A REVIEW ON SHUNTHI (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NIGHANTUS

Zingiber officinale Rosc. is well known common medicinal plant of India. The plant has got good medicinal importance. It is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Zingiberaceae/ Scitamineae. It is a large tuberous plant with elongated leafy stems, spike inflorescence having yellow green flower. Adraka (Ginger) is the underground rhizome of the plant. It is cultivated extensively in almost all tropical and subtropical countries like India, China, Africa, and Australia. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 80% of people living in developing Countries depend on traditional medicines for their primary health care requirements. Shunthi is the dried form of Adraka and is prepared by boiling and drying the freshly peeled ginger root in alkaline solution (mostly quick lime) and dried in hot sunlight. In India kitchen ginger and shunthi are one of the important ingredients.