Pharmacognosy of mangrove plants in the system of unani medicine

Abstract

Mangrove plants are found to have medicinal values and have been used traditionally by local medical practitioners in worldwide. In nature, more than 65 species of mangrove plants, 18 species are found to be widely used by local medical practitioners in many countries like India, Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, Australia etc. Moreover, etanobotanical records regarding medical use of mangrove plants are very limited and very unique. One to its astringent property, tannin is suitable in the treatment of tonsillitis, pharyngeatis, hemorrhoids. slaik eruion and burns. It is taken internally, to diarrohea and intestinal bleeding. The extracts of barks of Bruguiera sexangula are active against two human tumors, sarcoma 180 and lexis lung carcinoma. Tannin is also used as an antidote for metallic, alkaloidal and sylycosidic poisons with which it forms a soluble precipitate. Stigma sterol has been shown to have slight hyper cholesterolinic effect which exerts no effect on heart or liver in unani medicine.