There are over 150 species in Zygophyllum genus in the world

distributed mainly in Asia

Australia

Africa and Mediterranean coast. These species have the properties of drought resistance

wind and sand resistance

and saline-alkali resistance. The seeds are easy to germinate everywhere

with high adaptability. The researches on this genus mainly focused on the pharmacological activities of extracts or fractions as well as the separation and identification of chemical constituents. Z. aegyptium

Z. album

Z. atriplicoides

Z. berenicense

Z. coccineum

Z. cornutum

Z. decumbens

Z. ducembens

Z. dumosum

Z. eichwaldii

Z. eurypterum

Z. fabago

Z. gaetulum

Z. geslini

Z. melongena

Z. oxianum

Z. propinquum and Z. simplex have been used as herbal medicines or have shown biological activities in studies. Some of them have been used in folk of Asian and African countries to treat the diseases such as diabetes

hyperlipidemia

hypertension

obesity

diarrhea and spasticity. Some of them have shown hypoglycemic

antihypertensive

hypolipidemic

antispasmodic

antipyretic

anti-diarrhea

inhibiting enzymes

anti-oxidation

anti-inflammatory

antibacterial

anti-cancer and other pharmacological activities. Zygophyllum genus can be used for prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome;the plants have a variety of biological activities. Further researches on this genus are needed in the following aspects:①bioactivity-guided isolation of the biological compounds;②clarification of molecular mechanisms;③ content analysis of biological compounds by using HPLC

GC

and LC-MS etc. The saponins

flavonoids and other main compounds isolated and identified from Zygophyllum plants as well as their known pharmacological activities were reviewed in this paper.