REVIEW ON ETHNOBOTANY, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL PROFILE OF ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS

Abstract

Alstonia scholaris Linn., which is popularly known as the “Saptaparni” or the Devil tree, which are used as a well known remedy for the treatment of various types of disorders in the Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic and Folklore system of medicine in India. Alstonia scholaris is mainly used for the treatment of diarrhoea and malaria, as a tonic, febrifuge, emmenagogue, anticholeric and vulnerary. Over the past two decades, many reports have appeared in mainstream scientific journals describing its nutritional and medicinal properties. Alstonia scholaris mainly contain ditamine, echitamine and echitenine. As with many reports of the nutritional or medicinal value of a natural product, there are an alarming number of purveyors of “healthful” food who are now promoting Alstonis scholaris. This paper explains the evidence-based information regarding the pharmacological activities of this plant. It has many ethnobotanical uses and is medicinally used in the traditional Ayurvedic system.