The Artemisia L. Genus: A Review of Bioactive Essential Oils

Abstract

Numerous members of the Anthemideae tribe are important as cut flowers and ornamental crops, as well as being medicinal and aromatic plants, many of which produce essential oils used in folk and modern medicine and in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. Essential oils generally have a broad spectrum of bioactivity, owing to the presence of several active ingredients that work through various modes of action. Due to their mode of extraction, mostly by distillation from aromatic plants, they contain a variety of volatile molecules such as terpenes, phenol-derived aromatic and aliphatic components. The large genus Artemisia L., from the tribe Anthemideae, comprises important medicinal plants which are currently the subject of phytochemical attention due to their biological and chemical diversity. Artemisia species, widespread throughout the world, are one of the most popular plants in Chinese traditional preparations and are frequently used for the treatment of diseases such as malaria, hepatitis, cancer, inflammation and infections by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Extensive studies of the chemical components of Artemisia have led to the identification of many compounds as well as essentials oils. This review summarizes some of the main reports on the chemistry and anti-infective activities of Artemisia. Li. essential oils from the data in the recent literature (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011).

Efficient in vitro propagation of Artemisia nilagirica var. nilagirica (Indian wormwood) and assessment of genetic fidelity of micropropagated plants

“…The bioactive compounds isolated from A. nilagirica such as flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones have been reported to have antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and insecticidal properties Paneerselvam et al 2012). Essential oils borneol, caryophyllene oxide, camphor, 2-hexane-1-ol, b-thujone, thujanol, myrtenol and lynalyl acetate, a-pinene, b-pinene, limonene, linalool, cgurijunene, germacrane D and farnesol have been isolated from Artemisia nilagirica (Haider et al 2010;Sati et al 2013) and majority of these essential oil possess medicinal and pharmacological properties (Abad et al 2012). The plant is also used traditionally in the preparation of insecticide (Bhattacharjee 2000).…”

The complete chloroplast genome sequences of Artemisia gmelinii andArtemisia capillaris (Asteraceae)

“…The genus Artemisia of the Asteraceae family includes over 500 species, of which A. gmelinii and A. capillaris, both called 'Injin' have long been used as a folk medicine in Korea (Abad et al 2012;Wang et al 2012). Previous studies have reported that A. gmelinii and A. capillaris contain useful metabolites with various pharmacological effects such as anti-infective and anti-oxidant activity and hepatoprotective and antifibrotic effects (K€ oncz€ ol et al 2012;Wang et al 2012).…”

Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Artemisia fukudo Makino (Asteraceae)

“…Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Artemisia fukudo Makino (Asteraceae) The Artemisia genus belongs to the Asteraceae family and is a native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia, including Korea (Abad et al 2012). In Korea, about 20 Artemisia species were found and have been used as ingredients for food and as medicinal herbs for a long time (Kim et al 2007).…”