Review of Ethno-medicinal and Pharmacological Activities of Pygmaeopremna Herbacea (roxb.) Moldnk.: a Source Plant of Bharangi

INTRODUCTION Among Triskandhas (three pillars) of Ayurveda, Oushadha (medicine) plays an important role as it serves both the purposes of Ayurveda i.e. maintenance of health and treatment of disease. Classics of Ayurveda quoted plenty of drugs, some of which still not have been identified. Classical drugs are quite often substituted due to the lack of morphological descriptions. Most of these drugs are practiced by the folklore people to cure many diseases. Much more information regarding the identification and uses of the herbs can be obtained from these people. Tribal peoples are using either the drugs not described in Ayurvedic Materia Medica or classical drugs with a novel indication. Pygmaeopremna herbacea is one such plant which is used by the folklore practitioners in the name of Bharangi to cure many diseases. In Siddha system of medicine P. herbacea is used to cure disorders like respiratory system, cuts and wounds. A preparation of root is given internally for rheumatism by the Santals (Campbell). The author of Nighantu Adarsha considered Clerodendrum Serratum Bharangi as a source drug and mentions four different plants in the name of Bharangi and P. herbacea is one among them. Dr. K.C. Chunekar described that its roots are bitter in taste, devoid of smell and are used for treatment purpose. Krithikar and Basu in Indian medicinal plants mentioned its Sanskrit name as Bhumjambu. The properties of P. herbacea agree much more nearly with those attributed to Bharangi in the Nighantus, than to those of C. serratum, although the later plant is considered as Bharangi throughout the greater part of India. Bombay was formerly supplied from the Circar area which was P. herbacea, but currently they use C. serratum, P. herbacea was exhibited at the Madras Exhibition in 1855, under the name of Gantubharangi, among several chemical and pharmaceutical products. It is mentioned in Sir Walter Elliot’s Flora Andhrica, published in 1859, and referred to an unknown species of Clerodendron, which he says, might be called Acaulis; the plant is there said to grow about Lammasingi to the west of Vizagapatanm, hence it is exported to Madras and Bombay to the amount of several thousand rupees yearly. W. Ferguson in 1861 identified the source of Gantubharangi of Southern India as P. herbacea and a pamphlet published at Colombo in 1887 has a figure of the plant and its root. Botanically it is identified as Pygmaeopremna herbacea (Roxb.) Moldenke, Premna herbacea Roxb., Pygmaeopremna humilis Merr., or Premna timoriana H. Lam., belongs to Verbenaceae family.