A Review on the Comprehensive Phylogenetic Relationship among Indian Species of Drimia: An Ethno-medicinal Indigenous Crop from Tribal Forest Belt

Abstract

Indian Tribal population is known for their self-sustainability, including their robust natural health and trivial lifestyle, further traditionally relied on medicinal plants throughout history. The evolutionary history of the ethnic-medicinal bulbous geophyte has long been a contention in monocot systematics. In India, the genus is represented by a species array. Moreover, the phylogeny delimitation amongst them is poorly defined to date. Phenolics, sterols, proteins and some other phytochemicals of Drimia have also been isolated for pharmacological and clinical studies that have strongly recommended their background effect of geographical positioning. Through several in vivo and in vitro studies, extracts derived from Drimia species demonstrated biological activity, including antifungal antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory antioxidant, and insecticidal properties. This review highlights the comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Indian spp. of Drimia and the multi-omics-based approach for species delineation, the discovery of candidate genes and the development of plant-based drugs, as well as the long-term utilisation of plant pharmaceutical resources.