Ixora coccinea Linn.: traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology

Ixora coccinea Linn., (Rubiaceae) commonly known as jungle of geranium and red ixora, is an evergreen shrub found throughout India. Depending on the medical condition, the flowers, leaves, roots, and the stem are used to treat various ailments in the Indian traditional system of medicine, the Ayurveda, and also in various folk medicines. The fruits, when fully ripe, are used as a dietary source. Phytochemical studies indicate that the plant contains important phytochemicals such as lupeol, ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, sitosterol, rutin, lecocyanadin, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, glycosides of kaempferol and quercetin. Pharmacological studies suggest that the plant possesses antioxidative, antibacterial, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, antidiarrhoeal, antinociceptive, antimutagenic, antineoplastic and chemopreventive effects, thus lending scientific support to the plant's ethnomedicinal uses. In the present review, efforts are made in addressing its ethnomedicinal uses, chemical constituents, and validated pharmacological observations.