ABSTRACT
One class of compounds often associated with both toxicity and potent physiological or therapeutic activity is the alkaloids. Alkaloids are generally complex carbon-and nitrogen-containing compounds. Fig leaves (and twigs, bark, and roots) are a signi- cant source of the subgroup of alkaloids known as phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, known to occur in the leaves of two Ficus species: F. septica and F. hispida (Damu et al. 2005; Peraza-Sánchez et al. 2002).
