Approaches for Conservation of an Ethnomedicinal Plant: Asparagus racemosus Willd.

Abstract

India is one of the megadiversity regions over the globe, gifted with the immense forest resources having the richness of the medicinal plants. The increasing demand of herbal medicines has led to destructive harvesting practices hampering the existence of natural population. Asparagus racemosus, a female-friendly herb, is one such asset to Indian flora having numerous pharmacological applications. Steroidal saponins are the major constituents which impart the therapeutic properties to the plant. The pace with which the plant is being over-exploited is alarming. Biotechnological approaches comprising in vitro tools, molecular profiling along with chemoprofiling can help to conserve the species and also to provide well authenticated elite plant material for cultivation. The reviews published earlier mainly emphasized on the pharmacological attributes of the plant and less concern is addressed to reveal the need of conservation strategies. This review is compiled by emphasizing on all the aspects of the plant viz. its phytoconstituents, pharmacological importance, in vitro conservation and molecular characterization studies done till date which could help light up the direction for further research.