Dillenia indica Linn. and
Dillenia pentagyna Roxb.
plants are commonly known as ‘Karmal’ and ‘Mota Karmal’ respectively
belonging to
family Dilleniaceae. These
plants are distributed in many
Asian countries, in
India from Himalaya to south
India. Morphologically leaves, bark and
fruit are having major differentiating
characters of both species. Traditionally the different parts of these
plants have curing properties like
cancer,
wound healing, diabetes,
diarrhea,
bone fracture, in cut and
burns,
abdominal pains etc. Based on
phytochemical investigations these
plants are reported to contain active constituents like betulin,
betulinic acid, dillenetin, dipoloic
acid, myricetin,
quercetin derivatives etc. Different prepared extracts of these
plants and their parts has been reported to contain wide range of
flavonoids,
steroids,
triterpenoids, phenolics,
saponins, fixed oil which may exert varied pharmacological activities like anticancer,
antidiarrheal, antimicrobial,
antioxidant and many more. The present
review approaches for pharmacognostical description,
phytochemical investigations and
therapeutic importance of both the species.