Nelumbo Nucifera (Lotus): A Review on Ethanobotany, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology

Abstract

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn (Nymphaeaceae), a perennial aquatic plant, has been used as a medicinal herb in China and India. It has been recorded in the most famous medicinal book in China for more than 400 years. Different part of plant (leaves, seeds, flower, and rhizome) can be used in traditional system of medicine. In traditional system of medicine, the different parts of plant is reported to possess beneficial effects as in for the treatment of pharyngopathy, pectoralgia, spermatorrhoea, leucoderma, smallpox, dysentery, cough, haematemesis, epistaxis, haemoptysis, haematuria, metrorrhagia, hyperlipidaemia, fever, cholera, hepatopathy and hyperdipsia. Following the traditional claims for the use of N.nucifera as cure of numerous diseases considerable efforts have been made by researchers to verify it’s utility through scientific pharmacological screenings. The pharmacological studies have shown that N.nucifera posseses various notable pharmacological activities like amti-ischemic, antioxidant, anticancer, antiviral, antiobesity, lipolytic, hypocholestemic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, hypoglycaemic, antidiarrhoeal, antifungal, antibacterial, antiinflammatory and diuretic activities. A wide variety of phytoprinciples have been isolated from the plant. The present review is an effort to consolidate traditional, ethnobotanic, phytochemical and pharmacological information available on N.nucifera.