Dregea volubilis (L. f.) Benth. (Asclepiadaceae): an appraisal on pharmacognostic, phytochemical and pharmacological studies

Since the time immemorial, medicinal plants and herbal medicines have always presented to us a wide range of curative techniques that has paved our way towards modernised medical resources. The present article reviews on one of such medicinal plants, scientifically recognised to be Dregea volubilis (L. f.) Benth. belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae. Literature survey was carried out by using Google, Scholar Google, Scopus and Pub-Med. The scientific journal articles found on the internet for last two decades were considered and pharmacognostic, phytochemical and pharmacological studies on Dregea volubilis have been compiled. Almost every part of this plant has been phytochemically screened along with profound pharmacological studies especially on its leaves and fruits that have revealed immense scope for this plant to be applied to advanced drug development studies pertaining to a wide range of disorders. The present review article collates the published researches carried out globally exploring the possible therapeutic potentialities of Dregea volubilis. Relevant research in this field could lead to development of a potentially useful therapeutic agent from this plant. © 2018, Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University and Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.