Caralluma europaea (Guss) N.E.Br.: A review on Ethnomedicinal uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacological Activities, and Toxicology.

Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Caralluma europaea (Guss) N.E.Br. (Family: Apocynaceae), which is known as Daghmous in Morocco. It is widespread in the Mediterranean basin Egypt, Jordan, Spain, Italy, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The plant has been used as traditional Moroccan medicine for the treatment of diabetes, cancer, cyst, and goiter for many years. Aim of the review This paper aims to highlight the importance of C. europaea, this review has been established by discussing its morphological, ethnomedicinal, phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological studies. Materials and Methods A systematic review of the literature carried out on Caralluma europaea, using several resources, including Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Results Caralluma europaea has been used as a traditional medicine in Morocco. It has been found that this plant possesses a rich source of bioactive phytochemicals such as flavonoids, polyphenols, and terpenic compounds, which substantiate the bioactivities attributed to its extracts and essential oil. A wide range of pharmacological activities were approached in this review, mainly antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-proliferative, antibacterial, antimicrobial, toxicological, and immunomodulatory activities. Finally, the food preservative ability of the extracts and essential oil obtained from C. europaea has been fully discussed. Conclusion Caralluma europaea is a valuable traditional Moroccan medical herb with various biological properties. This review summarizes the botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of C. europaea; and presents the compounds and their corresponding chemical structures found in this plant. Further studies on the phytochemistry of bioactive compounds should be performed by using bioactivity-guided isolation strategy and improve their biological potency as well as scientific exploitation of traditional uses.