Ethnopharmacological uses of Antidesma madagascariense Lam. (Euphorbiaceae).

Antidesma madagascariense Lam. is an indigenous plant of the Mascarene Islands which has interestingly shined as a promising traditional medicinal plant. The ethnobotanical uses of this plant were geared toward the treatment and management of dysentery, albumin in the urine, jaundice, fever, diabetes, skin infections, rheumatic and body aches among others. Preliminary screening of this plant coupled with a plethora of in vitro and in vivo tests have furnished scientists with documented findings that have appraised its traditional use in the treatment and management of infectious diseases. The presence of antidesmin, a commonly characterized component of Antidesma species, might justify the medicinal virtues of this plant. The present monograph aims at providing the botanical description, traditional uses and latest findings documented on A. madagascariense. Nonetheless, continued research on this plant needs to be completed in order to rationalize the use of this promising plant as a potential source of beneficial constituents for the treatment and management of human diseases and hence set up promising optimism for drug development.