European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

MORINGA CONCANENSIS AN EMERGING MEDICINAL PLANT: A PHYTOPHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEW

Vaishali Patil* and Tanvi Dodiya

ABSTRACT

Moringa concanensis Nimmo (Moringaceae) is a traditional medicinal plant, distributed in tropical deciduous forests of India. It is known as kattumurungai in Tamilnadu and Ranshevga in Maharashtra. It has an impressive medicinal use along with a good nutritional value. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of M. concanensis i.e. its morphological characteristics, taxonomy, phytochemistry and pharmacological studies. This plant is not edible but it contains wide range of primary and secondary metabolites. The potential constituent present in the plant is phytol which is responsible for its anticancer effect. It also contains alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, phenols, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids and fatty acids. The studies show that M. concanensis has anticancer, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antimicrobial and antifertility effects. Due to the chemical composition, medicinal importance and lack of information; there is a need to develop the further standardization parameters as well as phytochemical investigation using different analytical techniques for its effective identification and authentication.

Keywords: Moringa concanensis, Moringaceae, kattumurungai, phytol, antioxidant.