Prosopis juliflora

Plants have anchored to the mother earth long before man has set his feet and it is said that god had endowed them with materials for survival of man and animal long before these creatures were made by him. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 80% of the population is still depends upon these herbal medicines for their treatment of diseases due to easy availability, economic and less side effects when compared to allopathic system of medicines. Prosopis juliflora also comes under that category. It belongs to the family Leguminosae commonly known as mesquite. Prosopis species had a role as traditional medicine. The genus has been used as a folk remedy for catarrh, cold, diarrhea, dysentery, excrescences, flu, hoarseness, inflammation, measles, sore throat and in healing of wounds. This genus has more pharmacological activities like anthelmintic, antioxidant, antipyretic, antiulcer, cytotoxicity effect, antigiardial, amoebicidal and antipustule activity. The phytoconstituents present in this plant are tannins, phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenes and steroids. So this review article is a collective source of the various information regarding Prosopis juliflora published in various journals and books.