Medicinal Importance of Plants Used for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India

Plants and their importance in the field of medicine go hand-in-hand since the ancient Vedic ages when Ayurveda and the other forms of treatment have come into existence. Each and every part of these plants possesses disease curing properties and is used in different forms to treat number of diseases. This paper aims to shed a light on the medicinal value of few of those plants which are used in treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis in traditional system. The plants that are selected for discussion are Cardiospermum helicacabum, Kiraganelia reticulata, Pongamia pinnata, Scoparia dulcis, Urena Lobata and Vitex negundo. The taxonomic classification along with its ayurvedic properties, ethnobotany, traditional uses that includes medical as well as day to day usage of the plant parts, pharmacognostical studies, phytochemical investigations and the pharmacological evidences along with molecular aspects are discussed in this paper. Each of these selected plants and every parts have various ayurvedic properties and are traditionally valuable, the physicochemical, microscopic and macroscopic factors also have huge importance, Several biochemical compounds, elements, fatty acids, proteins and amino acids are found to be present and pharmaceutically each of these plants have antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-arthritic, anti-diabetic and various other properties which suggests the medical science can evolve and improve more with these plants in use in different preparations, which can be cost-effective, as well as devoid of side effects and would be beneficial to the medical world