Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
(eISSN: 2229-4473)
Bioactivity of Valeriana, Passiflora, and Lavandula against insects: an integrative review with lexicometric analysis
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
da Silva Cicera Simoni, Moreira Maria Rosilene Cândido, Leite Laura Hévila Inocêncio, Cândido Estelita Lima
Review Articles | Published: 11 July, 2026
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Keywords: Chemical insecticides, Biopesticides, Disease vectors, n Lavandulan
Abstract
The widespread use of chemical insecticides has been raising environmental and health concerns, leading to a search for sustainable alternatives. This study researched the bioactivity of Valeriana, Passiflora, and Lavandula species on insects, with the aim of evaluating their potential as natural insecticides. The study consisted of six stages, including an integrative literature review, data collection and critical analysis, and discussion and synthesis of the results. The search was conducted in Google Scholar and PubMed (2012–2024) using the PICo strategy and the search terms “Valeriana OR Passiflora OR Lavandula AND bioactivity AND insects”, covering publications in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. The conclusions of the selected articles were analyzed using the IRaMuTeQ software via Similarity Analysis (SA), Descending Hierarchical Clustering (DHC), and Word Cloud (WC). The corpus contained 35,320,158 occurrences, with 201 segments classified into 253 (79.85%), resulting in three distinct classes identified by DHC. Class 3 (44.78%) grouped terms related to “synthetic pesticides”, while classes 1 (29.9%) and 2 (25.37%) comprised words associated with the bioactivity of natural products. The similarity analysis revealed «lavandula» and «study» as the most central terms, strongly linked to «species», «linalool», «thymol», «mosquito», and «larva», indicating a prevalence of studies focused on the Lavandula species and their volatile compounds in biological control. «Valeriana» and «Passiflora» emerged as linked to «mechanism» and «efficacy», highlighting their complementary potential as botanical agents for sustainable pest management.
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Author Information
Federal University of Cariri - UFCA, Crato, Brazil