Review on Ethnopharmacognosy of Justicia tranquebariensis L. – A Traditional Siddha Drug

Medicinal plants are the local heritage with universal importance. World is gifted with a rich wealth of medicinal plants. Herbs have always been the principal source of medicine in India and presently they are becoming popular throughout the world. But the major lacuna is the lack of proper identification and information about the medicinal plants. This is mainly because due to the fact that there exist many single drugs under one name or one drug is used in different names. Many Botanical sources are equated for one single drug and the drug becomes a controversial drug and many such drugs exist in Indian systems of medicine. ‘Sivanarvembu’ is one such drug of doubtful origin in Siddha system of medicine. ‘Justicia tranquebariensis L.’ belonging to the family Acanthaceae one of the sources of sivanarvembu is reviewed from ethnopharmacognostic view and presented in this paper. In Tamil it is called as “Tavashoo moorunghie” or “Poonakapoondo”. The present paper deals with the literature available on the ethno botanical, pharmacognostic, phytochemical and pharmacological studies on ‘Justicia tranquebariensis L.’. This present review can help in detecting the selected drug from other sources of ‘Sivanarvembu’ and will also scientifically help in justifying its usage as ‘Sivanarvembu’.