Curcuma caesia: Present status and future prospect as herbal drug

Plants have been proved to be the best weapons for combating ailments and are recognized as a preventive cure against diseases of human beings, animals as well as economically important crops. The huge reservoir of medicinal plants in the forest of our country has made her the pride home of ayurvedic medicines since the vedic age. Indigenous form of medicine is still being practiced traditionally in all parts of India especially in rural and tribal belts. Besides the classical work of atharveveda, several other scholars like Sushutra, Charak, Bajbhatta have done remarkable work in this area. Curcuma caesia is one of the important medicinal plants of India. Its ayurvedic name is narakchur. It is useful to treat leucoderma, piles, tumors, tuberculosis; glands of the neck, enlargement of the spleen, fresh root are cooling and diuretic. It has been reported to check leucorrhoea and gonorrheal discharge and purified blood. Its juice is useful in dropsy. The main chemical constituents of C. caesia include lignans, iridoid glycosides, flavonoids, flavons, flavone glycoside and sterols. Research work in the direction of isolation and characterization of the chemical constituents responsible for various medicinal properties of C. caesia should be carried out. Present paper provides the beneficial directions to explore further applications of C. caesia.