Table 1.

In vitro pharmacological activities of medicinal plants used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus by the Basotho tribe.

Plant name	Family	Local name (South Sotho)	Pharmacological studies				Solvent used	Province	Part used	References
			Antioxidant	Inflammation	Antimicrobial	Cytotoxic
E. punctulatus	Asteraceae	Kapokbos (Afr.)	DPPH	5-Lipoxygenase enzyme	Disc diffusion assay	∗	Acetone		Leaves	[34, 35]
H. hemerocallidea	Hypoxidaceae	Lotsane	DPPH	∗	Microdilution assay	∗	Ethanol, acetone	Mpumalanga	Leaves and corms	[41]
D. anomala	Asteraceae	Hloenya	DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anion, metal chelating, reducing power	∗	∗	∗	Water, ethanol, methanol, and 50% aqueous ethanol	Free State	Roots	[56]
X. undulatum	Apocynaceae	Leshokoa	∗	∗	Microplate dilution method	∗	Water, ethanol, ethyl acetate	KZN	Roots	[62]
M. serrata	Myricaceae	Smalblaarwasbessie (Afr.)	∗	∗	Microplate dilution method	Brine shrimp lethality assay	Hexane, water, methanol, acetone	Free State	Roots	[66]
G. krebsiana	Asteraceae	Botterbloom (Afr.)	DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anion, metal chelating, reducing power	∗	∗	∗	Water, ethanol, methanol, and 50% aqueous ethanol	Free State	Leaves	[56]
E. elephantina	Fabaceae	Mositsane	DPPH	∗		Brine shrimp lethality assay	Hexane, water, ethanol	Gauteng	Rhizomes	[77]
					Microdilution method		Water, DCM/water	Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe	Rhizomes	[76]
H. scaposa	Asteraceae	Khutsana	∗	Cyclooxygenase	Disc diffusion	∗	Hexane, methanol, water	Pietermaritzburg	Leaves, roots	[83]
P. prunelloides	Rubiaceae	Sooibrandbossie (Afr.)	DPPH	15-LOX	Microdilution assay	Brine shrimp lethality assay	Hexane, water, ethanol water, 80% ethanol, DCM	Gauteng   KZN	Rhizome   Whole plant	[77]   [89, 91]
B. narcissifolia	Asphodelaceae	Serelelile	∗	∗	Cup plate method	∗	Water, acetone, ethyl acetate	KZN	Leave, roots, rhizome	[104]
G. perpensa	Gunneraceae	Qobo			Microplate dilution method		Water, ethanol, ethyl acetate	KZN	Roots	[62, 114, 116]
			DPPH, ABTS, nitric oxide, hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anion	LOX activity		Brine shrimp lethality assay	Methanol	KZN	Rhizome	[115]
Aloe vera	Liliaceae	Barbados Aloe	Peroxyl radical, superoxide		Agar diffusion Agar dilution		Water	Ondo, Nigeria Romania	Leaf, gel Leaves	[121] [128, 129]
E. zeyheri	Fabaceae	Khungoana			Agar dilution		Acetone	Japan	Roots	[134, 135]

^∗The pharmacological activity yet to be determined.

DPPH: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl; ABTS: 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid.

KZN: KwaZulu-Natal; DCM: dichloromethane; LOX: lipoxygenase.