Plant species of the genus Cecropia (Urticaceae) are used as traditional medicine in Latin-America, and are commercially available as food supplements. The aim of this study was to characterize and compare the phytochemical constituents of four Cecropia species collected in Panama. The structures of 11 compounds isolated from leaves of C. obtusifolia were elucidated based on high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis; the polyphenolic constituents of leaves of all four Cecropia species and commercial products were characterized using high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-quadrupole time of flight-tandem high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-QTOF). Forty-seven compounds were fully identified or tentatively characterized. Thirty-nine of these have not been previously reported for the species under investigation. Multivariate analysis revelead that C. obtusifolia and C. insignis are the most related species, while C. hispidissima is the most segregated one. Considering the importance of the description of novel chemical entities and the increasing interest and use of natural products, this study may be of great help for chemotaxonomic purposes, the interpretation of medicinal properties and for quality assessment of herbal supplements containing Cecropia leaves.

Context: Several Cecropia (Cecropiaceae) species are traditionally used in Latin America for the treatment of a variety of diseases including diabetes, arterial hypertension, asthma, bronchitis, anxiety, and inflammation. At present, a number of commercial products based on these plants have been introduced into the market with very little information on methods for guaranteeing their quality and safety.Objective: This work proposes potential chemical markers for the quality control of the raw materials of Cecropia obtusifolia Bertol., Cecropia peltata L., Cecropia glaziovii Snethl., Cecropia pachystachya Trécul, and Cecropia hololeuca Miq.Methods: The Herbal Chemical Marker Ranking System (Herb MaRS) developed by the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) at the University of Western Sydney was used for selecting chemical markers for the quality control of selected medicinal species of Cecropia. This review covers the period from 1982 to 2016.Results: Chlorogenic acid, flavonoidal glycosides (orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, isovitexin, and rutin), catechin, epicatechin, procyanidins (B2, B5, and C1), steroids (β-sitosterol), and triterpenoids (α-amyrin, pomolic, tormentic and ursolic acids) were selected as chemical markers for the quality control of the leaves.Conclusion: It is necessary to establish comprehensive standards for guaranteeing quality, safety and efficacy of herbal drugs. The selection of adequate chemical markers for quality control purposes requires a good knowledge about the chemical composition of medicinal plants and their associated biological properties. To the best of our knowledge this review article is the first to address the identification and quantitative determination of the chemical markers for the genus Cecropia.

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This paper discusses the family Araceae, emphasizing its worldwide distribution and the diversity of morphological and ecological characteristics of the family that have enabled it to reach such a prominent position with diverse habitats. Few families of its size have come to inhabit such a diverse spectrum of habits and biomes. The family has important habit forms and growth structures that have enabled such distributional patterns. The very broad spectrum of life forms it demonstrates is one of the main characteristics of the family, namely broad habitat diversity. This coupled with high species diversity; high rates of endemism and the presence of large numbers of unknown species (probably the highest of any family percentage-wise) constitute principal characteristics of the family.

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In the present study, we report 46 new records of vascular plants species from Panama. The species belong to the following families: Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Araceae, Bignoniaceae, Burseraceae, Caryocaraceae, Celastraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Gentianaceae, Lacistemataceae, Lauraceae, Malpighiaceae, Malvaceae, Marattiaceae, Melastomataceae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae, Ochnaceae, Orchidaceae, Passifloraceae, Peraceae, Poaceae, Portulacaceae, Ranunculaceae, Salicaceae, Sapindaceae, Sapotaceae, Solanaceae, and Violaceae. Additionally, the status of plant collections in Panama is discussed; we focused on the areas where we identified significant information gaps regarding real assessments of plant biodiversity in the country.