Dirca

Dirca Palustris is a freely branching round woody shrub growing 3 to 6 tall with parchment-like bark. It has simple, light green deciduous leaves with an oval shape. In early spring the shrub grows pale yellow flowers clustered in 3 or 4 s. The most common locations for the plant are forests or rich gardens. 

As part of a search for chemopreventive agents from natural products, nearly 400 plant extracts were tested for their potential to induce human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cell differentiation. Seventeen of the plant extracts were active, with ED50 values of 4 pg/mL [139], One of most potent was an extract derived from Dirca occidentalis (Thymelaeaceae), which gave an ED50 of 0.14 pg/mL, and from it genkwanin, (+)-lariciresinol and sitoindoside II were isolated as active principles by a bioassay-guided fractionation. The ED50 values of the compounds were 18.3, 1.1 and 0.069 pM, respectively. 

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Badawi M M, Handa S S, Kinghorn A D, Cordell G A, Farnsworth N R 1983 Plant anticancer agents XXVII Antileukemic and cytotoxic constituents of Dirca occidentalis (Thymelaeaceae). J Pharm Sci 72 1285-1287... 

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