A brief review on a traditional herb: abrus precatorius (L.)
Anamika Das, Vernika Jain, Amarnath Mishra
Abstract
Abrusprecatorius is commonly known as Gunja or Jequirity belonging to Fabaccae- a pea family, abundantly found all throughout the plains of India, from Himalaya down to Southern India and Ceylon. The plant is considered as a valuable source of unique natural products for development of medicines against various diseases. The roots, seeds and leaves are used in traditional folklore medicine. Much research work has been conducted on Abrusprecatorius. The pharmacological studies have shown that Abrusprecatorius possesses a number of biological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-fertility, nehroprotective, anti-seratonergic, etc. As this plant has some potential medicinal value, it has some toxic effect too due to presence of