioxidant/radical scavenging (ABTS •+ and FRAP assays) and metal (Ferrous ion) chelating capacities, six biophenolic antioxidants, viz.,prop-2-enoic acid and (E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-enoic acid, have been isolated and characterised for the first time adopting extensive chromatographic and spectral studies.
Vernonia travancorica Hook. f. is a taxon, endemic to the evergreen forests of Western Ghats (above 1000 m), India. From the aqueous EtOH extract of the air-dried corymbose inflorescence a novel secondary metabolite, 3-O-beta-[beta-(6'''-acetyl)-D-glucopyranosyl(1-->2)]-D-glucopyranosyl kaempferol (1), has been isolated, together with three other compounds, viz., 4'-methoxykaempferol (2), its 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (3) and kaempferol (4). The structure of the new natural product has been established based on chemical analysis, including characteristic colour reactions, rigorous hydrolytic procedures involving acid, alkali and enzyme, as well as spectral (UV, (1)H and (13)C NMR and FABMS) evidences.
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