A PANORAMIC VIEW ON ARGEMONE MEXICANA: ITS MEDICINAL IMPORTANCE AND PHYTOCHEMICAL POTENTIALS.

Abstract

Argemone mexicana, a prickly plant commonly called as prickly poppy is found in sub tropical regions and is well known for its medicinal properties. Its potential as a medicinal plant has been practiced traditionally and been prescribed as medicines by Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic practices since several years. Each part of plant posses bio active compounds that help in curing ailments like HIV, malaria, ring worm infections, fungal infections, cancer etc. These activities have been studied in vivo and in vitro set up and results have been obtained in favor. Further, phytochemical evaluation has unveiled the presence of compounds like berberine, argemonine, protopine etc, which show curative actions and could be used for treatment of diseases with future preception. This review is a sum up of all literature available through the internet and was searched using keywords ‘Argemone mexicana’, ‘phytochemical importance of Argemone’ and many other exclusive words with respect to different activities scanned for reviewing. The references provided in the papers were also given a thorough look and retrieved the respected data from them too. ‘Scopus’, ‘Pubmed’, ‘Google Scholar’, ‘Research Gate’ were used to search for the relevant papers through different journals available. The literature has then been framed in a way with up gradation about Argemone mexicana and its promising affects seen with the potential of the plant which is still undiscovered but could be utilized as curative methods