Labisia Pumila - A Source of Medicine

Abstract

Please cite this article: Nozlena Abdul Samad. (2018). Labisia Pumila -A Source of Medicine. Australian Herbal Insight, 1(1), pages 4–6. Received June 6, 2018; Accepted June 29, 2018; Published online July 1, 2018. Introduction e signi cance of phytochemical work increases rapidly when certain compounds inside a plant is shown to possess certain biological activity. Phytochemical investigation provides data on the chemical constituents of the plant itself but many isolated natural products have not undergone any biological testing. erefore, bioassays on crude plant extracts are usually carried out in order to determine the biological activity of the plant itself. e use of Labisia Pumila as an important medicinal plant has been known since antiquity to treat many ailments. e plant has commonly been used for gynecological problems such as to quicken and facilitate childbirth, as a post-partum medicine, to treat atulence, dysentery and menstruation problem. It has also been used to treat dysmenorrheal, gonorrhea and hemorrhoids (Burkill., 1935). Women o en take the plant alone or by mixing with other herbs. A number of studies have proven the therapeutics e ects of this plant as previously reported in ethno botany (Zainon, 2000). Labisia pumila has been reported to contain phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds may have potent antioxidant activity and also anti-carcinogenic, anti-bacterial, anti-viral or anti-in ammatory activities (Norhaiza et al., 2009). Keeping this in view, the present study was initiated with an aim to identify the potential biological activity of this plant. We have chosen a bioassay system to evaluate the anti-angiogenesis activity of Labisia pumila as this assay has not been conducted on this particular plant before. Botanical aspects of Labisia pumila Labisia pumila is a plant from the family of Myrsinaceae. It was previously known as Labisia pothoina.