Cordia alliodora herb health benefit and published trials

Cordia alliodora root is used as a medicinal plant by natives living in the Peruvian Amazon forest. Cordia alliodora root has substances which have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties. No studies with humans with the herb cordia alliodora was found on a Medline search in March 2009.

Antifungal and larvicidal compounds from the root bark of Cordia alliodora.
J Nat Prod. 2000. Ioset JR, Marston A, Gupta MP, Hostettmann K. Ioset JR, Marston A, Gupta MP, Hostettmann K. Institut de Pharmacognosie et Phytochimie, Université de Lausanne, BEP Lausanne, Switzerland.
Cordia alliodora root bark has a phenylpropanoid derivative characterized as 1-(3'-methoxypropanoyl)-2,4,5-trimethoxybenzene and a prenylated hydroquinone, 2-(2Z)-(3-hydroxy-3,7-dimethylocta-2, 6-dienyl)-1,4-benzenediol.  Both compounds have antifungal properties against the phytopathogenic mold Cladosporium cucumerinum. The phenylpropanoid derivative, whose structure is closely related to beta-asarone, also activity against larvae of the yellow-fever-transmitting mosquito Aedes aegypti.

Diversity of hydraulic traits in nine Cordia species growing in tropical forests with contrasting precipitation.
New Phytol. 2007; Choat B, Sack L. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Inter- and intraspecific variation in hydraulic traits was investigated in nine Cordia (Boraginaceae) species growing in three tropical rainforests differing in mean annual precipitation (MAP). Interspecific variation was examined for the different Cordia species found at each site, and intraspecific variation was studied in populations of the widespread species Cordia alliodora across the three sites. Strong intra- and interspecific variation were observed in vulnerability to drought-induced embolism. Species growing at drier sites were more resistant to embolism than those growing at moister sites; the same pattern was observed for populations of C. alliodora. By contrast, traits related to hydraulic capacity, including stem xylem vessel diameter, sapwood specific conductivity (K(s)) and leaf specific conductivity (K(L)), varied strongly but independently of MAP. For C. alliodora, xylem anatomy, K(s), K(L) and Huber value varied little across sites, with K(s) and K(L) being consistently high relative to other Cordia species. A constitutively high hydraulic capacity coupled with plastic or genotypic adjustment in vulnerability to embolism and leaf water relations would contribute to the ability of C. alliodora to establish and compete across a wide precipitation gradient.
 

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