Lawsonia inermis L. - A commercially important primaeval dying and medicinal plant with diverse pharmacological activity: A review

Lawsonia inermis, popularly known as Henna or Mehndi in the Oriental world, is an evergreen medium sized shrub of the Family Lythraceae. The leaf paste of this plant has been traditionally used for dying hair, skin and nails since antiquity. Besides cosmaceutical usages, the plant also harbours a well-documented folklore history for treating convulsion, jaundice and malignant ulcers. Phytochemical studies in henna plant have indicated the presence of several bioactive molecules like isoplumpagin, lupeo1,30-norlupan-3-o1-20-one, betuhennan, betuhennanic acid and n-tridecanoate phenolic glycosides, lawsoniaside, p-sitosterol and stigmasterol in leaves and roots. Lawsone (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), the red orange dye present in the henna leaf paste, is being used in modern pharmacopoeia as a starting molecule for the synthesis of clinically important anticancer drugs such as atovaquone, lapachol and dichloroallyl lawsone. Pharmacological prospection of L. inermis plant extracts in last two decades have indicated strong nootropic, CNS depressing, antimicrobial, antioxidant, wound healing, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, analgesic, hepatoprotective, tuberculostatic, diuretic, hypoglycemic and antiparasitic actions. An attempt has been made in this review to accentuate a comprehensive literature up-date on pharmacological investigations carried out in L. inermis. To the best of our knowledge and belief this is the first compilation in this direction in Henna. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.