Review on the phytochemical and pharmcological activities of Hymenocardia acida tul (phyllantaceae)

Abstract

Hymenocardia acida (Tul) is a medicinal plant used in folkloric medicine in the treatment of various diseases. This study aimed to review ethno-medicinal uses, biological studies, pharmacological activities as well as the phytochemical constituents of Hymenocardia acida (Tul). The data were searched from electronic databases such as Google Scholar, Pub Med, Wiley and Science Direct. The key word used for searching information is Hymenocardia acida. The study has shown that the plant is used in ethno-medicine for the treatment of asthma, snake bite, small pox, pain, trypanosomiasis, cough, eye infections, pulmonary infections, diarrhea, dysentery, diabetes, epilepsy and schizophrenia. Additionally, the plant has been reported to contain various phytochemical constituents such as Lupeyl docosanoate, lupine, ?-sitosterol, Friedelan-3-one, Betulinic acid, stigmasterol and oleic acid. Moreover, the study highlighted that, the plant possessed positive analgesic, antidiabetic, anticonvulsant, anticancer, antiplasmodial, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Therefore, Hymenocardia acida having various medicinal properties as reported in this study can be used as herbal supplement in the treatment of various diseases.