Cleome droserifolia: An Egyptian Natural Heritage Facing Extinction

A review is given regarding the studies that have been carried out on the medicinal plant Cleome droserifolia, commonly known as spider flower. It covers the plant’s systematic, morphology, ecology and geographic distribution in Egypt. The target species is a perennial aromatic shrub of the family Cleomaceae that requires stony soil for growth, it’s distributed regionally in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, in Egypt it appears in South Sinai, Red sea coast, the Oasis and Mediterranean coast. The review demonstrates several phytochemical properties of Cleome droserifolia (Forssk.) that revealed its antihyperglycemic, anticancer and antibacterial properties along with many terpenoids and flavonoids. Moreover, the herb Cleome droserifolia is wildly known in the Egyptian folk medicine for treating several fatigues and diseases. Therefore, C. droserifolia is under the stress of intensive harvesting for traditional medicine, trade and research use that has led to severe depletion of its population. This review is targeting the conservation ecology of Cleome droserifolia (Forssk.) through better understanding of the diversity of the species in a community or a region, ecosystem processes, temporal and spatial variability of its environment, historical contingency and evolutionary processes. Cleome droserifolia, one of the most valuable medicinal plants in Egypt that needs to be treasured.

Author(s): Abdel Raouf A Moustafa*, Sarah S Qiqa, Samira R Mansour and Modhi Obaidan Alotaibi

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