Thespesia populnea: An Ethnomedicinal, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Review

Thespesia populnea, family Malvaceae, commonly known as paras pipal and Indian tulip tree, is widely distributed in coastal forests of India and south-eastern areas. The plant is medicinally used for the treatment of numerous diseases, including cutaneous infections, brain and liver disorders. The review summarizes all the information related to botanical characteristics, traditional uses, chemical components and biological activities of T. populnea, in order to exploit the therapeutic potential of this plant. The available information about T. populnea was collected through the online search on Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer and Google Scholar. T. populnea is widely explored concerning its phytochemistry and biological activities. Amongst all phytoconstituents present in Thespesia, sesquiterpenes and phenolic compounds are major bioactive ingredients in the plant. Experimental studies show that these compounds exhibit a wide range of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, analgesic, wound healing, anti-alzheimer, anti-ulcer and anti-psoriasis in in vitro and in vivo animal studies. To sum up, the plant, T. populnea, possesses high medicinal and social value, and deserves further investigation. T. populnea is a promising plant to be utilized in the development of pharmaceutical drug products. However, there is a lack of scientific studies to confirm its ethnopharmacological uses. In addition, further studies on the isolation of bioactive molecules and their pharmacological studies are recommended that could be of great significance towards the clinical application of this plant.