Boerhaavia Diffusa Linn Plant: A Review – One Plant with Many Therapeutic Uses

Abstract

Today's world is full of huge numbers of different diseases because of our hasty schedule, and to treatment of those diseases, a huge number of medicines are taken every day to control and cure those diseases. Therefore, willingly or unwillingly, we are required to accumulate a large amount of chemicals which are lethal and unsafe for our body. Consequently, these stored chemicals produce another disease in our body, and to alleviate it, another medicine is needed which adds up more poisonous chemicals which were previously stored in our body. For this reason, the uses of natural or herbal medicines are increasing day by day due to their biodegradable nature. Boerhaavia diffusa commonly known as punarnava is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to family Nyctaginaceae widely studied and has a long history of therapeutic uses by the indigenous and tribal people and also in Ayurvedic and Unani medicines. The chemical presents in the whole plant of Boerhaavia diffusa L. which makes it as outstandingly useful plant is now been traced out. Now, it is regarded as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiaging, anticancerous, antibacterial, antistress, hepatoprotective and antidiabetic compound. Its biological used as a kidney and heart tonic and also to treat general fever, jaundice, obesity, asthma and to kill intestinal worms. The present paper provides a detailed account of therapeutic uses of whole plant of Boerhaavia diffusa linn. In this review, we will try to discuss the multifunctional uses of the plant and also we will try to summarize the innovative research on this plant.