ABSTRACT
Epiphytes, climbers and lianas are a major component of the Panamanian tropical forest. According to Conservation International, Panama is one of the hotspot countries in the world because of the high number of species and there is a great ecological risk. Therefore, there is an urgent need to intensify our efforts to study the Panamanian flora as a source of novel bioactive molecules. The Panamanian plants collected have also been tested for their larvicidal activity and brine shrimp toxicity. Limited screening of Panamanian plants has indicated that many more species have interesting biological activities and that much work remains to be done on the flora of the country. The Piperaceae family is known to be rich in bioactive compounds. Phytochemical research on candidate plants chosen after biological and chemical screening has led to the isolation of numerous new compounds, many of which have very valuable biological activities.
