The Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Genus Hibiscus: A Review

Abstract

The genus Hibiscus belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae comprising of about 275 species growing in tropical and sub tropical areas. The various species of genus Hibiscus have been used as traditional medicine all over the world. There are numerous reports of their traditional medicinal uses in various countries like India, Nigeria, China, and Srilanka etc. to cure various ailments such as hypertension, cardiac diseases, stomach-ache, urine problems, skin diseases and many more. Based on the historical knowledge, various pharmacological and phytochemical studies on some species of the genus Hibiscus have been done. Nevertheless, there are no up-to-date articles published which can provide an overview of pharmacological effects of the genus Hibiscus. Therefore, the main objective of the review article is to provide a systematic comprehensive summary of traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of the genus Hibiscus and to build up a correlation between its traditional ethano-botanical uses and pharmacological activities so as to find some advanced research opportunities in this field. The given information on the ethano-botanical uses, phytoconstituents and various medicinal properties of the genus Hibiscus was gathered from the online scientific databases through search in Google, Google Scholar, Science Direct, NCBI, Pubmed, Springer Link, Research Gate by using some keywords as. Besides these websites other published literature and unpublished Ph.D. thesis and M.Sc. dissertation were also consulted. Previously conducted research revealed that the genus contains good amount of phytoconstituents such as antioxidants, phytosterols, saponins, lignin, essential oils, glycosides, and anthocyanins etc. Presence of these bioactive compounds in the crude extracts of the plants make it suitable for various medicinal properties like anti inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-proliferative, anti-ulcer, hypersensitive, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and many more. Additionally, this review article showed that mainly two species of the genus i.e. H. rosa-sinensis and H. sabdariffa have been explored for their pharmacological activities. There are few reports on some other species like H. tiliaceous, H. microanthus, H. asper, H. acetosella. This review highlights the medicinal potential of the plant Hibiscus due to its unique blend of phytochemicals. These phytoconstituents can be further assessed and subjected to clinical trials for their proper validations. Although large amount of the data regarding pharmacological effects has already been added to the existing reservoir but still potential of certain species like H. radiatus, H. hirtus, H. moschetous, H. trionum and many more is not yet unveiled and can be considered as future prospects that need to be worked out. 
 Graphical Abstract: 

Heartwood Extract of Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb. Offers Defense against Oxyradicals and Improves Glucose Uptake in HepG2 Cells

“…Studies have shown that diabetics are more susceptible to certain infectious illnesses, including COVID-19, resulting in serious complications [ 24 ]. Intensive research is going on to control and treat diabetes by targeting glucose upregulation, antioxidant activity, β cell regeneration, and several other combined mechanisms [ 25 ].…”

Hubungan Kekerabatan Fenetik 6 Spesies Anggota Genus Hibiscus Berdasarkan Karakter Morfologi

“…Penelitian genus Hibiscus banyak dilakukan pada bidang farmakologi antara lain penelitian tentang ekstrak senyawa bioaktif (Mandaji et al, 2022) serta penelitian tentang pemanfaatan kandungan fitokimia (Singh et al, 2021). Penelitian molekuler genus Hibiscus yang telah dilakukan yaitu keanekaragaman 15 aksesi Hibiscus berdasarkan penanda RAPD (Sari & Purwantoro, 2018), serta penelitian genus Hibiscus menggunakan penanda EST-SSR (Kim et al, 2019).…”

“…Karakteristik morfologi umum dari genus Hibiscus antara lain memiliki daun berbentuk bulat telur hingga lanset, tata letak daun berselang-seling, dan tepi daun bergigi. Bunga lengkap berukuran besar, warna mencolok dan bervariasi, serta berbentuk terompet, dengan lima kelopak bunga atau lebih (Singh et al, 2021). Karakter morfologi dapat mudah diamati secara kasat mata untuk melihat fenotip suatu tumbuhan, mendeteksi sifat khusus yang diinginkan, mengidentifikasi aksesi yang terduplikasi, dan penataan populasi untuk keperluan konservasi, akan tetapi mudah dipengaruhi oleh lingkungan dan merupakan langkah awal dalam proses identifikasi, biasanya yang diamati meliputi akar, batang, daun, bunga, dan buah (Liunokas et al, 2021).…”

Hibiscus sabdariffa L. polyphenolic‐rich extract promotes muscle glucose uptake and inhibits intestinal glucose absorption with concomitant amelioration of Fe 2+ ‐induced hepatic oxidative injury

“…This plant is native to Africa continent as well as Asia and is widely planted as a garden shrub in many countries (Daudu et al, 2019). This plant is commonly utilized in various traditional medicine applications such as hypertension, heart disease, stomach pain as well as kidney and skin diseases (Kapoor et al, 2021). In addition, previous studies revealed that H. sabdariffa has many benefits, including antioxidants, antihyperlipidemic, and anti‐diabetes properties (Bala et al, 2015; Lin et al, 2005).…”