Stigma and petals of Crocus sativus L.: Review and comparison of phytochemistry and pharmacology

Abstract

Crocus sativus L. (C. sativus), known as “plant gold ”, has numerous functions in traditional Chinese medicine, including promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, cooling blood, detoxifying, relieving depression, and calming the nerves. Its stigma, the main medicinal part, performs extremely low yield and high price, thus the scarce resources, while its petals, the by-product, are usually discarded or employed as fertilizer or feed, resulting in huge waste, as the petals have been proved to contain various chemical components covering terpenoids, flavonoids, and glycosides, which exhibits pharmacological activities of analgesia, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular protection, liver protection, and antidepressant. This paper aims to compare the material basis of the pharmacological similarities or differences between stigmas and petals, clarify their research status, and evaluate the potential application value of petals. As a by-product of a precious traditional herbal medicine, the petals of C. sativus have been elucidated in previous studies. This review explores the chemical constituents and pharmacological effect of stigma and petals of C. sativus, confirming their similar material bases, and the application prospect of petals.

Keywords

• Adjuvant therapy
• Antidepressant
• By-products
• Crocus sativus L.
• Flavonoids