Guiéra senegalensis J. F. Gmel [COMBRETACEAE]

This is an important West African medicinal plant and has a frequent use in Mali as well. One of the main uses is to treat infections of different kinds. The leaf is the plant part most frequently used as extracts of these have been shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity as shown by various in vitro studies. The leaves as well as the roots have been shown to contain various alkaloids of the harmantype. They have been shown to have interesting antiplasmodial activity that was associated with low cytotoxicity. A compound of naphthylbutenone type had a strong antiplasmodial as well as cytotoxic activity towards human monocytes.