Orobanche californica
coastal scrub,
Mendocino Co., CA
 July 2005

Orobanche cooperi

California—Mojave Desert. San Bernardino Co., Amboy-29 Palms Hwy, southwest of Amboy, margin of Bristol Lake
SPJ-16229, Mar 2008

Orobanche fasciculata
Shasta Co., CA
McCloud River near Shasta Lake,
12 May 2009

Lin L. C., Y. H. Wang, Y. C. Hou, S. Chang, K. T. Liou, Y. C. Chou, W. Y. Wang and Y. C. Shen.  2006.  The inhibitory effect of phenylpropanoid glycosides and iridoid glucosides on free radical production and beta2 integrin expression in human leucocytes. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 58(1): 129–135. “Rapid production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulation of beta2 integrin by leucocytes are two important inflammatory responses in human leucocytes. To evaluate whether three phenylpropanoid glycosides (acteoside, crenatoside, and rossicaside B) and two iridoid glucosides (boschnaloside and 8-epideoxyloganic acid) identified from two medicinal plants with similar indications (Orobanche caerulescens and Boschniakia rossica) exhibited anti-inflammatory activity, their effects on N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) and phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-activated peripheral human neutrophils (PMNs) and mononuclear cells were examined. Pretreatment with 1-50 microM phenylpropanoid glycoside concentration-dependently diminished PMA- and fMLP-induced ROS production with IC50 values of approximately 6.8-23.9 and 3.0-8.8 muM, respectively. Iridoid glucoside was less effective than phenylpropanoid glycoside with an IC50 value of approximately 8.9-28.4 microM in PMA-activated PMNs and 19.1-21.1 microM in fMLP-activated mononuclear cells. Phenylpropanoid glycosides also effectively inhibited NADPH oxidase (NOX) and displayed potent free radical-scavenging activity, but did not interfere with pan-protein kinase C (PKC) activity. Furthermore, all compounds, except rossicaside B, significantly inhibited PMA- and fMLP-induced Mac-1 (a beta2 integrin) upregulation at 50 microM but not that of fMLP-induced intracellular calcium mobilization. These drugs had no significant cytotoxicity as compared with the vehicle control. Our data suggested that inhibition of ROS production, possibly through modulation of NOX activity and/or the radical scavenging effect, and beta2 integrin expression in leucocytes indicated that these compounds had the potential to serve as anti-inflammatory agents during oxidative stress.”

Lin L.C., W. F. Chiou and C. J. Chou. 2004. Phenylpropanoid glycosides from Orobanche caerulescens. Planta Med. 70(1): 50–53.  “Two new phenylpropanoid glycosides, caerulescenoside ( 1), and 3'-methyl crenatoside ( 2), as well as five known phenylpropanoid glycosides [acteoside ( 3), isoacteoside ( 4), campneoside II ( 5), crenatoside ( 6), and desrhamnosyl acteoside ( 7)] were isolated from the whole plant of Orobanche caerulescens. The antioxidative effects of compounds 1 - 7 on human low-density lipoprotein were evaluated. All these compounds suppress concentration-dependently conjugated diene formation with IC (50) values of 1.25 +/- 0.06, 2.97 +/- 0.31, 0.31 +/- 0.01, 1.01 +/- 0.05, 1.15 +/- 0.04, 1.69 +/- 0.15, and 0.64 +/- 0.03 microM, respectively. Comparison of their antioxidative activities with that of resveratrol (IC (50) : 6.75 +/- 1.05 microM), a natural phenolic antioxidant isolated from grape, demonstrated that the prolonged effect on lag-time and the damping effect on oxidative rate by compounds 1 - 7 were all more potent.”

Saadoun I. and K. M. Hameed KM. 1999. Antibacterial activity of Orobanche cernua extract.
J. Basic Microbiol. 39(5-6): 377–380.  “The effect of the parasitic plant Orobanche cernua extract was evaluated on 5 different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Dilution experiments show that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC; microgram/ml) of the extract was as follows: Staphylococcus aureus-1526.5; Streptococcus sp.-3125; Streptococcus pyogenes-25,000 and both for Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli-50,000 micrograms/ml. Data indicated that the MIC of 3125 micrograms/ml is equal to cefotaxime (30 micrograms) and tobromycin (10 micrograms) activity against Streptococcus sp. and S. aureus, respectively; 25,000 and 50,000 micrograms/ml is equal to cefotaxime (30 micrograms) activity against S. pyogenes and B. cereus, respectively, and 50,000 micrograms/ml is equal to nalidixic acid (30 micrograms) activity against E. coli. It can be concluded that the O. cernua extract displays remarkable activity against some Gram-positive bacteria such as Streptococcus and Staphylococcus.”

Serafini M., G. Corazzi, F. Poli, A. Piccin, L. Tomassini and S. Foddai. 2005. Phenylpropanoid glycosides in Italian Orobanche spp., sect. Orobanche.
Nat. Prod. Res. 19(6): 547–550. “We studied the occurrence of phenylpropanoid glycosides (PhG) in five species of the genus Orobanche L., collected in the Latium region of Italy. The presence of orobanchoside and verbascoside in all four species confirms that these PhGs are taxonomic markers of the genus. The results suggest that O. gracilis form. citrina could be a diverse entity.”