Phytochemistry and biological activity of Skimmia laureola leaf essential oil - a review

ABSTRACT

Skimmia laureola (Family: Rutaceae), commonly known as Kedarpati is an evergreen shrub native to the Himalayan regions. Different parts of the plant have traditionally been used as a remedy for numerous diseases including stomach ache, dysentery, nausea, smallpox, body pain, flu, and diabetes. S. laureola has been investigated for its chemical composition and biological activities by various researchers. The essential oil has been evaluated for various pharmacological properties including insecticidal, antifungal, anthelmintic, antibacterial, and antioxidant activities. A thorough bibliographic investigation was carried out by analyzing worldwide accepted scientific databases including SciFinder, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Wiley Online as well as offline sources. The present review is aimed to provide an updated and comprehensive overview of traditional uses, chemical constituents, and biological activities of the essential oil of S. laureola to highlight its ethnopharmacological importance, to explore its chemo-therapeutic potentials, and to provide a basis for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Skimmia laureola
• traditional uses
• essential oil
• phytochemistry
• biological activity

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the Director, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun for providing the necessary facilities to carry out the work. Financial support from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Govt. of India is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).