Hebanthe eriantha (Poir.) Pedersen (Amaranthaceae), which is known as Brazilian ginseng is widely used in folk medicine as an aphrodisiac and antidiabetic tonic. The anti-tumor activity, attributed to the pfaffic acid present in roots of H. eriantha, is responsible for the great interest in the
Two new nortriterpenoids, pfaffine A and B (1- 2), were isolated from the roots of Pfaffia paniculata Kuntze, along with ten known compounds including four ecdysteroids, ecdysone (3), 20-hydroxyecdysone (4), pterosterone (5), rapisterone (6), five triterpenoids, pfaffic acid (7), pfameric acid (8),