Plectranthus ambonicus and Plectranthus zeylanicus: As Promising Medicinal Plants

The genus Plectranthus (Lamiaceae) is a significant, prolific and extensively used genus in Asian and African countries due to their valuable medicinal properties and are used to treat a range of ailments, particularly digestive, skin, infective and respiratory problems. Plectranthus used as foods, flavours, fodder and materials. Monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenoids and phenolics have been reported in species of Plectranthus The two species of Plectranthus ambonicus and zeylanicus play a dominant role in both horticulture and traditional medicine. These species are documented for their use in treating ailments in indigenous medicine. But, these two medicinal plants with taxonomic ambiguity. Even though both plants are similar in appearance, their therapeutic properties are different. Therefore, the incorrect use of these plants in formulating medicines, would lead to unforeseen consequences or the true effect of the medicine will not be available. Thus, this review aims to provide an insight to these valuable medicinal plants and highlights the fact that not enough is known about the chemistry of these two species of Plectranthus to exploit their available phytochemicals in diverse array of pharmaceuticals and other natural products.