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ABSTRACT:
Plants have anchored to the mother earth long before man has set his feet and it is said that god had endowed them with materials for survival of man and animal long before these creatures were made by him. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 80% of the population is still depends upon these herbal medicines for their treatment of diseases due to easy availability, economic and less side effects when compared to allopathic system of medicines. Prosopis juliflora also comes under that category. It belongs to the family Leguminosae commonly known as mesquite. Prosopis species had a role as traditional medicine. The genus has been used as a folk remedy for catarrh, cold, diarrhea, dysentery, excrescences, flu, hoarseness, inflammation, measles, sore throat and in healing of wounds. This genus has more pharmacological activities like anthelmintic, antioxidant, antipyretic, antiulcer, cytotoxicity effect, antigiardial, amoebicidal and antipustule activity. The phytoconstituents present in this plant are tannins, phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenes and steroids. So this review article is a collective source of the various information regarding Prosopis juliflora published in various journals and books.
KEYWORDS : Prosopis juliflora, Mesquite, Flavonoids, Pharmacological Activities.
INTRODUCTION:
Despite the progress in conventional chemistry and pharmacology in the production of effective drugs, plants might provide a useful source of new medicines and may be used to replace existing drugs. Traditional medicine in general is turned out to be very useful in the discovery of natural products such as pharmaceutical drugs. The shrub Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. (P. juliflora) commonly known as mesquite has been used as a traditional medicine in different continents for curing catarrh, colds, diarrhoea, dysentery, excrescences, flu, hoarseness, inflammation, measles, sore throat, and for the healing of wounds. This review evaluates the pharmacological potential with emphasis on naturally occurring phenolic compounds from P. juliflora. Prosopis juliflora, a member of family Leguminosae, is found in arid and semi-arid regions of India. Several alkaloids have been isolated from leaf extracts having pharmacological properties.1
Synonym: Mimosa pudica2
Common Name: Mesquite and Honey Mesquite (English USA)3
Vernacular Names: Hindi - Vilayati babul, Vilayati Babool, Vilayati khejra; Gujrati - Gando baval; Marathi - Vilayati kikar; Marwari - angrezi bavaliya; Kannada - Bellari jali; Tamil - Velikaruvel, Velimullu.4
Geographical Source:
Prosopis...