Ethnobotany of and antioxidants from Gerbera piloselloides

In indigenous communities of southwest China, Gerbera piloselloides (L.) Cass. (Asteraceae) is a very important ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal plant used by different ethnic groups. The local people in SW China like Miao, Dong, Shui and Zhuang have been using this plant as a spice when they cook meat. The most interesting use is that the Miao and Shui people grind its dry plant to make distillers' yeast, and believe the flavor of such distilled liquor might be much tasty. Gerbera piloselloides is usually used as a traditional herbal medicine to treat cold, fever, acute conjunctivitis, and virtual. Ten compounds were obtained using activity-guided isolation, including two caffeic acid derivatives, two coumarins, a parasorbosid derivative, and five flavonoids were identified from the whole plant of G. piloselloides. Their antioxidant activity was evaluated by ABTS assay. Eight of them showed very strong antioxidant activities. Our ethnopharmacological results supported the indigenous uses of G. piloselloides in the local communities.