Essential oils are largely consumed as they are beneficial to humans as natural remedies and also for biomedical, cosmetic, food, veterinary, and agriculture applications. Litsea which includes around 200 species, is an important genus of the Lauraceae family due to its production of secondary compounds. It comprises several species and can serve as valuable medicinal plants, because of their biological and pharmacological properties. It has been used for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of diarrhea, stomachache, dyspepsia, gastroenteritis, diabetes, edema, cold, arthritis, asthma, pain, and traumatic injury. Litsea essential oils have been studied for their chemical compositions and biological activities. The present review is an attempt to collect and document the recent studies on essential oils of the genus Litsea. Information on the Litsea species was collected via electronic search (using Pubmed, SciFinder, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science) and a library search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals. This review is mainly meant to provide relevant information on the Litsea essential oils, which could serve as a guide for the selection of accessions or species with the best chemical profiles. The outcome of these studies will further support the therapeutic potential of the genus Litsea and provide convincing evidence to its future clinical applications in modern medicine.

essential oils, Litsea, Lauraceae, pharmacology

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia