Plants belonging to the genus Veratrum have been used throughout history for their medicinal properties. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, phytochemical investigations revealed a host of steroidal alkaloids in Veratrum species, some of which are potent bioactives. This review discusses Veratrum species that grow in North America with a focus on the medicinal history of these plants and the steroidal alkaloids they contain. While significant reviews have been devoted to singularly describing the plant species within the genus Veratrum (botany), the staggering breadth of alkaloids isolated from these and related plants (phytochemistry), and the intricacies of how the various alkaloids act on their biological targets (physiology and biochemistry), this review will straddle the margins of the aforementioned disciplines in an attempt to provide a unified, coherent picture of the Veratrum plants of North America and the medicinal uses of their bioactive steroidal alkaloids.

中文翻译：

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北美藜芦的药用历史。


藜芦属植物因其药用特性而在历史上一直被使用。在十九世纪和二十世纪，植物化学研究揭示了藜芦属植物中含有大量甾体生物碱，其中一些具有有效的生物活性。这篇综述讨论了生长在北美的藜芦属物种，重点关注这些植物的药用历史及其所含的甾体生物碱。虽然重要的评论致力于单独描述藜芦属植物物种（植物学），但从这些植物和相关植物中分离出的生物碱的范围惊人（植物化学），以及各种生物碱如何作用于其生物靶标的复杂性（生理学）和生物化学），这篇综述将跨越上述学科的边缘，试图提供北美藜芦植物及其生物活性甾体生物碱的药用用途的统一、连贯的图片。