Tinospora cordifolia: a multipurpose medicinal plant- A review

Abstract

Traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurvedic, Uninai, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) have been in practice in a great account. Owing to population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for diseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments as witnessed by the use of folk medicines in the present scenario. This review article describes the prominence of a medicinal plant Tinospora cordifolia in therapeutics such as use of crude extract of plant for the amelioration of various diseases, morphology, growth constraints, biochemical composition, biological activities, research work done, projects sanctioned to this plant species and the future prospects of this important neglected plant species for research in the field of plant tissue culture, natural products and nano-biotechnology.