An insight into the ethnopharmacological importance of Indian subcontinent medicinal plant species of Rubiaceae family

The 611 genera and over 13,100 species that make up the vast family Rubiaceae are primarily found in tropical and warm climates. These species are utilized in the Indian subcontinent as traditional medicines to treat a number of ailments in addition to their decorative properties. It is proof that species like Adina cordifolia, Anthocephalus cadamba, Cinchona officinalis, Coffea arabica, Morinda citrifolia, and Paederia foetida have received a lot of attention; yet, many phytochemicals should still be undiscovered as none of these species have been carefully examined for their phytochemical composition. This review aims to highlight the traditional, pharmacological, botanical, and phytochemistry aspects of medicinal plant species belonging to the Rubiaceae family. The most significant research findings from the last few decades found in books and online databases like SciFinder and Google Scholar are reported in the paper. So far, more than 100 structurally diverse compounds have been identified from the Rubiaceae family, mainly including alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, triterpenoids, phenols, and volatile components. The crude extracts and compounds from the Rubiaceae family have been reported to possess broad pharmacological effects including antimalarial, antibacterial, antihypertension, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects during biological screening using leads provided by traditional healers. However, there is a dearth of research on the discovery of active phytoconstituents that are in charge of the pharmacological actions indicated above. This provides the researcher with a fresh perspective on how to study this family.

Graphical abstract