Medicinal Uses of Sphaeranthus Indicus : A Review

Use of plant based medicines is increasing day by day mainly because they are cheaper, effective and produce minimal or no side effects when compared with modern medicines. Lot of research is being conducted on medicinal plants to verify the claims of their medicinal properties in traditional medicinal systems. Sphaeranthus indicus is an aromatic herb belonging to family Asteraceae. It is distributed throughout the plains and wet lands in India and grows as weed in paddy fields. In traditional Indian system of medicine the entire plant or the specific parts of it e.g. roots, leaves, flowers are used in treatment of migraine, jaundice, liver diseases, diabetes, leprosy, fever, cough, gastritis, hernia, hemorrhoids, helminthiasis, dyspepsia and skin diseases. The present article reviews the scientific works conducted by various researchers on pharmacological properties of S. indicus.