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Peumus boldus Mol.

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Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of South America Vol. 2

Part of the book series: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World ((MAPW,volume 7))

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Abstract

Peumus boldus is a tree that grows in relatively humid habitats, from the semiarid to the temperate forest regions in Chile. Its leaves are exported in large amounts and are widely used to prepare a digestive tea. Historically they were employed for headaches, rheumatism, and severe but not clearly identified conditions characterized by fever, edema, catarrh, and also sexually transmitted diseases. The most characteristic constituents are a mainly terpenoidal essential oil and a number of isoquinoline and aporphine alkaloids. Remarkably, it is generally not the major alkaloidal component of the leaves, boldine that continues to be the subject of pharmacological investigations: some of these seem to support the traditional uses of boldo leaves.

figure a

Peumus boldus. (Photos by the author)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Bruce K. Cassels

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  1. Bruce K. Cassels
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Correspondence to Bruce K. Cassels .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agr. & Food Sc., Széchenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary

    Ákos Máthé

  2. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Farmacognosia, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Arnaldo Bandoni

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Cassels, B.K. (2021). Peumus boldus Mol.. In: Máthé, Á., Bandoni, A. (eds) Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of South America Vol. 2. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62818-5_33

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