A Look at Some Medicinal Plants from Sudan-Mini Review

Sudan has large area, with multiculture, habits rich biodiversity and medicinal plants, although was divided in 2011 into two countries still rich with valuable medicinal plants. The objective of the present mini review is to indicate and document some medicinal plants from Sudan and reflect their valuable uses in treating some indigenous and tropical diseases. The present minireview gave a look at some of these plants, mentioning their families, distribution, their local names, their habits, the plant part used for treating diseases and mode of treatment. The medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Institute (MAPRI) of the National Centre for Research (NCR) plays major role in medicinal and aromatic plants investigation, determination, valuation and documentation in Sudan and contributes with local healers in different regions of Sudan, the rediscovering of these plants is highly needed with contribution of overseas pharmaceuticals companies as natural products have less side effects than industrial drugs.


INTRODUCTION
Sudan was considered as the largest country in Africa (2.5 million sq.km.) which was approximately one million square miles 1 .In 2011, Sudan split into two countries with one third of the country being proclaimed a new state named "Republic of South Sudan" leaving behind the remaining area retaining the older name "the Republic of Sudan" 2,3 .The Sudan is generally a very flat country, most of its parts range between 400 and 450 m above mean sea level (AMSL) 4 .The Red Sea Hills , the foothills of the Ethiopian mountains on the east, the Imatong, Dongotana Mountains and the Nile-Congo watershed on the south and Jebel Marra on the west.In the center, the Nuba Mountains and the Ingasana Hills are the only prominent mountainous areas 4 .
6][7][8] , with this unique history and vast variety of climate and flora, traditional medicine together with use of medicinal plants became an important part of the cultural heritage of Sudan [9][10][11] .
The pasture is composed of a predominantly annual grasses with some forbs [12][13][14] .The annuals constitute 80% and perennials 20% of the forage plant composition in Sudan [12][13][14][15] .The reliance on indigenous medicinal plants often can be attributed to a lack of medical doctors and unaffordable prices of pharmaceutical products, as well as people's faith in the benefits of traditional medicine 3,16 .The herb Aristolochia bracteolata (umglalagil), has been used to cure malaria in traditional medicine , however it has negative effect on the kidney 16 .
The roots of Balanites aegyptiaca contain steroidal sapogenins having strong detergent properties which form very stable foam in water solutions , whereas the bulb contains sugars and saponins 17 , exhibit anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties as well as antibacterial effects.An investigation of antiplasmodial activity of selected Sudanese plants revealed that most plants from the family Meliaceae showed highly potent antiplasmodial activity 18 .Khaya senegalensis (Mahogany), Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Trichilia emetic (Dabkar) showed IC50 values less than 5 μg/ml 18,50 .Four Sudanese medicinal plants were investigated for their anticancer and antioxidant activity to discover some new medicinal plants that can be used for treatment of cancer diseases 19 .The extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa, Halexylon salicornietum and Sonchus oleraceus L. showed low active against Chemiluminescence assay, Prosopis juliflora (SW).DC has shown a very high activity against Chemiluminescence assay 19 .
The selection of medicinal plants in this mini review was carried out according to their availability in different locations, the utilization of local healers in different regions in Sudan and their economic value in traditional medicine.
The present mini-review aimed to document some medicinal plants, the traditional application for treating the local diseases in Sudan in period 2015-2018.

Some Sudanese trees as source of traditional medicines
Adansonia digitata (Tabaldi) grows in western Sudan and south of the Blue Nile, a refreshing juice is made from its fruits and used as antidiarrheal 9 .Grewia tenax (Gedium) grows in western Sudan 3,9 , a refreshing juice is made from the fruit for treating anemia whereas Balanites aegyptiaca (Heglig) grows in central and western Sudan and its fruits used as laxative, anthelmintic and treatment of diabetes 3,9 .Acacia senegal (Arabic gum and Hashab) (Table 1) grows in the Eastern, central and western Sudan and applied for kidney diseases 3,9 .Other Acacias as Acacia seyal (Talih) grown in southern Sudan, the stem acts as fumigant and used for rheumatic pain as well as fumigation of the body (sauna) 3,9 , a perfume and a deodorant 3,9 whereas, Acacia nilotica (Grad, Sunt), grown along the Nile banks and applied for treatment of diarrhea and Stomach pains 8,17 .

Shrubs and herbs utilized in traditional medicine
Croton zambesicus Muell.
(Croton) Euphorbiaceace, is a Guineo-Congolese shrub species widely spread in tropical Africa 30 , the roots were used in Sudan for menstrual pain 30 , aperients 31 and antimalarial and antidiabetic 32 , the seeds decocted for treatment of cough and malaria 33,34 .The calyx (sepals) of Hibiscus sabdariffa (karkade) were used to reduce the hypertension and lowering blood pressure 35 -37 .Sesamum indicum (Simsim) Pedaliaceae has been found to protect the liver from oxidative damage 38 .The oil has been used for healing wounds for thousands of years, it is anti-viral and anti-inflammatory 38,39 .

Sudanese plants as antitumor
Ambrosia maritima L., Ammi visnaga L., Aristolochia bracteolata L. and Lawsonia inermis L., are widely used in folk medicine in Sudan for the treatment of diseases such as solid mass tumor conditions 40 .

Table 1 . Comparative review of some traditional medicinal plants of Sudan Plant name/family/voucher no. Vern name Habitat in Sudan Growth habit Plant part Disease treated Mode of treatment Reference
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