Medicinal and theraptic properties of minor fruits - A Review

Abstract

A large number of minor and wild fruit species have originated in Indian subcontinent. Many of these fruits or their plants parts have been used in folk, Ayurvedic and Unani medicines since time immemorial. Several fruits were introduced in India during colonial period. Most of them adapted to climatic conditions of India but remains minor crops .These fruits also have several medicinal properties and were used by the native people of their respective origin of centres. Some the fruits such as bael, aonla, jamun, tamarind, karonda, wood apple, kokum etc were known for their use in Indian pharmacopeia. The exotic fruits such as sour sop, rambutan, mangosteen, avocado, water apple, durian, passion fruit, carambola etc. have been reported for their different medicinal importance. These fruits contain several chemical ingredients such flavonoids, quinolizidine, alkaloids, tritepenes, stilbenes, tannins, steroids, coumarin, saponins, triterpenoids, glycosides, taraxerone, cryptoxanthin, taraxerol, etc. These exhibited varied biological effects like anti-inflammatory, analgesic, ant diabetic, antipyretic, antioxidant, hypoglycaemic, hepatoprotective, anticancerous. In recent years the global focus is shifting towards the plant based medicines and there is lot of research is being done on these fruits. Thus an attempt has been made in this article to compile the information available in the minor fruits.