Tissue Culture Based Conservation Strategies for Litsea cubeba (Lours.) Pers: A Medicinally Importance Plant
Abstract
Litsea cubeba (Lours.) Pers. belongs to the family Lauraceae, which occurs mainly in the tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide. The plant gained importance for its essential oils, sesquiterpenoids, flavonoids, lignans volatile oils, and numerous secondary metabolites. The Essential oil extracted from its bark, stem, leaves can be used commercially for the preparation of medicines, insecticides, perfumes, flavors, and colognes. The secondary metabolites extracted from L. cubeba show potential pharmacological activities, viz., antipyretic, analgesic, antidiarrheal and anti-tumor, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-HIV, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, and hypothermic activities. In north east plants and parts sold in the local market and used by local people for various ailments and culinary purposes. Overexploitation of the plants took place due to its essential oils and medicinal value; therefore, conservation strategies are needed. Here, we are summarizing the medicinal uses of Litsea sp. and the conservation strategies for the Lauraceae family plants using various tissue culture approaches.
Keywords: Phytochemical, Human health, Micropropagation, Vegetative propagation, Genetic conservation
