Phytochemistry of Plants of Genus Cassia

Cassia is an indigenous plant in Africa, Latin America, Northern Australia and Southeast Asia. Several Cassia species are of high commercial and medicinal significance since they are used as spices and in traditional medicines. Currently plants from genus Cassia is in great demand due to their immense medicinal properties. Cassia species have various pharmacological activities such as antibacterial, analgesic, antiinflammatory, antiarthritic, hepatoprotective, antitumor, antifertility, antifungal, antioxidant, antileishmaniatic, antimicrobial, CNS and hypoglycaemic activitiy. Different class of compounds reported from Cassia species are anthraquinones, phenolics, flavonoids, chromenes, terpenes, proanthocyanidins, coumarins, chromones and lignans. The taxonomy and nomenclature of Cassia species are quite complex. It is very difficult to differentiate them due to their overlapping morphological characters and close similarities. This usually leads to misidentification and misinterpretation of the components.