Abstract

A REVIEW ON PHARMACOLOGY AND PHYTOCHEMISTRY OF CAJANUS CAJAN

Bandi Somasekhar*, K. Vanaja and Veeram Anjali

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are store house of various types of phytochemicals and considered as a potential therapeutic remedy for numerous ailment. To encourage a disease free healthy life Mother Nature has gifted mankind medicinal plants. The world craves new ideas and looks to the Far East and Asia for inspiration and innovation. There is a wealth of technical data to support the safe use of this plant and this review will produce the data to justify the use of this plant in a wide range in the field of ayurveda. The cajanus cajan belongs to the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae).The results showed the presence of bioactive constituents of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and terpenes. Phlobatannins, anthraquinones and sterols were not detected. This review article gives an overview on the biological activities of the compounds isolated, pharmacological actions and clinical studies of C. cajan extracts. The present review has been primed to describe the existing data on the information on traditional and medicinal use of the Cajanus cajan plant.

Keywords: Cajanus cajan, Ayurveda, Medicinal plants.