*1Béjar E.; 2Reyes-Chilpa R.; and 2Jiménez-Estrada, M. 1 International Center of
Phytomedicine, College of Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.
2Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, 04510, México,
D.F.

ABSTRACT: Mexican ethnobotanical documents from the XVI century have inspired the
search of plant bioactive compounds. These treatises were written by Native American and
Spaniard naturalists after the Spanish conquest of México in 1521, and contain painstaking
descriptions of more than 3,000 plants. The present and ancient native medical applications of
selected plants quoted in these ethnohistorical sources are revisited and discussed under the
current chemical and biological knowledge. Phytochemicals isolated from Montanoa tomentosa
Cerv (cihuapatli), Piqueria trinervia Cav (cuapupoltzin) (Asteraceae), Pachyrrhizus erosus
L. (Sor.) (coentic) (Leguminosae), Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) Kunth (nantzinxocotl)
(Malphighiaceae), Castilleja tenuiflora Benth (atzoyatl), and Penstemon barbatus Nutt
(chilpanxochitl) (Scrophulariaceae) comprise: alkaloids, non-protein aminoacids, aryl
coumarins, diterpenes, flavonoids, iridoids, monoterpenes, phenyl propanoids,
proanthocyanidines, rotenoids, sesquiterpene lactones, sterols, glycolipids, and triterpenes.
These compounds elicit a broad spectrum of activities including acaricidal, antibiotic,
anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antifungal, antisecretory, antiserotonergic, choleretic, cytotoxic,
herbicidal, insecticide, molluscicidal, spasmogenic, spasmolytic, and trypanosomal.