A Brief Overview On The Highly Medicinal Plant Genus Gomphrena

Abstract

The genus Gomphrena (family Amaranthaceae) comprises approximately 120 species distributed in South America, Asia, and Vietnam and includes subshrubs, perennial and annual herbs. Gomphrena is the major tribe and previous chemical analyses have been demonstrated the presence of diverse variety of chemicals such as anthraquinone, aurone, betacyanins, betalains, betaxanthins, chromoalkaloids, protoalkaloids, triterpens, steroids and saponis flavonoids, ecdysteroids. Several of these secondary metabolites possess biological activities for curing ailments such as arthritis, diabetes, asthma, bronchitis and also known to possess anti tussive, anti-oxidant, anti-asthmatic and anti-cancer activities. In general, Gomphrena sp. have been used for many pharmacological properties and other applications.