Medicinal Plant Images

Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell., family Combretaceae (commonly known as as Kakadu plum, gubinge, billy goat plum), is an Australian tree that is endemic to tropical grassland regions of northern Australia. Kakadu plum fruit are used by the First Australians as a nutritious food, as well as for medicinal purposes.1,2 Notably, Kakadu plum to be extremely high in antioxidants and to be the richest naturally occurring source of vitamin C.3,4 It has been postulated that this high antioxidant content may provide Kakadu plum with preventative effects against the development of degenerative chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neural degeneration, diabeties and obesity.2 Recent studies have shown Kakadu plum fruit extracts to be effective at inhibiting the growth of a panel of bacterial pathogens, including P. mirabilis, K. pneumoniae, A. baylyi, P. aeruginosa,5-7 Clostridium perfringens,8 and Yersinia entercolitica,9 as well as food spoilage10 and body odour forming bacteria.11 Notably, recent studies have demonstrated that T. ferdinandiana extracts are also effective against MRSA and some ESBL bacterial strains.12 Fruit and leaf extracts of this species are also effective against dermal fungal pathogens.13 Additionally, extracts prepared from T. ferdinandiana fruit also inhibit Giardia duodenalis growth and may therefore be useful in the treatment of giardiasis.14,15 Terminalia ferdinandiana extracts also inhibit the proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines via the induction of apoptosis.3