Abstract
Podophyllum hexandrum Royle syn P. emodi Wall. ex Hook. F & Thoms is an important medicinal plant. It is categorized as globally rare plant in IUCN red list. In Pakistan it is found at higher elevations of Himalaya, Gilgit, Chitral, Azad Kashmir. Plant body contains about 8% of podophylloresin from which several lignans have been isolated. Among them the most important is podophyllotoxin which has cytotoxic and anticancerous properties. Total synthesis of podophyllotoxin is an expensive process and availability of the compound from natural resources is an important task for pharmaceutical companies that manufacture these drugs. In Pakistan, Podophyllum hexandrum is on the verge of being endangered due to overexploitation for pharmaceutical purposes. This article briefly reviews botanical, medicinal, phytochemical, pharmacological and molecular attributes of this plant species along with its conservation strategies.
Highlights
Geographical Distribution The name Podophyllum is taken from “podos” a foot and “phyllon” a leaf, and refers to the resemblance of the leaves to a duck's foot
Podophyllum hexandrum Royle belongs to family Podophyllaceae and its vernacular name is Bankakri, commonly known as Indian May Apple [1]
It is categorized as globally rare plant in IUCN red list [3, 4] Taxonomic and Phenological Description Podophyllum hexandrum is a Perennial herb which is about 15-40 cm tall
Summary
Extensive chemical investigation of Podophyllum species revealed presence of a number of compounds like podophyllin, podophyllotoxin, quercetin, 4-. Ethnobotanical Attributes The ripen fruits of Podophyllum species are said to be edible and used against fever in traditional system of medicine in India. The ripen fruits of Podophyllum species are said to be edible and used against fever in traditional system of medicine These are used against various forms of gynaecological disorders [27, 28, 29]. Genetic diversity among the 28 genotypes of P. hexandrum distributed in 11 geographical region from Himachal Pradesh, India was analyzed using RAPD markers [35] Threats This species has greatly declined in nature due to its high demand and unskilled overexploitation. The biotechnological production of Podophyllotoxin using plant cell culture derived from Podophyllum hexandrum may be an attractive alternative.
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