Ethno-pharmacological Review of Bauhinia variegate : A Potential Herbal Drug

Abstract

Abstract
Medicinal plants are part and parcel of human society to combat diseases, from the dawn of civilization. There exists a plethora of knowledge, information and benefits of herbal drugs in our ancient literature of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Chinese medicine. Bauhinia variegata Linn. (Kanchanar/Rakta kanchan), is a widely used medicinal plant by the tribals throughout India and is popular in various indigenous systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathy. Following the various traditional claims on utility of this plant in curing a number of diseases, considerable efforts have been made by researchers to verify its utility through scientific pharmacological screenings. Various parts of the plant, viz., leaves, flower buds, flower, stem, stem bark, seeds and roots are used in fever, as tonic, astringent, diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, piles, edema, laxative, anthelmintic, antileprotic, in skin diseases, wound healing, antigoitrogenic, antitumor, in obesity, stomatitis, antidote for snake poisoning, dyspepsia, flatulence and as a carminative. The plant is also utilized for afforestation to conserve nature. This review presents a detailed survey of the literature on pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, traditional and biologically evaluated medicinal uses of B. variegata.
Keywords: Bauhinia variegata Linn, kanchnar, preclinical studies, therapeutic uses