Marrubium alysson L. - Lamiaceae - Hashisha Rabiah (arab.)

Perennial herb, up to 40cm high, native to the Mediterranean.

"Marrubium alysson (Labiatae) is a common plant in Egypt, and is native in the Mediterranean coastal strip from El-Sallum to Rafah and also in the Sinai desert. Its Arabic name is "Hashisha Rabiah" and is used in the form of a decoction as a remedy for asthma and as a diuretic. In North Africa, the tops are used as a flavouring agent... Air-dried aerial parts of the M. alysson (1.5 kg) were extracted with methanol at room temperature for 3 days... Premarrubiin (3.2 mg), marrubiin (4.5 g, 0.3%) and marrubenol (22 mg) were isolated and identified... 

|{{:marrubenol.jpg|marrubenol}} \\ marrubenol |{{:marrubiin.jpg|marrubiin}} \\ marrubiin |

The assay showed a strong inhibiting effect of M. alysson total EtOAc extract on α-glucosidase (88.78% inhibition of the enzyme activity at 50 μg/mL with IC 50 : 8.36±0.0019μg/mL), significantly higher than that of the well known synthetic α-glucosidase inhibitor, acarbose (Positive drug-control, 54.98% inhibition at 250 μg/mL with IC 50 : 64.14±0.0033μM)." \\
[Marrubiin: a potent α-glucosidase inhibitor from //Marrubium alysson//. El-Mohsen, M. A., Rabeh, M. A., El-Hefnawi, M., Abou-Setta, L., Elgarf, I., El-Rashedy, A., Hussein, A. A., International Journal of Applied Research in Natural Products, Vol.7(1), 2014, 21-27] [[http://ijarnp.org/index.php/ijarnp/article/download/233/pdf_20|PDF]]


{{marrubium_alysson.jpg?600}} \\
Marrubium alysson L., Negev Mountains, Israel, March 2007 \\ 
Author: Gidip [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/|CC BY-SA 3.0]] [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marrubium_alysson_2.JPG|Wikimedia Commons]]