Medicinal Amaryllidaceae?

[Alchemica]

Has anyone added medicinal Amaryllidaceae to their garden? It's been briefly discussed here over the years here but has anyone found a practical Amaryllidaceae with favourable toxicological properties to grow?
 

I've been interested in them for a bit as garden additions. The first one that got my interest was Boophone disticha whose crude ethanolic extracts and some alkaloidal phytoconstituents possess potent SERT/5-HT1A mediated [One article states triple reuptake inhibition of 5-HT/NE/DA] antidepressant and anxiolytic effects [1] That said,  it seems to have some scary toxicity too (unless you like deliriums) and is not broadly available (and $$$)

 

Then there's things like Narcissus pallidulus and Narcissus cv. Hawera. Having to deal with the toxicity of lycorine being present in cv. Hawera sounds unpleasant so Narcissus pallidulus sounds most interesting personally

 

Narcissus cv. Hawera biosynthesizes Sceletium-type and Amaryllidaceae alkaloids [mesembrenone, galanthamine and lycorine as major alkaloids], while The Narcissus species from section Ganymedes (N. triandrus L., N. pallidulus Graells, Narcissus lusitanicus Dorda & Fern. Casas, and N.iohannis Fern. Casas) have been found to biosynthesize mainly mesembrenone (over 70% of all alkaloids). Narcissus pallidulus accumulates only Sceletium-type compounds [mesembrenone and 6-epi-mesembranol]. [2] 

 

 

Mesembrenone represented 64.1 % of the total alkaloid fraction extracted from leaf of Narcissus cv. "Hawera" [3]

 

The highest galanthamine content was identified in Narcissus cv. Sundisc (69% of TIC) and Narcissus cv.  Waterperry (67% of TIC) 

[Darklight]

Heya lovely bloke! Good to see you round

 

Yeah, I was thinking about medicinal Amarylladaceae a while ago and came to roughly the same conclusion- too complicated by weird toxins for my non-chemist brain, so I gave up

 

They do seem to have some fascinating aspects, but I'll wait for the smart ones like you to crunch all the numbers and molecules before I start planting them with the intention of medicinal use

[Neebu]

Interesting topic, thanks 

A post by Giorgio Samorini on FB brought Boophone disticha to my attention recently.

I would not consider ingesting it, I would rather like to grow it as a plant with interesting properties and history in medicinal use.

Unfortunately I don´t know any source for people in Australia or in the US which sells it for a reasonable price.

But there is a shop in the Czech Republic which seems to sell bulbs/small plants of Boophone disticha for approx. 30 USD:

..:: Boophane disticha velké ::.. [KAKTEEN.cz]

Maybe it´s interesting for folks in Europe at least.

I´m not even sure if Boophone disticha would do well in european climate, but I would try.

Some short growing info and pics of this stunning and beautiful plant:

Boophane - The Bulb Maven (typepad.com)