Dracaena fragrans (L.) Ker Gawl., with its green leaves and attractive shape, is a popular ornamental plant in Thailand, used for both interior decorating and outdoor landscaping. Its fragrant flowers only bloom at night. This study investigated the volatile chemicals from the flowers of D. fragrans during the day and night. Volatile compounds were extracted by Head Space Solid Phase Micro-extraction (HS-SPME) technique and determined by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirty compounds were identified; sesquiterpenes were the most prevalent (α-farnesene, 23.1-50.8%). The composition of the volatile compounds from the flowers differed between day and night.

Traditional medicine uses a multitude of plants to create medicinal formulations, some of which show antiviral properties that may be of benefit in treating emerging viral diseases, including Covid-19. Lanna, an ancient Kingdom in northern Thailand, with a thriving culture that continues to this day and has a rich history of traditional medicine using local plants that is still practiced today. To find potential antiviral medicinal candidates, we examined ancient manuscripts, interviewed traditional healers practicing today, and inventoried current traditional medicines to catalogue 1400 medicinal formulations used in Lanna traditional medicine. We then narrowed this list to find those traditionally used to treat diseases that in their original use and descriptions most likely map to those we know today to be viral diseases. We identified the plants used in these formulations to create a list of 64 potential antiviral herbal candidates drawn from this ancient Lanna wisdom and matched these to the scientific literature to see which of these plants had already been shown to possess antiviral properties, generating a list of 64 potential antiviral medicinal candidates from Lanna traditional medicine worth further investigation for treating emerging viral diseases.