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Abstract
Boscia angustifolia is an evergreen shrub or small tree widely used as herbal medicine in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. The current study critically reviewed the botany, medicinal uses, phytochemistry and biological activities of B. angustifolia. Literature on botany, medicinal uses, phytochemical and biological activities of B. angustifolia was collected from multiple internet sources including Elsevier, Google Scholar, SciFinder, Web of Science, Pubmed, BMC, Science Direct and Scopus. Complementary information was gathered from pre-electronic sources such as books, book chapters, theses, scientific reports and journal articles obtained from the University library. This study revealed that the species is used as cholagogue and purgative, and herbal medicine for bruises, sores and wounds, gastro-intestinal problems, eye problems and otitis, fever and typhoid fever, gonorrhoea and venereal diseases, malaria, respiratory infections, skin problems, swellings and swollen feet, ulcers and ethnoveterinary medicine. Ethnopharmacological research identified alkaloids, amino acid derivatives, carboxylic acids and their derivatives, saponins, sugars and their derivatives from the bark, fruits, leaves and roots of B. angustifolia. The crude extracts of the species and the compound 7,4'-dimethoxy quercetin isolated from the species exhibited antibacterial, antimycobacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, antiplasmodial, antitrypanosomal, GABAA-benzodiazepine receptor binding, larvicidal and cytotoxicity activities. Boscia angustifolia should be subjected to detailed phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological evaluations aimed at correlating its medicinal uses with its phytochemistry and pharmacological activities.
Keywords: Boscia angustifolia, Capparaceae, herbal medicine, indigenous knowledge, Sahel, sub-Saharan Africa
Introduction
Boscia angustifolia A. Rich. is an evergreen shrub or small tree belonging to the Capparaceae or Capparidaceae or caper family. The Capparaceae family contains 33 genera and approximately 700 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.1-3 Boscia Lam. is a genus of shrubs or small trees consisting of 37 species, mostly in tropical and southern Africa, a few in Madagascar, one confined to Arabia, mostly in semi-arid or seasonally dry areas.2,4,5 Several Boscia species are used as herbal medicines in tropical Africa and these include B. albitrunca (Burch.) Gilg & Gilg-Ben., B. angustifolia, B. coriacea Graells, B. foetida Schinz, B. longifolia Hadj-Moust., B. madagascariensis (DC.) Hadj-Moust., B. mossambicensis Klotzsch., B. salicifolia Oliv. and B. senegalensis Lam.6-8 Iwu6 argued that the medicinal properties of Boscia species could be attributed to alkaloids, flavonoids, sesquiterpenes and their glycosides, sulphur compounds and lipids...