Abstract
Sorbus L. sensu lato (Rosaceae family) comprises over 250 trees and shrubs growing in the Northern Hemisphere. Several Sorbus species have found their way into traditonal materia medica, as different leaf, bark or fruit preparations have a long-standing folk use. Ethnomedicine recommends their use not only in respiratory and gastrointestinal system disorders, but also in rheumatism, cancer or diabetes. Chemical composition of the genus Sorbus has been studied since 1960s and until now more than 250 compounds have been identified from thirty-eight species. The most thoroughly investigated substances are phenolic compounds (flavonoids and phenolic acids). Other constituents include triterpenes, sterols, carboxylic acids, coumarins and cyanogenic glycosides. Biological activity studies performed on the representatives of the genus Sorbus have been predominantly conducted on extracts prepared with the use of different solvents, and more rarely on isolated constituents. The majority of these studies were devoted to determination of antioxidant potential of Sorbus extracts. In a few cases targeted studies were conducted to confirm specific folk usage. Two of the fairly well documented medicinal uses are the antidiabetic activity of Sorbus decora and anti-inflammatory activity of Sorbus commixta.
Highlights
Sorbus L. sensu lato (Rosaceae family) comprises over 250 trees and shrubs native to eastern Asia and distributed in the Northern Hemisphere (Aldasoro et al 1998)
In the majority of collected reports, their authors underlined ethnopharmacological significance of investigated Sorbus species referring to herbal books and traditional knowledge developed over generations
One of the fairly well documented medicinal uses is the antidiabetic activity of the bark of S. decora
Summary
Sorbus L. sensu lato (Rosaceae family) comprises over 250 trees and shrubs native to eastern Asia and distributed in the Northern Hemisphere (Aldasoro et al 1998). As confirmed by phylogenetic analyzes, the core Sorbus includes two clades (Aucupariae and Commixtae), whereas Albo-carmesinae comprises three clades (Tianshanicae, Discolores, Multijugae) (Li et al 2017). The greatest diversity of Sorbus in Europe is seen in Britain, where in the area of Avon Gorge, among fifteen native taxa, three endemic species and four novel hybrids have been reported (Robertson et al 2010). This interesting problem of the diversity and relationship network between different Sorbus species has been exhaustively discussed in a number of surveys (Chester et al 2007; Robertson et al 2010; Pellicer et al 2012; Hamston et al 2018). It is noteworthy that the European phylogenetic checklist of Sorbus s.l. has been recently published (Sennikov and Kurtto 2017)
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