The Potential Medicinal Value of Barleria lupulina: A Mini Review

Medicinal plants are a major source of numerous valuable natural chemicals and medicines. Therefore, they have been in use for thousands of years against varying diseases, and even at present around 80% of the world population depends on plant derived medicines. Barleria lupulina Lindl. widely known as “Ranwan Katukarandu” in Sri Lanka is a plant which has been used widely in traditional plant derived medicines, as it includes numerous phytochemicals with potential biological properties. B. lupulina has been tested for its many phytochemical constituents such as, flavonoids, phenylethanoid glycosides, quinones, iridoids, immunostimulant proteins, antibiotics, alkaloids, starch, tannin, reducing sugars, protein, amino acids, glycosides, steroids etc; which have been found to possess antioxidant, antimicrobial, larvicidal, antidiabetic, immunomodulatory and antiarthritic properties. In future, extensive scientific research needs to be conducted on these phytochemicals to produce natural, effective and alternative medicines in place of synthetic medicines. This review gives a report on existing literature, phytochemistry and biological activity of the species Barleria lupulina.