A review of medicinal plant species with elemene in China

Some researchers suggest that many plant species or extracts have medicinal value; in particular, some have great antitumor potential. Rhizoma curcuma is the dried roots ofCurcuma phaeocaulis, C. kwangsinensis and C. wenyujing in Chinese herbal medicine and the essential oil from it has been shown to inhibit tumor cell growth mainly due to its elemene component. Elemene has marked the characteristic of wide spectrum of antineoplastic activity and low adverse toxicity, especially β-elemene. Commercialized elemene injection is produced by R. curcuma, and applied as a national second-class new drug of antitumor in China.Literature reveals that many other plant species contain β-elemene or isomers in their essential oils from plant or parts of plant, and may represent a potential alternative to R. curcuma in the elemene processing industry and for use in antineoplastic medicine. This review summarizes the list of plants studied for their constituents of essential oils, and forty-four plant species are given much attention.   Key words: Elemene, plant species, medicine, Rhizoma curcuma.