Plant Name Ferula tenuisecta Eug. Korov. (Apiaceae)
Botanical Info Perennial 60-120cm heigh
Geography Central Asia: Tjan-Shang. (West). On petrous and herbaceous slopes, in thickets of archa, on 600-2500 m above sea-level; sometimes abundantly.
Chemical composition. Roots: An essential oil, 0.29 %, different terpenoids. Phenolcarbonic acids: p-hydroxybenzoic acid . Fruit: Carbohydrates: sucrose, Terpenoids, Steroids, Sitosterin, Coumarins, 0.1 %
Traditional Use and Activity Ferula tenuisecta Eug. Korov. (Apiaceae), is the source of raw material for commercial production of the preparations ferulen, tefestrol, and panoferol. Tefestrol, known drug, is a natural mixture of esters of sesquiteipene alcohols, the principal components of which are ferutinin and tenuferidin, obtained from F. tenuisecta roots.
Tefestrol is used in treatments for ovarian hypofunction, amenorrhea (primary, secondary), oligomenorrhea, Shershevsky—Turner syndrome, and uterine blood flow dysfunction; for hemostasis and infertility due to anovulation; after excision of intrauterine adhesions in patients with uterine amenorrhea; for climatic syndrome during pre-menopause or menopause; and for gonadal dysgenesis and delayed sexual development .
Roots of F. tenuisecta contain esters such as ferutin, teferin, and fertidin, which have comparable estrogen activity, in addition to ferutinin and tenuferidin. The preparation of Ferulen containing all these esters increases the yield of final product with pharmacological activity equivalent to that of tefestrol .