Thirty new steroidal glycosides were obtained from the aerial part of Asclepias incarnata L. (Asclepiadaceae). These glycosides were confirmed to have lineolon, isolineolon, 12-O-acetyllineolon, 12-O-(Z)-cinnamoyllineolon, metaplexigenin, 15 beta-hydroxylineolon, 15 beta-hydroxyisolineolon, 16 alpha-hydroxyisolineolon, 12-O-tigloyl-16 alpha-hydroxyisolineolon as the aglycone and 2,6-dideoxyhexo...

BACKGROUND Herbal drugs used to treat illness according to Ayurveda are often misidentified or adulterated with similar plant materials. OBJECTIVE To aid taxonomical identification, we used DNA barcoding to evaluate authentic and substitute samples of herb and phylogenetic relationship of four medicinal plants of family Asparagaceace and Asclepiadaceae. MATERIALS AND METHODS DNA extracted f...

Floral visitors of seven species of Oxypetalum were registered in Viçosa, State of Minas Gerais. O. appendiculatum, O. banksii subsp, banksii, O. alpinumn var. alpinum and O. pachyglossum are pollinated by wasps, being Polybia ignobilis (Vespidae) a pollinator of these four species. It seems that P ignobilis promotes interspecific pollinations mainly between O. alpinum var. alpinum and O. pachy...

The bushhopper Phymateus leprosus (Fabricius) in the field shows a special appetite for the milkweed Asclepias fruticosa. Asclepiadaceae, like Apocynaceae and Scrophulariaceae, contain cardiac glycosides. Raw and purified extracts of these plants phagostimulate larval and adult P. leprosus. We also screened natural and half-synthetic compounds found in those plant extracts. While saponins and s...

T. asthmatica, which belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae is a small twining a plant with long fleshy roots. The plant shows broad activity against EA and DLA cells. The intraperitoneal injection of PE extract obtained from the powdered entire plant material to the tumor cell transplanted animals arrests the tumor growth and prevents the formation of the tumor. A significant increase in the lif...