Abstract
Balanites maughamii is an important medicinal plant species in Southern Africa. This study is aimed at providing a critical review of the biological activities, phytochemistry, and medicinal uses of B. maughamii. Documented information on biological activities, medicinal uses, and phytochemistry of B. maughamii was collected from several online sources which included BMC, Scopus, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Elsevier, PubMed, and Web of Science. Additional information on the biological activities, phytochemistry and medicinal uses of B. maughamii were collected from pre-electronic sources such as book chapters, books, journal articles, theses, and scientific publications sourced from the university library. This study showed that the bark, fruits, leaves, and roots of B. maughamii are traditionally used for magical purposes, as emetic, tonic, fish poison, insecticidal, and herbal medicine for bilharzia. Phytochemical compounds identified from the bark, fruits, and leaves of B. maughamii are aliphatic alcohols, aliphatic ketones, benzenoid compounds, aliphatic acids, amino acids, coumarin, aliphatic esters, flavonoids, aliphatic aldehydes, and sterol. Pharmacological research revealed that B. maughamii extracts have adulticidal, antibacterial, antiplasmodial, bitterness, molluscicidal, and mutagenic activities. Future research should focus on evaluating the phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological properties of B. maughamii crude extracts as well as compounds isolated from the species.
Highlights
Balanites maughamii Sprague is a member of the Zygophyllaceae family
B. maughamii is one of the valuable medicinal plant species in South Africa, and the species is included in the book “medicinal plants of South Africa,” a photographic guide to the most commonly used herbal medicines in the country, including its botany, major medicinal applications active phytochemical compounds [20]
The present review summarizes the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and biological activities of the bark, fruit, leaf, and twig extracts of B. maughamii
Summary
Balanites maughamii Sprague is a member of the Zygophyllaceae family. The Zygophyllaceae family is a heterogeneous family consisting of about 23 genera and 235 to 240 species in the dry regions of Africa, America, Australia, Asia, and Europe [1]. Other researchers, for example, Cronquist [5], Fahn et al [6], and Narayana et al [7] included the genus Balanites in Zygophyllaceae family. Twine [33] ranked B. maughamii as third out of 36 tree species harvested for their bark in Southern Maputaland in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Based on these reports, it is clear that B. maughamii has an enormous contribution to primary health care of local people in many areas of South Africa. This review is aimed at providing a comprehensive appraisal of the biological activities, phytochemistry, and medicinal uses of B. maughamii crude extracts
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