A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON ETHNOBOTANICAL, PHYTOCHEMISTRY, BIOACTIVITIES AND MEDICINAL MYSTERIES OF VITEX TRIFOLIA LINN (THREE-LEAVED CHASTE TREE)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the cosmos, nature has been enriched with plentiful resources are being given away for the betterment of humankind. Nature has the plethora of biologically lively compounds those are potential to prevent ailments. By virtue of usual support, India has been a province with abundance of natural plants possessing immense therapeutic consequence. Above time countless medicinal plants have been recognized and used in India to treat diverse types of diseases. The World Health Organization has listed 21,000 plants, which are used for medicinal purposes approximately the world. Amongst these 2500 species are in India, out of which 150 species are used commercially on a moderately huge level. India is the major maker of medicinal herbs and is called as botanical backyard of the world. The purpose of present review is to make available up-to-date information on botany, ecological biodiversity, morphology, medicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities on diverse parts of Vitex trifolia Linn (V. trifolia). This review was assembled using technical literature from electronic explore engine such as Springerlink, BioMed Central, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Scielo, Medline and Science domain. Supplementary texts were obtained from books, book chapters, dissertations, websites and other technical publications. V. trifolia (Verbenaceae) have ethnopharmacological significance and have been conventionally utilized by local people in remedies for a variety of illness. A huge number of the species of the Genus Vitex are extensively employed in Indian conventional systems of medicine. An entirety of 270 plant species of genus Vitex have been recognized universal. V. trifolia is used in Ayurveda and Unani. These species are wealthy source of secondary metabolites such as polyphenolic compounds, terpenoids, phytosterols, protein and amino acids, tannins, and saponins. V. trifolia has hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, trypanocidal, antimicrobial, anti-quorum sensing, mosquito larvicidal and repelling, antimalarial, trachea-spasmolytic, wound healing, estrogenic, vascular relaxation, antinociceptive, anthelmintic, molluscidal, anti-tubercular and mice repelling properties. It is notable that casticin or vitexicarpin isolated from V. trifolia exhibits effective cytotoxicity against an extensive range of cancer cell lines via diverse modes of molecular action. This review highlights the ethnobotanical, phytochemical, traditional, pharmacological information available on V. trifolia, which might be helpful for scientists and researchers to find out new chemical entities accountable for its claimed conventional uses.