Author(s):

Shailja Sharma, Sailesh Kumar Ghataury, Anil Sarathe, Gaurav Dubey and Geeta Parkhe

Abstract: India has rich history of using many plants for medicinal purposes. Medicinal plants are playing very active role in traditional medicines for the treatment of various ailments. However a key obstacle, which has hindered the promotion in use of alternative medicines in the developed countries, is no evidence of documentation and absence of stringent quality control measures. There is a need for the record of all the research work carried out on traditional medicines in the form of documentation. As only little studies are done on this plant, the purpose of current review is to make accessible up-to-date information on morphology, therapeutic uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities on diverse parts of Curcuma angustifolia Roxb (C. angustifolia). This review was assembled using technical literature from electronic search engine such as Springerlink, BioMed Central, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Scielo, Medline and Science domain. Supplementary texts were obtained from books, book chapters, dissertations, websites and other scientific publications. C. angustifolia (Zingiberaceae) is one of over 80 species belonging to the genus Curcuma. C. angustifolia is a fast growing annual rhizomatous herb. It is a perennial and a flowering plant, with modest and small spiked inflorescences of three or four yellow, funnel-shaped flowers within tufts of pink terminal bracts (coma bracts). In India it is commonly known as Tikur or Tavaksheeri. This species can also be found in Burma, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan and other parts of world. The major chemical constituents of the plants are methyl eugenol, camphor, cineol etc. Rhizome is the used as demulcent, nutritious, contains starch which is used for children due to easily digestible. It is an excellent diet in the form of conjee in case of dysentery, dysuria and gonorrhea etc. Medicinal uses of rhizome arise from the bioactive components. Bioactive components are responsible for antioxidative, anti-inflammatory properties, wound-healing, hypoglycemia, anticoagulant, antimicrobial activities. The plant is used in different traditional systems of medicine in the treatment of various diseases. The present paper enumerates the Pharmacognostic, morphological and ethnobotanical, pharmacological importance of the C. angustifolia, which may help the researchers to set their minds for approaching the utility, efficacy and potency of the plant.

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