Kontakt 2013, 15(3):324-329 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2013.038

Pharmacological potential of water liliesBiomedicine - Review

Zdeňka Navrátilová^1,*, Jiří Patočka^2,3

¹ Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Přírodovědecká fakulta, katedra botaniky

² Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra radiologie, toxikologie a ochrany obyvatelstva

³ Fakultní nemocnice v Hradci Králové, Centrum biomedicínského výzkumu

Water lilies (Nymphaea) represent an old genus of flowering plants of which origin reaches up to the Cretaceous period where the origin of angiospermous plants is estimated. Their remarkable flowers made them well known for general public and they achieved an important status in the Ancient Egypt and also in other cultures of the Ancient and the New World. They played an important role not only in religions of the ancient cultures, but also in popular medicine where they were used to treat various diseases. Water lilies with their approximately 40 species represent an interesting and perspective source of herbal medicaments which might find use even in modern medicine. At present, vast attention is paid to this natural source of pharmacologically efficient substances. The plants grow and reproduce easily and they are not susceptible to diseases. The research of their pharmacologically efficient substances is still at the beginning, but it is already clear it is bringing interesting results. The experiments have only been carried out on laboratory animals though. Up to now, mainly the extracts from the leaves, flowers, tubers and rhizomes have been tested; tests on isolated substances are rather sporadic. There are proofs that the extract has an anti-diabetic and a hypolipidemic effect, a hepatoprotective and an antioxidative effect, and also an anti-tumor effect. The finding of the antimicrobial effect is not surprising, because water lilies were used for this purpose already in the ancient times. Also the finding of the anthelmintic effect is not surprising, because the water lilies were traditionally used for treating parasitic diseases. The anxiolytic and the myorelaxing effects of the water lily extract are in certain ways comparable to the effect of Diazepam, although the responsible substances have not been determined yet.

Keywords: Nymphaea; water lily; biology; pharmacology

Received: October 23, 2012; Accepted: December 7, 2012; Published: September 27, 2013  Show citation