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ABSTRACT:
Asparagus adscedens Roxb. (Asparagaceae) is a suberect prickly shrub, with white tuberous roots. It is an important medicinal plant and is commonly known as Ujli Musli, Hazamuli, Satavar, Satmuli, Safed Musli in Hindi and Safed Musli in Marathi. The plant which is used as a vegetable has white tubers which are hairy and mucilaginous and swell up with water. It has been reported to possess cooling and demulcent properties and is known to control the symptoms of AIDS. The ayurvedic practitioners have successfully used the roots of the plant for treatment of nervous disorder, inflammation and certain infectious diseases. The recent research reports indicate that the alcoholic and aqueous extracts of the roots of the plant showed some beneficial effects in some clinical conditions and in experimentally induced diseases like cancer. The present article attempts to review the phytochemical and pharmacological studies on the various parts of the A. adscendens especially on the root extracts.
KEYWORDS: Asparagaceae, Asparagus adscendens, Saponins, Asparanin C.
INTRODUCTION:
Many important medicines have been isolated from natural sources since times immemorial and Traditional Medicine (TM) has a very great potential to treat variety of chronic and non-communicable diseases that afflict mankind. The Traditional medicine is well integrated into health care system in India and in many other countries and there are ample instances where the Ayurvedic system of medicine flourished as an alternative to allopathy for healthcare[1].
Although there is a mention of the use of plants in medicine in ancient scriptures like the Rigveda , the actual details pertaining to the properties of plants and their medicinal uses can be found in Ayurveda (which when literally translated means science of life)[ī]. Modern taxonomists placed the genus Asparagus in the family of Asparagaceae and it belongs to the order Asparagales[3,4]. The genus asparagus consists of about 300 species spread all over the world and about 20 species of them are known to occur in India[5]. The plant's name originated from the English word asparagus. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the plant was referred to as sperage, sparage, or sperach and this term appears to have originated from the Medieval Latin term sparagus. It is believed that this term might have derived from the Greek term aspharagos or asparagos....