Jacaranda--an ethnopharmacological and phytochemical review.

The genus Jacaranda, an important representative of the tribe Tecomeae in the family Bignoniaceae, is interesting from both biological and chemical perspectives. In this review, a contemporary summary of biological and pharmacological research on Jacaranda species will be presented and critically evaluated. Significant findings in the treatment of protozoa-caused diseases as well as of skin illnesses have been presented in ethnobotanical reports and recent studies were performed on crude extracts for certain Jacaranda species. Jacaranone, the most important constituent isolated is known to possess anti-cancer activity. Recently, high cutaneous toxicity together with moderate activity against leishmaniasis was described. Very few additional data are available on the biological activities and cytotoxicity of pure compounds from Jacaranda. Thirteen of the forty-nine distinguished species of Jacaranda have been reported in scientific literature as ethnobotanically used or phytochemically investigated. However, information about a chemical profile is available only for six species. The following article gives a critical assessment of the literature to date and aims to show that the pharmaceutical potential of this genus has been underestimated and deserves closer attention.