A Review on Chenopodium botrys L.: traditional uses, chemical composition and biological activities

Chenopodium botrys L. is native to Europe and Asia and adventive in much of North America. The plant has been used traditionally for medicinal purposes; generally, these therapeutic uses and health benefits of C. botrys are largely based on folklore rather than on scientific substantiation, making it a good candidate to gather documentations, including the phytochemical content, in vitro experiments, animal models and human studies available in the scientific studies. The herb contains flavonoids, alkaloids and several terpenoids. C. botrys of different origins yielded 0.08-2% essential oil. Pharmacological reports support medicinal potential of C. botrys for developing new drugs. Different isomers of ascaridole were identified in C. botrys oil from different origins. In some reports, these compounds were major constituents of the essential oil. Ascaridole has various properties including anthelmintic, antifungal, sedative and pain-relieving. Ascaridole also showed activity against different tumor cell lines in vitro. These data suggest that C. botrys may be an interesting novel candidate plant for cancer treatment, but many studies are needed to confirm this possibility.­