Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of five medicinal plants: A Review

Abstract

World is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants. Medicinal plants are the local heritage with global importance. In India herbs have always been principal form of medicine and presently they became popular throughout the developed world, as people strive to stay healthy in the face of chronic stress and pollution, and to treat illness with medicines that works to increase the body’s own defence. People in Europe, America and Australia are consulting trained herbal professionals and are using the plants as medicines. Medicinal plants also play an important role lives of rural people, particularly in remote parts of developing countries with few health facilities. The variety and sheer number of plants with therapeutic properties of quite astonishing. It is estimated that around 70000 plant species, from lichens to flowering trees, have been used at one time or another form of medicinal purpose. The herbs provide the standing material for the isolation or synthesis of conventional drugs. In Ayurveda about 2000 plant species are considered to have medicinal value, while in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, over 5700 traditional medicines are presented, most of them are of plant origin. About 500 herbs are still employed within conventional medicines, although whole plant is rarely used.

Keywords: antioxidants, medicinal plants, pollution, antimicrobial.