This is an extensive review on epiphytic plants that have been used traditionally as medicines. It provides information on 185 epiphytes and their traditional medicinal uses, regions where Indigenous people use the plants, parts of the plants used as medicines and their preparation, and their reported phytochemical properties and pharmacological properties aligned with their traditional uses. These epiphytic medicinal plants are able to produce a range of secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, and a total of 842 phytochemicals have been identified to date. As many as 71 epiphytic medicinal plants were studied for their biological activities, showing promising pharmacological activities, including as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer agents. There are several species that were not investigated for their activities and are worthy of exploration. These epipythes have the potential to furnish drug lead compounds, especially for treating cancers, and thus warrant indepth investigations.

The archipelagic country of Indonesia is inhabited by 300 ethnic groups, including the indigenous people of Tengger. Based on the reported list of medicinal plants used by the Tengger community, we have reviewed each of them for their phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activities. Out of a total of 41 medicinal plants used by the Tengerrese people, 33 species were studied for their phytochemical and pharmacological properties. More than 554 phytochemicals with diverse molecular structures belonging to different chemical classes including flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins and volatiles were identified from these studied 34 medicinal plants. Many of these medicinal plants and their compounds have been tested for various pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, wound healing, headache, antimalarial and hypertension. Five popularly used medicinal plants by the healers were Garcinia mangostana, Apium graveolens, Cayratia clematidea, Drymocallis arguta and Elaeocarpus longifolius. Only A. graviolens were previously studied, with the outcomes supporting the pharmacological claims to treat hypertension. Few unexplored medicinal plants are Physalis lagascae, Piper amplum, Rosa tomentosa and Tagetes tenuifolia, and they present great potential for biodiscovery and drug lead identification.

The Meru Betiri National Park in Indonesia is host to more than 266 medicinal plants species, of which 10 were investigated for their phytochemicals as well as antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. A majority of the tested plant species contained polyphenols. The crude leaf extracts of Dioscorea esculenta possessed the highest antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ of 26.8 µg mL⁻¹. Escherichia coli was sensitive to Bryophyllum pinnatum and Hibiscus tilliaceus leaf extracts with similar minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of 250 µg mL⁻¹. Klebsiella pneumoniae was sensitive to Moringa oleifera leaf extract with MIC of 125 µg mL⁻¹. Staphylococcus aureus was the most sensitive to leaf extracts of Hibiscus tilliaceus with MIC of 62.5 µg mL⁻¹, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was sensitive to Lunasia amara leaf extract with MIC of 125 µg mL⁻¹. Autobiographic TLC confirmed the presence of anti-microbial constituents in L. amara leaf extract.

The tropical islands of Indonesia house the second largest biodiversity in the world. For generations, indigenous communities have relied on medicinal plants to treat various ailments, including diabetes. However, no comprehensive systematic review has been conducted to consolidate research progress in this area. This review aims to investigate and summarize the current research landscape on antidiabetic medicinal plants in Indonesia. Data collection, collation and analysis were performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Relevant publications on the antidiabetic evaluation of Indonesian medicinal plants were retrieved from leading scientific databases, including Scifinder® and Garuda , yielding a total of 108 eligible articles. Several notable compound screening studies identified bioactive phytochemicals with significant antidiabetic potential, such as quinine as a SIRT1 activator, prunetin as an aldose reductase inhibitor, gallic acid as a pancreatic α-amylase (PPA) inhibitor, oleanolic acid as a PTP1B inhibitor, and 3,4,5-tri- O -caffeoylquinic acid methyl ester as an α-glucosidase inhibitor. Additionally, clinical investigations and community-based trials reported significant blood glucose-lowering effects from botanical extracts including Piper crocatum , Moringa oleifera , and Curcuma xanthorrhiza in diabetic patients. Recognizing the therapeutic potential of indigenous botanicals, the Indonesian government has intensified its support for the development of scientifically standardized herbal medicines aimed at diabetes treatment, positioning them as part of the country’s integrated healthcare system. Graphical abstract

Malaria is a neglected tropical disease that still demands serious efforts to tackle successfully, including the need for new antimalarial lead compounds to combat drug-resistant Plasmodium. Intensive phytochemical and pharmacological investigation into the Indonesian medicinal plants Swietenia mahagoni and Pluchea indica successfully revealed 5 constituents. Antimalarial bioassays indicated 34,5-tri- O-caffeoylquinic acid (4) to be the most active against Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 and Dd2 strains with IC₅₀ values of 8.2 and 8.8 µM, respectively. No cytotoxicity was observed against Human Embryonic Kidney cells at a concentration of 40 µM.