Saussurea is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine habitats in the Himalaya and central Asia. Common names include saw-wort and snow lotus, the latter used for a number of high altitude species in central Asia.
Saussurea lappa C.B. Clarke (Compositae) is indigenous to India and Pakistan. The dried root of S. lappa has been traditionally used for alleviating pain in abdominal distention and tenesmus, indigestion with anorexia, dysentery, nausea, and vomiting. Santamarin is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from S. lappa. Santamarin inhibited inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein, reduced iNOS-derived nitric oxide (NO), suppressed COX-2 protein and reduced COX-derived PGE2 production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and murine peritoneal macrophages. Similarly, santamarin reduced tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) production.