The Open Complementary Medicine Journal

2009, 1 : 1-15
Published online 2009 February 13. DOI: 10.2174/1876391X00901010001
Publisher ID: TOALTMEDJ-1-1

Ocimum gratissimum: A Review of its Chemical, Pharmacological and Ethnomedicinal Properties

K.S. Prabhu , R. Lobo , A.A. Shirwaikar and A. Shirwaikar
Department of Pharmacognosy, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Science, Manipal-576104, Karnataka, India.

ABSTRACT

Ocimum gratissimum is a well-known plant used in the Indian system of medicine. Folklore medicine claims its use in headache, fever, diarrhoea, pneumonia etc. Research carried out using different in vitro and in vivo techniques of biological evaluation supports most of the claims. This review presents the ethnobotanical, natural product chemistry, pharmacological, clinical and toxicological data of the plant.

Keywords:

Ocimum gratissimum , antifungal, antibacterial, essential oil.