Gloriosa, a source of colchicine፡ review article

Abstract

The objective of this review is to assess the importance of Gloriosa superba as a source of colchicine and action to taken on the conservation of the plant in Ethiopian. Gloriosa superba L. is an important plant distributed in different countries which is known by its valuable chemical called colchicine. Due to this, the crop is marketable worldwide especially exported from India. It is also used for various ailments treatment both traditionally and in modern pharmacology. In plants, it is used to inhibit cell division and form chromosome duplication (polyploidy) which is very useful for changing agronomic traits of crops. So, this chemical has implication in mutation breeding of crop species where the traits are modified as chromosome number is duplicated. However, in Ethiopia, little is known on its ethno-botanical importance and there is no study showing its chemical constituent and preservation mechanisms. There is Gloriosa superba in Ethiopia, but attention wasn’t given to it and colchicine chemical which is expensive in market was not extracted for different purpose. A great attention is required from botanists, biotechnologists, policy makers and conservationists to scale up the values of this plant.

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Keywords: Tissue culture, antimitotic, conservation, medicinal plants, Ethiopia