Abstract

ACANTHUS ILICIFOLIUS: A TRUE MANGROVE WITH BIOMEDICAL POTENTIAL

Rutvi Patel, Nilay Patel, Krushil Patel, Meet Patel, Kunj Patel, Preeti Verma, Mamta Shah*

ABSTRACT

Acanthus (Family: Acanthaceae) is a genus of the major group of angiosperms comprising of more than 30 species of mangrove that are widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Among all the species of true mangroves, Acanthus ilicifolius is commonly growing in India and has an enormous potential as an important plant of medicinal worth. All the parts of this plant have been used to cure a number of ailments in various traditional systems of medicine including Ayurveda. The traditional uses of this plant have been supported by the results of several pharmacological studies on extracts and/or pure compounds. Compounds recorded to be present in this species mainly include alkaloids, benzoxazinoides, phenylethanoides, lignans, flavanoids, megastigmanes, fatty acids and aliphatic alcohol glycosides. Thus main objective of this review is to offer thorough scientific information on biological and pharmacognostic characterization, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemicals, pharmacological activities of Acanthus ilicifolius published till date. An attempt has been made to highlight this plant as a source of medicinally active compounds that are valuable for human welfare, thus providing a platform to help future studies on this true mangrove species of Acanthus genus.

Keywords: Acanthus ilicifolius, Medicinal uses, Phytochemistry, True mangrove.