A review on Ficus sycomorus: A potential indigenous medicinal plant in Oman

Higher plants have been used worldwide as natural medicine for long time to cure human diseases. About 80% of people globally use plants as safe sources of drugs to cure human diseases through different complementary medicine system. In Oman, there are plenty of plant sources with significant pharmacological activity. One of the available indigenous medicinal plants, Ficus sycomorus (FS), in Oman belongs to the Moraceae family. The plant contains different groups of biologically active compounds which are responsible for the biological activity. The selected Omani species showed different pharmacological activities and used traditionally to treat different diseases. Several research studies on biological, pharmacological and isolation of bioactive compounds have already been done on different species of Ficus worldwide. However, only a few such research studies have been conducted on the Omani Ficus species. Therefore, the aim of this present review is to evaluate the current biochemical and pharmacological status of the Omani FS species. Our intention in this study is to inform the third world generation regarding the toxicity, pharmacological activity and phytochemicals of the Omani FS species. The present brief review includes its taxonomy, pharmacological activity, phytochemicals and also its potential uses. In this context, the plant itself or extracts and isolated active compounds could be used as novel therapeutic medicine to treat different chemotherapy patients. (C) 2018 The Author. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.