A review on secondary metabolites and pharmacological effects of Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl.

Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl. (Jashir in Persian) is a medicinal plant, native to southern Iran and used in traditional medicine for many disorders. Several studies have been conducted to detect its herbal components and therapeutic characteristics. This review article has introduced P. ferulacea morphological, biosystematics properties, and herbal components, and assessed its valuable therapeutic properties. The information of this review article have been gathered from journals accessible in databases such as Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, EBSCO, Medline, Pubmed, EMBASE, and Iran Medex up to May 2013. The search terms were “Prangos” and “ferulacea”, and “Prangos ferulacea”, and “P. ferulacea”. In traditional medicine, P. ferulacea has been used in pain relief, inflammation, diabetes recovery, and fight against various microorganism including bacteria and fungi. Arial parts of this plant are highly valuable for animal feeding. The main components of P. ferulacea are monoterpen compounds particularly α- and β-pinene, and the existence of monoterpens, sesquiterpenes, coumarines, flavonoids, alkaloids, tanens, saponins, trepnoids, and especially antioxidants has been reason for antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiviral, analgesic, antispasmodic, and anti abortion properties of this plant. Traditional applications of P. ferulacea in treatment of many diseases and its valuable medicinal and herbal components could provide a context for scientists to develop plant-derived medications such as antibiotics, sedatives and diabetes treating drugs, and key to conducting clinical trials.