Plant description, phytochemical constituents and bioactivities of Syzygium genus: A review

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This article attempts to report native growth, plant description, phytochemical constituents and bioactivities of <jats:italic>Syzygium aqueum</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>S. aromaticum</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>S. cumini</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>S. guineense</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>S. samarangense</jats:italic>. Those are the large public species in the <jats:italic>Syzygium</jats:italic> genus and some of them have been used as traditional medicines. Different parts (leaves, seeds, fruits, barks, stem barks and flower buds) of each species plant are rich in phytochemical constituents such as flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, glycosides and phenolics. Antioxidant, antidiabetic, anticancer, toxicity, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anthelmintic activities are reported in various extracts (methanol, ethanol and aqueous) from different parts of <jats:italic>Syzygium</jats:italic> sp. The bioactivities were studied by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and ferric reducing antioxidant power assays for antioxidant, 5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazoly)-3-(4-sulfophenyl) tetrazolium and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2-5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays for anticancer, α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition assays for antidiabetic, agar well diffusion method for antimicrobial and brine shrimp lethality assay for toxicity. Moreover, this review shows that phytochemical constituents of each species significantly presented various bioactivities. Therefore, this review suggests that there is great potential for obtaining the lead drug from these species.</jats:p>