- Medicinal plants, traditional, ayurvedic, chitrakah, cancer, plumbagin
Abstract
Medicinal plants are an integral component of alternative medical care. For millennia, Indian people traditionally played an important role in the management of biological resources and were custodians of related knowledge that they acquired through trial and error over centuries. India has a rich wealth of
medicinal plants and the potential to accept the challenge to meet the global demand for them. In recent time, focus on plant research has increased all over the world and a large body evidence has collected to show immense potential of medicinal plants used in various traditional system. Plumbago zeylanica L.
(Plumbaginaceae) is a tropical plant and the source for the well known ayurvedic drug ‘chitrakah’. Different parts of this plant are widely used for variety of medicinal treatments. Especially used for appetite, indigestion, piles, worms, liver diseases and cancer treatments. The present study was therefore carried out
to provide pharmacognostic details of root of Plumbago zeylanica. The physico-chemical analysis of ash content indicated the presence of inorganic matter and siliceous matter in the drug. The phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins and terpenoids. Plumbagin is a
naturally occurring yellow pigment, produced by member of plumbaginaceae that can be obtained from roots