Medicinal Properties of Polyalthia longifolia (Masquerade Tree)

Polyalthia longifolia(Sonn,) Thwaites (PL) (Family: Annonaceae) is a tall evergreen tree and it is cultivated all over India. The plant has been commonly used in traditional system of medicine for the treatment of fever, skin disease, diabetes, hypertension and helminthiasis. In view of the immense medicinal importance of P. longifolia, this review was aimed at compiling all currently available botanical, phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological and ethnomedical information on P. longifolia’s including its mechanisms of action. Information in the biomedical literature has indicated the presence of a variety of medicinally-important chemical constituents in P. longifolia. Pharmacological studies by various groups of investigators have shown that P. longifolia possesses significant biological and pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, anti-ulcer and antioxidant properties. Beside this, toxicity studies of this plant have revealed no toxic effect on mice. P. longifolia can be considered as an ancient remedy to be explored for the development of various novel therapeutic agents.