Hibiscus syriacus L. is a flowering shrub native to Asia and the Middle East with a variety of common names. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat diseases. A study analyzed the phytochemistry and bioactivity of H. syriacus extracts. The objectives were to screen plant organs for active constituents and study their pharmacological effects. Various compounds were isolated from extracts including fatty acids, pigments, anthocyanins, flavonoids, and others. Extracts showed antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiproliferative bioactivities. Further work involved isolating and identifying active constituents and studying their structures and biological activities.

2. A Pharmacognostical Study
of Hibiscus syriacus L. family
Malvaceae
Presented by: Jailan El-Shazly
Under the Supervision of
Prof. Dr. Taha Shahat Mohamed Ahmed El Alfy

3. Content
I. Hibiscus syriacus L.
a) Common names
b) Description
c) History back ground
d) Habitat and Ecology
e) Folk medicine
II. Literature review
a) Chemical review
b) Bioactivity review
III. Objectives
IV. Plan of Work

4. a) Common names of Hibiscus syriacus L.
It has many common names among them: (1)
• Rose of Sharon (especially in North America)
• Rose mallow (United Kingdom).
• Asta di San Giuseppe (St Joseph's rod) (Italy).
• Althaea (Latin).
• 무궁화 (Mugunghwa) (Korea) .
•

5. b) Description of Hibiscus syriacus L.
• A flowering shrub ,up to 3 meters tall.
• The leaves are ever green.
• Flowers might be up to 7 cm. large with different
colours including white, pink and purple, with
crimson colour centre. (1)
White Hibiscus syriacus L.
Blue Hibiscus syriacus L.

6. c) History background
People of South Korea choose Hibiscus syriacus L. as
there national flower, because it blooms a lot of
flowers, it has strong rate of survival and also when it
is transplanted to other area or cut off it can recover
easily which in a way resembles the History of the
Koreans against the Japanese. Thus it is a symbol of
long and healthy life in Korea. (1)

7. d) Habitat and Ecology
It is distributed in: (1)
• Asia including China, Northern India, Japan and
Korea
• In Middle East, Egypt, Europe and North America.

8. e) Folk medicine
• In Europe, the dried flowers are used as material for
making herbal tea.
• In China the roots and barks are used in traditional
medicine as : antifungal, antipyretic and
anthelmintic also, for the cure of dysentery
obstruction . (1)

9. II. Literature review

10. a) Chemical review
• Compounds previously isolated:
I. Fatty acids:(2)
Isolated from the seeds fixed oil
Malvalic acid Sterculic acid
Lauric acid

11. II. Pigments:(3)
Isolated from the flowers
β-tocopherol δ –tocopherol
α-carotene β-carotene

12. III. Anthocyanidins:(4)
Isolated from the flowers
Europinidin Peonidin
Petunidin Rosinidin

13. IV. Anthocyanin glycosides:(5)
Isolated from the flowers
Callistephin Chrysanthemin
Oenin Myrtillin

14. V. Flavonoids: (5)
Isolated from the root bark
Taxifolin 3'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside
Herbacetin 7-β-D-glucopyranoside

15. Kaempferol 3-α-L-arabinoside 7-α-L-rhamnoside

16. Saponarin
Apigenin 7-O-β-glucoside

17. VI. Isoflavonoids: (6)
Isolated from the root bark
6"-O-acetyldaidzin 6"-O-acetylgenistin
3'-hydroxydaidzein

18. VII. Mucilage: (7)
Isolated from the leaves
(1- 4)-[O-β-(D–glucopy-ranosyl-uronicacid)-(l-3)-O-α-(D-
galacto-pyranosyluronicacid)-(l-2)-O-α-L-rhamno
pyranose)
VIII.Human neutrophil elastase inhibitor: (8)
Isolated from the root bark
Hydroxyhibiscone A Hibiscone D

19. IX. Cyclo peptide: (9,10)
Isolated from the root bark
Hibispeptin A Hibispeptin B

20. X. Lignans: (11)
Isolated from the root bark
Hibiscuside Syringaresinol

21. XI. Coumarins: (11)
Isolated from the root bark
Cleomiscosins A Cleomiscosins C
Cleomiscosins D
Scopoletin

22. b) Bioactivity review
Hibiscus syriacus was reported to posses several
bioactivity as:
• Antioxidant, Antipyretic, anthelmintic, antimicrobial
and antifungal activity. (3,5,6,8,11)
• Antiproliferative effect was reported on human lung
cancer cells (8)
• Posses an anti-aging (anti-wrinkles) properties (6)

23. III. Objectives

24. Objectives
The objectives of the presented work are to perform:
• Phytochemical screening of Hibiscus syriacus L. plant
organs.
• Biological studies of the active chemical constituents
in the prepared extracts which posses
pharmacological effect in hormonal therapy, cancer
treatment, and antioxidant activity.

25. IV. Plan of Work

26. Plan of Work
Cultivars of Hibiscus syriacus are chosen.
Authentication was achieved by Prof. Dr. Wafaa Amer*
and Mrs. Terase Labib.**
Preparing different extracts of the plant organs.
Biological screening of different plant extracts.
Isolation of the active constituent of these extracts.
Study of the structure elucidation of the isolated
substance.
* Prof. Dr. Wafaa Amer; Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt.
** Mrs. Terase Labib,General Manager and Head of Plant Taxonomy in El-Orman Botanical Garden, Egypt.

27. References

28. References
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gairdneri). CANCER RESEARCH 28, 2312-2318, November 1968.
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Polyphenolic Compounds Of Hibiscus syriacus. Pyatigorsk Pharmaceutical
Institute. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 552-553, July-
August, 1990.
6. Lee SJ, Yun YS, Lee IK, Ryoo IJ, Yun BS, Yoo ID. An antioxidant lignan and other
constituents from the root bark of Hibiscus syriacus. Planta Med. Oct;65(7):658-
60,1999.

29. References Cont.
7. R. M. Perez G., M. A. Zavala, S. Perez G., C. Perez G. REVIEW, Antidiabetic
effect of compounds isolated from plants. Phytomedicine, Vol. 5(1), pp. 55 -75.
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8. yoo, In-Ja , Bong-Sik Yun, In-Kyoung Lee, Young-Hee Kim, Ik-Soo Lee, Jong-
Seok Ahn, KiHwan Bae,and Ick-Dong Yoo. Hydroxyhibiscone A, a Novel Human
Neutrophil Elastase Inhibitor from Hibiscus syriacus. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.
20(8), 1189–1191, 2010.
9. Bong-Sik Yun, In-Ja Ryoo, In-Kyoung Lee and Ick-Dong Yoo. Hibispeptin A, A
Novel Cyclic Peptide From Hibiscus Syriacus, Tetrahedron Letters 39 993-996.
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Novel Cyclic Peptide from Hibiscus syriacus. Tetrahedron 54, 15155-15160, 1998
11. Bong-Sik Yun , In-Kyoung Lee , In-Ja Ryoo , and Ick-Dong Yoo. Coumarins with
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitory Activity and Antioxidative Coumarino-lignans from
Hibiscus syriacus. J. Nat. Prod., 64 (9), p. 1238–1240, 2001.