Phytochemical, pharmacological and tissue culture applications of Wedelia spp. – a review

Abstract

Wedelia spp. belonging to the family asteraceae whereby most of the species such as W. chinensis (Osbeck) Merr., W. paludosa (Blume), W. trilobata (L.) Hitchc, W. calendulacea (L.) Less., W. prostrata Dalzell & A.Gibson etc. had been traditionally used by the ancient peo- ple for medicinal purposes. Due to that, extensive studies regarding the phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of this genus have been carried out for six decades. Most of the studies indicated that the plants from this genus have potential as medicinal herbs to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart and liver failure, etc. In this paper the phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of some plants of Wedelia genus are reviewed. Tissue culture applications of this genus are not extensively studied, thus in the present review some in vitro results from these investigations are also presented.