REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1680390
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2025View all 44 articles
Ethnopharmacology of Pinus Species with Focus on the Hispaniola pine (Pinus occidentalis Swartz): Evidence, Gaps, and Research Roadmap
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- 2Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena (UNPHU), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- 3Universidad Nacional Evangelica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- 4Instituto de Innovacion en Biotecnologia e Industria, San Geronimo, Dominican Republic
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The review systematically maps the ethnomedicinal uses and chemistry of Pinus spp., with an emphasis on the under-studied Pinus occidentalis Swartz, known as "pino criollo", "pino de cuaba" or "pin creole". It is the only native pine species of Hispaniola, and holds ecological, cultural, and medicinal significance across the Dominican Republic and Haiti. A data search was conducted across several databases (Google Scholar, SciFinder, Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed/Medline, and TRIP) to evaluate the existing knowledge of P. occidentalis and compare it to that of other Pinus species for medicinal uses. The search showed evidence about the medicinal use of this pine species for treating respiratory ailments (cough, cold, and flu), skin infections, wounds, and inflammatory conditions, mainly through hot decoctions of pine needles, bark, cone tender sprouts, and the resin in some locations in Hispaniola. Still, phytochemical data were scarce, limited to the composition of the needle's essential oil and resin's turpentine oil in the 20th century. Systematic pharmacological validation of these limited ethnopharmacological findings is still pending, along with the determination of phytochemicals. Research on P. occidentalis shows potential as a natural health product. The urgent need for sustainable strategies is emphasized by conservation concerns related to habitat loss and deforestation. Future research should focus on detailed ethnopharmacology, conservation and propagation techniques for its exploitation, extraction technologies, chemical profiling, and pharmacological screening according to ethnomedicinal surveys, to set P. occidentalis as a promising candidate for phytotherapeutic development and integrative health applications in Hispaniola. These gaps underscore the need for a research roadmap of this endemic tree across the island. The review represents the first comprehensive synthesis of the ethnomedical applications of Pinus occidentalis Swartz, systematically mapping its cultural and therapeutic significance across Hispaniola.
Keywords: Pinus sp, Pinus occidentalis Swartz, Ethnopharmacology, Pharmacology, phytochemicalcomposition, Polyphenols, Proanthocyanidins, Hispaniola
Received: 05 Aug 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nunez Selles, Nuevas-Paz and Gomez-Torres. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alberto J. Nunez Selles, nunez500412@hotmail.com
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