Ethnopharmacological perspectives on Gliricid...

Ethnopharmacological perspectives on Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth. ex Walp.

Author Name : Maria Nison, Dr. Sapna Shrikumar

ABSTRACT

Healing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. The link between man and his search for drugs in nature dates back to ancient times, as evidenced by written documents, preserved monumentsand even original plant medicines. The knowledge of using medicinal plants came about as a result of man's long-standing battles with disease, which taught him to look for pharmaceuticals in the barks, seeds, fruit bodiesand other parts of plants. One of the most significant plant in Pharmacognosy and medical field is Gliricidia sepium  (Jacq.) Kunth. ex.Walp. as it act as a storehouse for powerful bioactive substances like saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, volatile oils and other substances that have been extracted from different portions of it.Due to its many traditional uses, such as treating coughs, asthma, urticaria, rash, burns, scabies, dermatitis, functioning as an anti-pruritic on the skin, treating bacterial and protozoal infections, Gliricidia sepium  is the subject of extensive research. Gliricidia sepium  has been used medicinally for a variety of conditions. Entire parts of tree-barks, roots, leaves etc. have ethno medicinal properties. Some of them include cytotoxicity, anti-microbial, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Hence, in this current narrative review of literature, we mainly aimed to describe and delineate on ethnopharmacological potential of Gliricidasepium.

Keywords: Gliricidia sepium , phytoconstituents, traditional uses, ethnopharmacology