The Pharmacological Potential and Pharmacognosy of Costus pictus; A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

One of the indigenous Mexican plants that has recently been imported in India is Costus pictus D. Don. It is sometimes referred to as "Insulin plant" or "Spiral Ginger" and has been well-known off-late as a result of its anti-diabetic effects. This plant's leaves have been said to have anti-diabetic qualities. The high value secondary metabolites, bioactive chemicals, and exceptional blooming characteristics of this diabetes plant (Costus pictus D. Don) make it a commercially immense medicinal herb. Due to its wide range of distribution in India, this plant has been proven to posses’ anticancer, anti-inflammatory and so on. Pharmacological activities of this plant are based on the modulation of many signaling pathways, and targeting these pathways may lead to the creation of effective medicines for the treatment of several illnesses. With the application of several experimental animal methods, ethnopharmacological work has been refined continuously to look for novel, powerful therapeutic compounds from plant sources for the treatment of several illnesses in general and neurological disorders in particular. Therefore, increased attention has been made to focus Costus pictus plants in this review. Moreover, this review paper also describes and analyzes the currently available information on morphological and molecular identification, phytochemicals, and other pharmacological research that have been reported till date.