ABSTRACT
The family Rutaceae consists of 150 genera and 1500 species of prickly treelets, shrubs, and herbs known to produce limonoids, essential oils, flavonoids, coumarins, and several sorts of alkaloids including most notably carbazole and acridone. An interesting feature of the plants classified within the family Rutaceae is that they elaborate several sorts of unusual cytotoxic, antimicrobial, neuroactive, and musculotropic quinoline, quinazoline, and acridone alkaloids derived from anthranilic acid. Acronycine is cytotoxic and has undergone clinical trials whereas rutaecarpine displays a uterotonic property. In Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia, the leaves of the plant are used to treat lung disorders, probably because of their essential oils which irritate the bronchial mucosa and stimulate the movement of bronchial villosities. In the Philippines, the roots are used to treat diarrhea and to relieve the exhaustion of malarial fever, while the leaves are used to promote digestion. The seeds are burned and the smoke inhaled to heal syphilitic ulceration of the nose.
