Vernonia anthelmintica Willd.: An Overview on Phytopharmacological Properties

Abstract

Plants have been one of the important sources of medicines even since the dawn of human civilization. Medicinal plants are the nature’s gift to human being to have disease‐free healthy life. It plays a vital role to preserve our health. Vernonia anthelmintica Willd. (Family‐ Asteraceae) commonly known as kalijiri, is an important medicinal plant of India. Its medicinal usage has been reported in the traditional system of medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani. It has been used extensively for treatment of some diseases like asthma, kidney troubles, inflammatory swellings, leucoderma, worm infection and convulsion. It has been found to possess various therapeutic activities, viz. anti‐inflammatory, anti‐arthritic, antidiabetic, anthelmintic, antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer and many more. The present paper is an overview on scientifically established and published phytopharmacological properties of the plant.