Lindenbergia indica Vatke: Past, Present Status and Future Perspectives

Lindenbergia indica Vatke belongs to family Scrophulariaceae, is a non-parasitic herbaceous plant from the Himalayas and other parts of the world. It is an erect, tufted, hairy annual herb, with glandular hairy, much branched, purple tinged stem. Flowers are axillary, sub sessile, small, and yellow, opposite, solitary or held in clusters in terminal spikes or racemes. It contains two steryl glycosides, triterpenoids, oleanolic acid, long-chain hydrocarbons and -sitosterol. The plant grows well at an average temperature range of 15- C, with a rainfall of 900-2500mm at an altitude in a range of 750-2500m. It requires hot to humid climate along with full sunlight or partial shade for its better growth. It can withstand heavy wind. Ethnobotanical studies revealed that plant is effective to treat chronic bronchitis, sore throat, toothache and skin eruptions. Thus, in future the plant extract could be exploited to control various bacterial infections like urinary tract infection, meningitis, food poisoning and the presence of glycosides, phenols and triperpenoids makes this plant as a source of antidiabetic and antioxidant potential.