Glossostemon
Glossostemon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It includes a single species, Glossostemon bruguieri, synonym Dombeya arabica, a shrub with thick long tapering dark colored roots with 70–100 cm in length and 5–8 cm in breadth. It is native to Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Morocco. The dried peeled roots of G. bruguieri are called in Egypt and Arab countries. The roots are commonly used in traditional medicine for many nutritional and medicinal values.
Chemical composition
Starch is the main component of the dried peeled roots with 54.5–62.4% while protein represents 4.5–8.3%, half of which is aspartic acid. Roots contain high amounts of non-starch polysaccharides including dietary fibers, pectin and up to 27% of mucilage.Calcium, magnesium and iron are the main minerals of the roots. Minor amounts of zinc, manganese and copper have also been found.
Tatakin, takakin 8-O-glucoside, takakin 7-O-glucoside, sesamin, chrysophanol, emodin, parietin, bucegin 7-O-glucoside, isoscutellarein, isoscutellarein 7-O-glucoside, methoxsalen, aesculetin, estrone, scopoletin, phytosterols and α-amyrin were extracted from G. bruguieri. The so-called moghatin is a biflavone that has been uniquely discovered in moghat.
Seeds contain around 19.5% protein, 5.0% mucilage, arabinose and glucuronic acid.
Both roots and seeds contain rhamnose, xylose, mannose and galacturonic acid.
Use
In traditional medicine, hot drinks prepared from dried peeled root powder are used after delivery as a galactagogue. It is used as well for increasing body weight, as a demulcent agent and for relief of gout pain.Health and biological effect
Water extract of G. bruguieri roots has reversed induced juvenile osteopenia in Sprague Dawley rats. However, human clinical trials are yet to be done.The unsaponifiable part of the plant leaves was reported to have stronger acaricidal activity on both the adult and egg stages of Tetranychus urticae than other botanical parts of the plant.