Abstract

MEDICINAL IMPORTANCE OF ODINA WODIER, ROXB., A BRIEF REVIEW STUDY

Pavithra T.* and Tamizh Mani T.

Abstract

Plants serve humans as primary sources for food, shelter and medicines. So understanding the plant uses in treating the diseases is very important for leading a healthier life. Our ancestors have used many plants as medicines and there is a need to provide scientific evidence for the same. Lannea coromandelica is one of such important plants well distributedin India. It is commonly called as Odiar, Gumphini in South India. It was extensively used by the tribes all over India to treat various diseases some of them include body pains, tooth ache, stomach ache, ulcers, sexual impotency. Many investigations on the chemistry of the plant have been done. They revealed the plant contains majorly Polyphenols including Flavonoids and Tannins, Terpenoids, Gums, and Polysaccharides. Not much scientific support was given to the folklore claims of the plant and some of its traditional uses have been investigated including Wound Healing activity, Hypotensive activity, Anti-microbial activity and Zoo sporicidal activity. This article is the review of research works done on the plant L.coromandelica till to date. As a part of it the local names, morphology, traditional claims, chemistry, pharmacological activities have been discussed.

Keywords: Lannea, Polyphenols, Flavonols, Folklore uses, antioxidant, antimicrobial activity, Wound Healing activity, Medicinal importance.