Review on Caesalpinia bonducella

Abstract

Caesalpinia bonducella L. is a medicinal plant belonging to the family caesalpiniaceae. It is a prickly shrub widely distributed all over the world especially in Indian tropical regions such as Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sri Lanka. Plants are the mother of all medicines. Nature has bestowed upon us an in exhaustible treasure of miracles that can heal and restore the balance caused by various anomalies that assault the human body. Man has learned from nature and tried to mimic its elements to re-establish the harmony in the ailing body. The practice of use of plants to alleviate pain and suffering incurred by various disorders and to accentuate health can be evidenced from various manuscripts through ages since the dawn of civilization and even beyond the time of inception of hieroglyphics. The plant C. bonducella grows avidly in a warm tropical climate and is found with high propensity throughout India. It is an evergreen plant with deep roots, woody-hard stem, oval-shaped, compound elliptical glossy leaves arranged alternately on either side of the branch. The plant bears dicotyledonous seeds with a characteristic odor. Various parts of the plant are loaded with various phytochemicals that have the potential to defeat a more than enough of anomalies like hyperlipidemia, spasms, immunomodulation, etc. to name a few. But this natural wonder drug is slowly slipping into the darkness of extinction due to a decline in its population. The decreasing demography of the plant is due to the protracted period of dormancy of its seed coupled with overutilization of the plant parts for medicinal purposes and destruction of its habitat.