FICUS BENJAMINA: PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOGNOSTIC PERSPECTIVE

FICUS BENJAMINA: PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOGNOSTIC PERSPECTIVE

Puneet Kaur, Rajiv Sharma * and Supriya Agnihotri

University Institute of Pharma Sciences, Chandigarh University Gharuan-Mohali, Punjab, India.

ABSTRACT: In the present study, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of species of F. benjamina have been discussed. The phytochemical and pharmacological properties correlate with various active constituents of the plant. Ficus belongs to the Moraceae family, found in Asia and Australia, and widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, including more than 800 species. The genus Ficus constitutes a major tree group with numerous chemical constituents of promising medicinal value. Morphological characteristics of the plant show that it is a fast-growing plant and moderate to high-temperature conditions are more favorable for the fast growth of the plant. A microscopical study has shown the existence of various cells. Different plant parts have been extracted using different solvents and many bioactive compounds, chiefly stigmasterol, quercetin, cinnamic acid, lactose, naringenin, caffeic acid extracted, and isolated from roots, fruits, leaves and barks. Ficus benjamina is used by distinct native population groups in many ways as its bark, leaves, roots, fruits, and stem shows various therapeutic uses. Additionally, the stem and bark latex also shows a self-healing process. The plant parts are effective in the treatment of various microbial diseases and viral infections. F. benjamina also exhibits antioxidant, antiplasmodial, antitumour, antiulcer, hepatoprotective, antianthelminitic properties.

Keywords: Ficus benjamina, Phenolic acids, Weeping fig, Pharmacognostic characters, Ethno medicinal uses

INTRODUCTION: The genus Ficus is a huge group containing more than 800 species and belongs to the Moraceae family. This family contains trees, lianas, shrubs or rarely herbs. Plant species of this genus are distributed in many regions of Southeast Asia, Australia, Malaysia and parts of the pacific regions. It is a holy tree of Hindus and Buddhists.

The uncertainty in the number of spices within the genus is largely attributed to the great variability among the constituents. Members of this genus are laborious to differentiate by their flowers; still, these can be distinguished by their pattern. The genus Ficus constitutes a major group of trees with numerous chemical constituents of promising medicinal value ^{1, 2}.

Ficus is one of the largest genus among angiosperms. It is ranked twenty-first among the genera of seed plants. Carolus Linnaeus published the genus Ficus L. (Moraceae) in Systema Naturae in 1735 for the first time ³. Ficus is collectively known as fig trees. The most well-known species in the genus is the common fig, which produces commercial fruit called fig ⁴. Ficus benjamina L. is an annual tree that belongs to the family mulberry (Moraceae), which usually grows in tropical and subtropical regions. For thousands of years, it has been used as an ornamental plant that grows up to 30 meters in mild temperatures due to its higher growth, and it is tolerable to low and high-temperature conditions ⁵. Ficus benjamina cross-pollinates easily, and the resulting diversity and variation have been found. For pollination, wasps play an important role in this species's reproduction. Ficus benjamina is the most diverse species within the range. Large numbers of cultivars are available, but the exact numbers are not known while they also vary in flavors and uses ².

Ficus benjamina is the most commonly known indoor plant in temperate areas as it can tolerate poor growing conditions. It can tolerate considerable shade but can grow best in bright, sunny conditions. In summers, the plant needs adequate watering; during winters, a sufficient amount is required to keep it from drying out. The plant is sensitive to cold conditions and should be protected from strong drafts. Moderate to high day temperatures are favorable conditions for appreciable growth in a short time. When grown in door, it has been shown to be effective in removing gaseous formaldehyde from indoor air ⁶.

Taxonomical Classification of Ficus benjamina ⁴

Botanical Description: Ficus benjamina is a famous, widespread, non-flowering green plant. Ficus benjamina is a developing tree in distinct parts of the world, including America, Australia, Asia, and some European countries ⁷. Ficus benjamina is known by various names based upon the region like in Tamil - Nintamaravakai, Vellal, Marathi - Nandaruk, Nandarukh, Telugu - Konda Golugu, Konda Zuvvi, Pedda Zuvvi, Putra Zuvvi, Malayalam - Putra Juvi, and Sanskrit - Banij, Mandara and it is known by various names depending upon the geographical distribution as given below ²:

English Names: Benjamin tree, oval leaf fig, weeping fig.

Common Vernacular Names: 'balete' or 'salisi'

Indian: Pukar

Chinese: 'Chuiye rong' or 'Cong Mao Chui ye rong'

Brazil: Beringan, Figueira benjamina

Germany: 'Benjamin Feige'

Indonesia: 'beringin', 'wariengin'

Israel: 'Ficus  ha'shderot'

Myanmar: 'Nyaung thabye'

Netherlands: 'Baniaanboom

Thailand: 'sai yoi bai laem'

Geographical Characters: F. benjamina is indigenous to a huge area that includes India, Malaysia, northern Australia, Southeast Asia, southern China, the Philippines, and the islands of the South Pacific. F. benjamina is cultivated in many parts of the world. It is described as a native to the northern region of Australia and is also reported as a weed to Western Australia. Some of the areas where F. benjamina is found, include Marshall Islands (Kwajalein (cult.), Lifuka/Foa, French Polynesia (cult.), American Samoa (Tutuila), Majuro (cult.), Tonga (Tongatapu, 'Eua, Vava'u, Ha'ano, 'Uiha and probably on most islands), as well as Florida, in the United States ⁸.

Ficus benjamina is an enormous, spreading, strangulation tree of Asian source, which is known to be naturalized in the past and its local range in spots including the Galapagos Islands, Australia, and the USA, Bangkok, and Thailand. At world circulation, it is found in various nations, for example, in India, Asia: Bhutan, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Oceanic Islands: Solomon Islands; Australasia. Furthermore, nearby distribution is found in Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura. The total figure for weeping fig generation is hard to get ².

Pharmacognostical Characteristics:

Morphology: Morphological characterization of Ficus benjamina tree Fig. 1A-D describes a fast-growing tree, up to 30 meters in height, strangler with multiple aerial roots, and stem with drooping foliage, multiple-stemmed, spread, white latex, and strongest root system. The long branches are generally clothed with the alternate, thick, simple, shiny, whole, elliptic, two to five-inch-long, evergreen leaves. A canopy formed by branches weeping towards the ground is so condensed that nothing grows beneath them. The unisexual, auxiliary, monoecious flowers are borne in the fig body. It is one of the most common houseplants ⁴. Shiny oval leaves can be grouped into different classes depending on the species, like creamy yellow, and plain green, which can be noticeable with burgundy, green, yellow or pink, and silver-white patterns. F. benjamina is available as a natural looking bush; even it also grows on trunks that can be straight, wrapped, or interwoven. Generally, branches droop slightly by, providing it a graceful green appearance.

Leaves are oblong-ovate, leathery, 6-9 cm long, and have a rounded base and a noticeable, slender point. Petioles are 5-10 mm long, while the fruit is solitary, axillary, dark-purple, stalkless, and flesh when mature, rather spherical, and 1 cm in diameter ².

FIG. 1: FICUS BENJAMINA (A) LEAVES; (B) TREE; (C) FRUITS; (D) STEM BARK

Microscopy of Leaves of Ficus benjamina: Complete TS of Ficus benjamina leaf which passes through midrib shows a layer of upper and lower epidermis which is enfolded with cuticle and immersed with paracytic stomata, beneath, both the epidermis of midrib lie 2–3 layers of lignified collenchymas tissue; the leftover tissue being parenchymatous immersed with meristele which consists of 18–20 rows of radially organized 2–3 xylem vessels which become small in size gradually. The transverse section of Ficus benjamina shows passing through midrib, which is dorsiventral, rose on the foot side, a bit elevated at the upper side, and appears as an arc of centrally located broad meristele ⁹. TS of aerial roots Primary and secondary phloem has been done, and primary phloem shows parenchymatous cells, followed by xylem vessels and xylem parenchyma ⁴.

Ethnomedicinal Uses: Ficus benjamina is used by distinct native population groups in many ways as its bark, leaves, roots, fruits, and stem shows various therapeutic uses Table 1.

TABLE 1: ETHNOMEDICINAL USES OF FICUS BENJAMINA ^10-26

Apart from these ethnomedicinal uses, leaves were considered an important ingredient in the different events of the Hindu religion. Heartwood was used as Timber ²⁶. Stem and bark latex of Ficus benjamina shows an increase in tensile strength after injury, which indicates a considerable contribution to the self-healing process ²⁷. It is also used as ceremonial and fodder.

Twigs of the plant are utilized as an insect repellant by keeping these beneath the beds. Leaf juice is effectively used as flea and bug repellant ²⁸.

Physiological and Nutritional Analysis: Various physiochemical and nutritional parameters of Ficus benjamina has been studied, as shown in Tables 2 and 3.

TABLE 2: PHYSIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF FICUS BENJAMINA ^{9, 5, 29}

TABLE 3: MINERAL ANALYSIS OF FICUS BENJAMINA IN LEAVES ³⁰

Phytochemistry: The chemistry that deals with plants' chemistry and chemical constituents are known as Phytochemistry. The chemical constituents found in these plants may be active or inactive.

The active constituents include secondary metabolites, like alkaloids, volatile oils, glycosides, tannins etc., whereas inactive constituents are structural constituents of the plants like starch, sugars, or proteins. The active components may be single or mixtures of several substances ³¹.

Phytochemical screening have been performed on various parts of Ficus benjamina, which reveals the presence of anthocyanins, alkaloids, coumarins, carotenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolics, polyphenols, saponins, tannins, triterpenoids volatile components, and vitamins ³².

The presence of those phytoconstituents has revealed a broad variation of biological actions. The presence of the phytoconstituents has been done by various chromatographic techniques, including HPTLC ⁹ and GC-MS analysis.

GC- MS analysis has been utilized to identify various types of alkaloids present in the leaves and bark extracts, including Isoquinoline type, Indole-type, Steroidal-type, Indolyzidine-type, Quinolizidine-type, Pyridine-type, Carbazol-type, Pyrrolizidine-type, Quinoline-type, Pyrrolidine-type, Tropane-type, and Acridine-type ³³. Leaves of Ficus benjamina contain naringenin, cinnamic acid, and quercetin lactose. It has also been reported to have flavonoids, including kaempherol 3-O-rutinoside, quercetin 3-O-rutinoside, and 3-O-kaempherol robinobioside ^34-35. Volatile constituents along with numerous oxygenated volatile organic compounds, such as aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and hexanal) alcohols (menthol, butan-1-ol, pentan-1-ol, pent-4-en-2-ol, pent-2-en-1-ol, and linalool) and organic acids (acetic acids and formic) were identified in leaves ³⁶.

Leaves also show presence of flavone glycosides like quercetin 3-O-rutinoside, kaempferol 3-O-rutinoside, and kaempferol 3-Orobinobioside. Fruit contains alkaloids, anthraquinone glycoside, caffeic acid, cinnamic acid, flavonoids, lactose, naringenin, phenol glycosides, quercetin, stigmasterol, saponin and tannins ³⁷.

Benjaminamide is a new ceramide that was identified from the twigs of Ficus Benjamin ³⁵. The bark of Ficus benjamina is found to have various alkaloids, including p-bromo atropine, crinamidine, solasodine, ibogamine, lutidine, cinchophen, and ajamalicine ³⁸.

The identification of phytoconstituents can also be done by making different extracts of the different parts of the plant Table 1. The various active constituents are identified, which belong to another class of compounds Fig. 1.

Some of these are summarized as follows. The chemical structures of some major bioactive phytoconstituents found in Ficus benjamina plant are shown in Fig. 2.

TABLE 4: MAJOR COMPOUNDS FOUND IN PLANT PARTS OF FICUS BENJAMINA ^{33, 31,29, 35, 39, 40, 41, 36, 42, 43, 9, 44,45, 34}

FIG. 2: STRUCTURES OF MAJOR PHYTOCHEMICALS PRESENT IN DIFFERENT PLANT PARTS

Pharmacological Profile: Different extracts of Ficus benjamina possess a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. The plant contains various medicinally potent substances like sugars, flavonoids, phenols, enzymes, and vitamins A, C, and K. The leaves, fruits, and bark of the plant contain stigmasterol, lactose, quercetin, cinnamic, and caffeic acid.

The extracts of leaves have shown antiviral against Virus Herpes simplex 1 and 2, antioxidant, antibacterial, antinociceptive, and analgesic activities. Various flavonoids have been identified in the plant, which play an important role in fighting against several viruses ⁴². The different in-vitro and in-vivo activities of the plant are given in Table 5.

TABLE 5: PHARMACOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF FICUS BENJAMINA ^{41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 37, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,  57, 58, 59}

CONCLUSION: Ficus benjamina has been used for its various potentials, from the old-fashioned Ayurveda arrangement of solution. It can be seen in this review that Ficus benjamina contains various phytochemicals, which are responsible for the therapeutic estimate of this plant. Ficus benjamina is proved responsible for several pharmacological impacts in the treatment of different diseases, including diabetes, antihelmintic activity, antimycobacterial and antioxidant. Ficus benjamina is rich in various minerals, yet there is a need to investigate its other potentials. Many analyses have shown the presence of active constituents responsible for various effects; still, the plant and its parts can be explored for other properties.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Authors would like to express their deep gratitude for the support and encouragement provided in writing this article by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, and Chandigarh College of Pharmacy, Landran.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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    How to cite this article:

    Kaur P, Sharma R and Agnihotri S: Ficus benjamina: phytochemical and pharmacognostical perspective. Int J Pharm Sci & Res 2023; 14(1): 71-79. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.14(1).71-79.

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