NUTRITIONAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL IMPORTANCES OF GENUS COSTUS: A REVIEW
AbstractThe Genus Costus (Linn.) is an important medicinal plant belonging to the family Costaceae. The Genus as a whole is often called Spiral Ginger. The genus is represented by about 175 species distributed throughout the world. The aerial parts of the plant and the rhizomes are edible, the rhizome being good source of carbohydrate, starch, amylase, protein and lipid. Moreover the rhizome is an alternative source of diosgenin and generally used to control diabetes. Rhizome of Costus is also used for curing many other ailments. In Ayurveda, the rhizomes are ascribed to be astringent, acrid, cooling, aphrodisiac, purgative, anthelmintic, depurative and expectorant. The present study focuses on the nutritional and pharmacological importances of Costus species
Article Information
5
1866-73
402
2809
English
IJPSR
Archita Behera, Sanjeet Kumar and Padan Kumar Jena*
Department of Botany, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Orrisa, India
padan_jena@rediffmail.com
21 November, 2015
06 January, 2016
03 April, 2016
10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.7(5).1866-73
01 May 2016
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