الفهرس 
Literature review: Natural products from Iridaceae: An overviewOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Iridaceae is a large family comprising 92 genera and 1800 species, distributed throughout the world. Members of Iridaceae are perennial herbs or subshrubs with rhizomes, bulbs, or corms that are widely grown as ornamentals owing to their beautiful flowers. Traditionally, plants belonging to Iridaceae have been used for the alleviation of cold, flu, toothache, malaria and bruise. Extracts or active principles obtained from members of this family have shown a wide range of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, phytoestrogenic, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic, immunomodulating, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. The major secondary metabolites isolated from members of Iridaceae include isoflavonoids, flavonoids, triterpenoids, naphthoquinones, anthraquinones, naphthalene derivatives, xanthones and simple phenolics.
The genus Dietes, a member of family Iridaceae, subfamily Iridoideae, comprises six species. Dietes bicolor (Steud.) Sweet ex Klatt is a rhizomatous perennial plant, native to South Africa, with sword-like leaves and Iris-like flowers that are white to creamy yellow in color and have three dark spots each surrounded by an orange outline. However, we have not found any data in literature, regarding the phytochemical or pharmacological properties of this genus.
The genus Chasmanthe, a member of family Iridaceae subfamily Ixoideae, comprises three species. Chasmanthe aethiopica (L.) N.E. Br., a bulbous plant indigenous to the Cape Province in South Africa is characterized by spikes with bright orange to scarlet flowers and pale green leaves. No reports were traced regarding the phytochemical constituents or biological activities of this genus.
The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the biological activities of the leaves, flowers and rhizomes of D. bicolor. Furthermore, investigating the chemical composition of D. bicolor and C. aethiopica leaf extracts through preliminary phytochemical screening followed by phytochemical investigation of the biologically active fractions of the rich extract in an effort to isolate and identify its secondary metabolites, hopefully, discovering new natural product(s). Moreover, we aimed at exploring the chemical composition and biological activity of the essential oils of D. bicolor.