A Pharmacological Review:Passiflora Species

Plants have been the basis of many traditional medicines throughout the world for thousands of years and have continued to provide new remedies to mankind. They are one of the richest sources of bioactive compounds. The genus Passiflora L. comprises about 520 species of dicotyledonous plants in the family Passifloraceae. Passiflora incarnata and P. alata, also commonly known as Passion flower, are two species of a perennial climbing vine with beautiful exotic flowers and delicious fruit that grow worldwide, preferring subtropical, frostfree climates. They are native to the tropical and semi-tropical United States (Virginia to Florida and as far west as Texas), Mexico, Central American, and from Brazil to Paraguay through northern Argentina. It is used extensively for treatment of some diseases like as anxiety, insomnia, convulsion, sexual dysfunction, cough and cancer. Passionflower is currently official in the national pharmacopeias of Egypt, France, Germany and Switzerland, and also mongraphed in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia and the British Herbal Compendium, the ESCOP monographs, the Commission E, the German Standard Licenses, the German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia, and the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States. The present article including the detailed exploration of pharmacological properties of P. incarnata is an attempt to provide a direction for further research.