DEVIL’S CLAW ROOT DRY EXTRACT

EUROMED devil’s claw extract is a standardized herbal extract of Harpagophytum procumbens DC secondary root. It belongs
to the family of Pedaliaceae and comes exclusively from southern Africa, where it grows in savanna and deciduous forests. Its natural habitat is steppe-like areas of the Kalahari desert in Namibia and parts of adjacent South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Zimbabwe. Nowadays, devil’s claw is being cultivated as a medicinal plant.

Devil’s claw contains mainly iridoid glycosides (up to 3 %). Further constituents are glycosides of the flavonoids kaempferol
and luteolin, chlorogenic acid and cinnamic acid, the phenylethanoid acteosid, quinone, harpagoquinone, triterpenes like ursolic and oleanic acid and derivatives, phytosterols like sitosterol and stigmasterol, and esters; sugars, mostly in form of stachyose, sucrose and monosaccharides. The secoiridoid glycoside fraction, consisting of harpagoside, procumbide, harpagide and 8-para-coumaroyl-harpagide, is supposed to contribute to the pharmacological actions and clinical efficacy.

Harpagophytum spp.