Table 3.

Summary of ethnobotanical uses versus measured biological activities of isolated secondary metabolites from Euphorbiaceae plant family

Plant family	Plant name	Use in traditional medicine	Part of plant studied	Active principle	Measured activity	Reference
Euphorbiaceae	Alchornea cordifolia	The leaves or leafy stems, as an infusion or chewed fresh, are taken for their sedative, antimalarial and antispasmodic activities to treat a variety of respiratory problems including sore throat, cough and bronchitis, genital–urinary problems including venereal diseases and female sterility, and intestinal problems including gastric ulcers, diarrhoea, amoebic dysentery and worms	Stem	43	Antiplasmodial activity	Tor-Anyiin et al. [84], Banzouzi et al. [85]
		Remedy for arthritis, muscle pain and other acute and chronic inflammatory disorders	Leaves	44–51, 53–60 and 62	Anti-inflammatory activity	Okoye et al. [86]
	Alchornea floribunda	Leaves are traditionally used as a remedy for arthritis, muscle pain and other inflammatory disorders	Leaves	61–75	Anti-inflammatory activity	Okoye et al. [86], Okoye and Osadebe [87]
	Jatropha gossypifolia	Treatment of various disease conditions such as cough, tuberculosis, bacterial infections and cancerous growths. The leaves of the plant are traditionally being applied to boils, carbuncles, eczema, itches, and veneral diseases and also used as febrifuge, while its bark is used as emmenagogue. Seeds are emetic, purgative and used for cancer and body pain. The leaves and seeds are considered as a purgative and are widely used to treat obstinate constipation. Roots are used to treat leprosy, and stem latex possess coagulant activity	Seeds	76	Antifungal activity	Falodun et al. [88]