• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.219-226
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• 2004

Cacti of the genus Opuntia, which are widely distributed throughout Latin America, South Africa, the Mediterranean, and Korea, have been used not only as ornamental plants but also for their medicinal value. For example, Opuntia spp. have traditionally been used as hypoglycemic plants for treating diabetes mellitus. In this article, we review published papers dealing with the biological and medicinal properties of Opuntia spp.