Centella Asiatica: A Pharmaceutically Important Medicinal Plant

Medicinal plants are the traditional source of pharmaceutically important compounds which are utilized by the pharmaceutical companies for the preparation of several formulations. In the present time, there has been an increase in the use of herbal products around the world. World Health Organisation (WHO) also stated that more that 80% of the world’s population relies on the herbal medicines [1]. The importance of medicinal plants is due to the presence of specific chemical compounds that produce a physiological effect on the human body. These bioactive chemical constituents of plants include saponin, flavanoids, alkaloids, sterols, tannins, phenols [2]. Medicinal plant-based drugs have an advantage over the other drugs because they are simple and offer a broad spectrum of activity. Furthermore, they have very less adverse side effects as compare to the chemotherapeutic drugs. India is rich in medicinal plant diversity and since the ancient times use of drugs of herbal origin is prevalent in the traditional system of medicines such as Ayurveda and Unani. There are about 426 biomes which comprise of different habitat diversity that gives rise to the richest centers for plant genetic resources in the world [3]. Out of 18,665 flowering species, only about 3000 plants has been used for the various formulations in classic system of medicines such as Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani [4].