Chemical Constituents and Important Applications of Garcinia Indica – A Review

Traditional medicines play an important role in the current scenario and more than 50% of the world’s population depends on the constituents extracted from plants for short term and long term disorders and diseases. Different parts of the plants namely, leaves, fruits, seeds, bark and roots possess diverse medicinal properties. A small to moderate size plant Garcinia indica, belonging to the Clusiaceae family is one of the most important, widely used, medicinal plant. In the old classification it belongs to Guttiferae family, and has 1350 species approximately. Chemical constituents extracted from different parts of this plant possess anticancer, antiulcer, antioxidative, antiglycation, antitumor activity, etc.,. Garcinol, anthocyanins and hydroxycitric acid are the important chemical constituents of this plant and identified as responsible for the most of its medicinal properties. The main aim of this review is to bring out the basic information like geographical distribution, physiochemical parameters, phytoconstituents and pharmacological properties about Garcinia indica known so far and also the new field yet to be explored.