Plants have been used since time immemorial in different parts of the world for the treatment and management of various diseases. Zanthoxylum is an important genus in many cultures of the world and is widely used in Asia, Africa, and America as a source of food, medicine, construction, and many other uses including industrial applications. Several reviews on this genus have been conducted, which supports further research on this genus.

Researchers from Wuhan Botanical Garden made an updated and critical assessment of the ethnobotanical uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology and clinical trials of the Zanthoxylum species to explore their therapeutic potential and identify gaps for future research opportunities.

The study reviewed research articles related to this genus published between 1966 to 2021 obtaining a total of about 270 published papers. Other databases used to gather information on this genus were Sci-Finder, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database was also employed to gather Chinese literature. World Flora Online was used in verifying the botanical names of this genus while ChemDraw was used in drawing the chemical compounds.

Results show that about 48 species of this genus are used in folklore medicine for the treatment and management of various diseases, such as inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatism, bacterial diseases, metabolic diseases, reproductive diseases, skin diseases, cancer among others. Trees of this genus are also used for construction purposes and others have industrial applications in cosmetics and paper making, as well used as the source of food. Several compounds have been identified from this genus such as alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, lignans, amides, fatty acids, alcohols among others. Some of these compounds, fractions and crude extracts are linked to the pharmacological activities of this genus including anti-cancer and cytotoxic, anti-malarial, anti-sickling, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-parasitic, anti-convulsant and many others. However, despite the wide use of this genus, some of its species have not been explored on their traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology.

In addition, some species of this genus are endangered, critically endangered and some are threatened due to the clearance of the land for agriculture, while others are overharvested thus putting them under the risk of extinction. This genus has an array of uses in folklore medicine and some of its uses have been confirmed in modern pharmacological activities.

It has prospects for future drug discovery and thus extensive research work is required on its underexplored species. Strict conservation measures are also needed to prevent the extinction of some useful plants of this genus.

The review paper entitled “Ethnobotanical Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Pantropical Genus Zanthoxylum L. (Rutaceae): An update” was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Science & Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China, Alliance of International Science Organizations and Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, CAS.

Kenyan student Elizabeth Syowai Mutinda is the first author. Professor HU Guangwan is the corresponding author. Several students from the group also participated in the study.