Ageratina Adenophora Plant: A Review – One Plant with Many Therapeutic Uses

Ageratina adenophora, often known as Crofton Weed, is one of the common invasive weeds which first originated from Mexico and Central America and gradually invaded numerous parts of the world. Because of it stability to alter the soil microbial communities and its allelopathic competition with other plant species, this plant colonizes forest margins, stream banks and disturbed areas in large dense clumps and is found to possess potent toxicological effects on livestock; the lethal chronic pulmonary disease has been reported in horses while liver complications have been reported in mice. Despite this, the plant has been studied more extensively for its therapeutic uses as phytochemicals viz. steroids, tannins, triterpenes, coumarins and saponins(7-hydroxy-dehydrotremetone,7,10,11-trihydroxy-dehydrotremetone,10-oxo-7-hydroxynordehydro-tremetone,Eupatorone,2-deoxo-2-(acetyloxy)-9-oxoageraphorone(DAOA), 9-oxoagerophorone(OA), etc.) which have been reported are found to possess antimicrobial activity, antipyretic activity, wound healing, antioxidant activity, analgesic activity, anti-tumor activity, insecticidal activity, antiviral activity, anti-inflammatory activity, larvicidal activity. This present review is an effort to give a detailed survey of the literature on invasive nature, pharmacological study, phytochemical review, and ethno botanical and therapeutically uses of the plant A. adenophora, which could help researchers for advanced qualitative research on it.