Orobanchaceae plant family is one of the most interesting plant families in our region. It is represented by small number of plants and some of them attracted major interest while others have been almost completely neglected. Even the ethnobotanical uses of these plants in the reviewed region are very limited. The present day knowledge about these plants indicates contradicting research tendencies, interesting natural products that were isolated from some of these plants, along with massive lack of information about the chemical and medicinal properties of others. Many review articles were published about this family, but each one of them lacks some essential information or includes ambiguities. This article will present the known information in helpful tables and figures, but will mainly emphasize the areas where intensive research efforts are needed. In the discussion section, the parasitic nature of these plants will be elaborated, and some synthetic and biosynthetic paths will be introduced.
Key words: Orobanchaceae; trixagol; iridoids; phenylethanoids; strigolactones; parasitic plants, medicinal activities, immunomodulation.
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