Natural Compounds from Plumbago zeylanica as Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Herbal medicines are immortal regardless to time, and due to their biocompatible nature they are widely used around the world for treating cancer and associated clinical conditions. Plumbago zeylanica is an important medicinal plant that is used in different parts of the world as traditional medicine for curing highly infectious diseases. It is widely accepted as ethnomedicine in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Australia. It has innumerable therapeutic applications in various diseases such as sores, ulcers, leprosy, cancer, diabetes, and tuberculosis. It is a potential source of diverse phytochemicals such as fatty acids, naphthoquinones, flavonoids, coumarins, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, glycosides, and others. Plumbagin is a major and the most important phytochemical found in P. zeylanica. The bioactive components present in P. zeylanica have antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antifertility, antiobesity, antimalarial, antisickling, memory inducing, and wound healing activities. The phytochemicals present in P. zeylanica act as capping, reducing, and stabilizing agent in synthesis of nanoparticles. In view of the background, this review elaborates the detailed phytochemistry of P. zeylanica with therapeutic importance with respect to cancer and other associated ailments.