Pharmacobotanical study of Croton floribundus stem bark

Abstract

Croton floribundus, Euphorbiaceae, popularly known as “capixingui” is a native tree of the Atlantic Forest. In folk medicine, the tea of C. floribundus stem bark is used for the treatment of leukemia, tumors, and syphilis. The aim of this work was to describe the morphological and anatomical characteristics of C. floribundus stem bark and to establish parameters for its quality control. Accordingly, different analyses were performed, including organoleptic, morphological, anatomical, and histochemical analysis of the samples, plus the characterization of druse crystals by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The sample showed menthol and camphor odor, and bitter taste. The main macroscopic characteristic was the presence of a thin periderm with striations. The main distinctive microscopic features of the species were: dense gelatinous fibers, phenolic idioblasts, sclereids, numerous crystalline idioblasts with druses located in the cortex and abundantly in the parenchymal rays of the phloem, and absence of laticifers in the mature stem bark. These analyses made possible to describe the morpho-anatomy of that species, contributing to phytochemical and pharmacognostic future studies of C. floribundus.

Morphology, anatomy, and histochemistry of three species of Jatropha: a contribution to plant recognition and selection

“…Croton spp. and Euphorbia characias, which belong to the same family (Euphorbiaceae) as Jatropha, contain phenolic and lipophilic compounds (Christodoulakis et al 2015;Vitarelli et al 2015;Gancedo et al 2022). We also discovered secretory cavities in the examined Jatropha species, which contain phenolic chemicals in epithelial cells and the cavity lumen.…”

“…2015; Gancedo et al . 2022). We also discovered secretory cavities in the examined Jatropha species, which contain phenolic chemicals in epithelial cells and the cavity lumen.…”