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ASPHODELACEAE(Asphodel family)• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: The clear gelatinous liquid obtained from the leaves of Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. has in recent years found increasing use in "cosmeceutical" preparations for treating sunburn and other minor burns, and as a skin moisturiser. Although some references to the dermatologic use of Bulbine Wolf, Dianella Lam. ex Juss., Phormium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. and other members of this family in traditional medicine are to be found in the literature, those uses do not seem to have become widely established. • The family has a complex history, members of the family having variously been included in the Liliaceae, Aloaceae (or Aloeaceae), Agavaceae, Hemerocallidaceae, Phormiaceae, and, most recently, in a broadly circumscribed Xanthorrhoeaceae. APG IV (2016) anticipated the later conservation in 2017 of the name Asphodelaceae over Xanthorrhoeaceae. Comprising a little over 1000 species in about 40 genera (Mabberley 2017), together with numerous interspecific and intergeneric hybrids that have arisen naturally and in cultivation, the principal genera are Aloe L. (comprising 586 species),a Bulbine Wolf [86 spp.], Eremurus M.Bieb. [59 spp.], Haworthia Duval [59 spp.], Kniphofia Moench [71 spp.], and Trachyandra Kunth [60 spp.]. The plants are distributed from Europe to Central Asia and Africa (being especially well represented in southern Africa), Asia to the West Pacific and especially Australia, and the Andes. Many have succulent leaves (Mabberley 2017). Aloe L., Bulbine Wolf, Gasteria Duval, and Haworthia Duval species are of special interest to collectors of succulent plants. Foxtail lilies (Eremurus M.Bieb. spp.) and torch lilies or red hot pokers (Kniphofia Moench spp.) make handsome herbaceous border plants. The flax lilies (Dianella Lam. ex Juss. and Phormium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. species and cultivars) are also grown as ornamentals (Brickell 1996), Phormium tenax J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. in addition being known for the useful fibre (New Zealand flax) it provides (Carr et al. 2005). The leaves of some Aloe L. species contain a yellow juice rich in anthraquinone derivatives that have purgative activity. This juice, when dried, forms the crude drug known as Aloes. A clear gelatinous material is also present in the leaves. This too is used medicinally, that from Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. having become a major article of commerce in recent years. About 275 species are found in tropical and southern Africa, 42 in Madagascar, and 12–15 in Arabia, the Cape Verde Islands and India. Aloes were long cultivated for their bitter sap, which was used medicinally (Flückiger & Hanbury 1874) and various species were introduced commercially to the Mediterranean region and the East and West Indies. Aloes are still used in medicine as a purgative. Powdered aloe leaf or its ash is a frequent ingredient of snuff in South Africa, but is suspected of carcinogenic effects on the paranasal sinuses (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962). Some species are decorative and are cultivated particularly for the beauty of their foliage, in the open where the climate is favourable, and under glass elsewhere. The gelatinous material inside the leaf of Aloe sp. was recommended in ancient Herbals for the alleviation of inflammatory changes in the skin. More recently it has been advocated in the treatment of radiodermatitis (Wright 1936, Gjerstad & Riner 1968) and of leg ulcers (El Zawahry et al. 1973). However beneficial effects could not be confirmed experimentally in rats (Rowe 1940). Those most exposed to a dermatitis risk are those handling the drug in the pharmaceutical industry. To obtain the drug Aloes, the leaves are sliced and the sap is evaporated. Aloes consist of a variable mixture of aloin, aloe-emodin and other substances (Budavari 1996). Aloin, an anthraquinone which was found in about half of one hundred species examined (McCarthy 1969) must be regarded as a potential sensitiser (Cronin 1968). In a case of allergic dermatitis caused by Aloes, the sensitiser was found to be emodin (Jadassohn 1926). Two patients with contact dermatitis from Compound Tincture of Benzoin showed a positive patch test reaction to Tincture of Aloes and Tincture of Storax (Steiner & Leifer 1949). One of 18 patients sensitive to balsam of Peru (from Myroxylon balsamum Harms, fam. Leguminosae) showed a positive patch test reaction to aloes (Hjorth 1961). The sharp prickles on the leaf margin of species such as Aloe ferox Mill. are a source of mechanical injury. [Information available but not yet included in database]
[Information available but not yet included in database]
[Information available but not yet included in database] Codd (1951) noted that the leaves are armed along the margins with hard, recurved teeth, while both the upper and lower leaf surfaces, particularly the latter, have scattered prickles. [Information available but not yet included in database] [Information available but not yet included in database] Stiles (1998) noted that raw juice from Aloe vahombe [sic] is used by the Mikea hunter-gatherers of Madagascar to treat [unspecified] skin lesions.
[Information available but not yet included in database]
[Information available but not yet included in database]
Gardner & Bennetts (1956) include this species in a list of plants known or suspected of causing dermatitis, probably from (Hurst 1942) who referred to this plant as a suspected cause of dermatitis in cattle.
In NW Moroccan traditional medicine, the tuber from Asphodelus microcarpus is cut and pieces are used to treat haemorrhoids and dermatitis by application to the affected parts (Merzouki et al. 2000). In southern Africa, Bulbine tortifolia leaf juice has been applied to wounds and sores. The application produces smarting and stains the skin (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962).
[Information available but not yet included in database]
[Information available but not yet included in database]
Perry & Metzger (1980) note that in the folk medicine of south-eastern Asia, the leaves of this poisonous herb are made into poultices for wounds or for application to scrofulous glands. Some fifty species of Eremurus are distributed over Western and Central Asia, and are particularly numerous in Iran. The stately beauty of many species and hybrids ensures their cultivation wherever ornamental horticulture flourishes. The report of two cases of contact dermatitis of the face and arms attributed to Eremurus awaits confirmation (Sidi 1962).
[Information available but not yet included in database]
[Information available but not yet included in database]
According to Felter & Lloyd (1898), the roots and leaf-bases, in concentrated decoction, with the addition of carbolic acid, have been employed as a surgical dressing in amputations and other fresh wounds to reduce or prevent excessive suppuration. Aston (1923) cited an earlier author who referred to a letter published in the Melbourne Argus in about 1869-70 in which the "extraordinary healing properties" of the plant were originally described. It was stated in that letter that "there is nothing known … that can equal it in producing healthy granulations". Souder (1963) listed this species as containing saponin and stinging crystals of calcium oxalate. Lynne-Davies & Mitchell (1974) applied portions of the fresh leaf of a New Zealand fibre lily (which they identified as Phormium tenax var. atropurpureum) to the backs of 2 males for 48 hours under occlusion. Neither irritant reactions nor delayed flares occurred. [Further information available but not yet included in database]
Referring to Anthericum gerrardii, Hulme (1954) noted that in the traditional medicine of Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal] the rhizomatous root is burnt to a cinder, ground to a powder and dusted onto a baby's navel if it is not healing normally. The taxonomic position of this plant depends upon whether it is regarded as a member of the genus Anthericum L. or the genus Trachyandra Kunth. Anthericum L. was formerly regarded as belonging to the family Liliaceae, more recently being placed in the Anthericaceae, but now placed in the family Asparagaceae — see Stevens (2001-2024b). Numerous websites,a without providing a source for their information, note that the tough leaves and the edges of seed pods from named and unnamed Xanthorrhoea species have been used as knives by Aborigines in Australia to cut meat. Referring to Xanthorrhoea semiplana F.Muell. and Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata F.Muell., known locally in South Australia as yakkas, the Ligaya Garden websiteb records that:
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