Ashtavarga- Rare Medicinal Plants

Ashtavarga is important ingredient of various classical Ayurvedic formulations like Chavyanprasha. Ashtavarga has been assigned various medicinal properties by ancient Materia Medica dealing with Ayurveda. Ashtavarga is subject of rigorous botanical research. Although work has been done on identification of medicinal plants mentioned under Ashtavarga, still lot is to be done to identify the true representatives. Taking in to consideration the medicinal properties of these medicinal plants, phytochemical and pharmacological investigations are the need of the hour to scientifically validate the claims. The article discusses the properties of the eighth drugs mentioned under Ashtavarga. (