Abstract

Debolina Dattaray40089*

From the time immemorial plants have been a rich source of inspiration for novel drug compounds and have highly contributed in the treatment of various ailments. Tridax procumbens is an annual or perennial herb, mostly found as a weed of cultivation, grown on waste ground, or as an invader of bare soil used majorly in Indian traditional medicine. The great variety of secondary metabolites present in the plant are tannins, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phenols steroids, anthocyanins, proteins, amino acids and carbohydrates have been a great source of important pharmaceutical compounds. This present study aims to document the scientific literature regarding the medicinal properties, bioactive constituents and pharmacological importance of the plant T. procumbens, of the Asteraceae family. The various scientific literatures have been collected from different scientific search engines like PubMed, Elsevier, Google Scholar, Science Direct and Research gate for all the relevant date regarding the pharmacological activities of Tridax procumbens. The CABI, Invasive Species Compendium database was used to provide the scientific names, subspecies of plants. This species has a vast diversity of traditional use by different communities. Amongst the biological activities of various phytochemicals present in the plant, acting as free radical scavenger, actions against inflammation, allergies, platelet aggregation, microbes, tumours, hepatotoxins. Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic and hypotensive activities have been documented. This review shows the importance of more studies to understand the potential of T. procumbens secondary metabolites for medicinal or preventive treatment, making it a propitious ethnobotanical resource. This review can also be useful for providing important information of this species and indicates that this species could be an effective, safe and affordable treatment for some ailments, especially in tropical areas where this plant is native and abundantly available.