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ABSTRACT:
Dioscorea bulbifera is a tribal plant, which belongs to the family Dioscoreaceae assigned to the order dioscorales. It is native to tropical Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Dioscorea bulbifera posses potentional therapeutic uses. It is found throughout India particularly in warmer places and is known as Yam or Air potato. Many tests prove phytochemically it contains flavnonoids, saponins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids. This review will enumerate the free radical scavenging and anti-oxidant activity in nature. Other aspects covered include anti-microbial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective functions. A large number among them occur in the wild state. Dioscorea species are distributed in nearly throughout India.
KEY WORDS: Dioscorea bulbifera, Analgesic, antioxidant, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides.
INTRODUCTION:
Dioscorea bulbifera is a tribal plant, which belongs to the family Dioscoreaceae assigned to the order dioscorales. It is a climber plant with tuberous root. Dioscorea is a large genus of annual twinning herbs, distributed throughout the moist tropics of the world, which extends into warm temperate regions. It is commonly known as air potato, air yam or bulbil-bearing yam [1]. In India it is known as Gonth, Kolkand, Varaheekand. It is a climber plant with tuberous root [2]. The tuber is edible when either boiled or cooked [3,4]. One teaspoon of tuber powder and water taken in orally is a single dose cures for abdominal [5]. Traditionally Dioscorea bulbifera have been used to lower glycemic index, therefore it provides better protection against diabetes and obesity [6]. In traditional Indian and Chinese medicine it is widely used in the treatment of sore throat, goiter, gastric cancer and carcinoma of rectum [7,8].
In places like Cameroon and Madagascar the bulbs are pounded and applied to abscesses, boils and wound infections [9]. In India the bulbs are used to treat piles, dysentery, and are applied to ulcers, pain, and inflammation [10]. This tuber contains the plant reserves, mainly starch, and it is often incorporated in the human diet. The tuber not only stores food but also many of the plants as secondary metabolites, which are commonly referred to as anti-nutritional factors [11].
Classification:
Distribution:
It is native to tropical Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, air potato was introduced by ancient Polynesians throughout much of the South Pacific where it is now...