Leguminous Plants in the Indonesian Archipelago: Traditional Uses and Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the richest countries with respect to plants resources. People from various ethnic, language, and religious groups have used the plants as alternative medicines, health foods and beverages for hundreds of years. To establish modern application for these understudied plant resources, ethnopharmacological data from more than 40 leguminous plants in Indonesia, spanning the western to the eastern parts of the Indonesian archipelago, were reviewed. In particular, bioactive secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, were described in detail to promote research into these plants as functional foods, nutraceuticals, and medicines.