Abstract

Rehmannia glutinosa Liboschitz, a medicinal plant, is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese foxglove has a variety of beneficial effects and pharmacological actions on the blood, immune, endocrine, cardiovascular and nervous systems. Chinese foxglove is propagated conventionally through the roots. Therefore, a number of studies have reported in vitro plant regeneration, micropropagation and plant transformation of R. glutinosa from the culture of several explants for multiple propagations and plant improvement. This review summarize previous and current information regarding the application of plant biotechnology (plant regeneration, micropropagation, hairy root culture and plant transformation) in R. glutinosa and provide new insights for future study in this discipline.

Key words: Hairy root culture, micropropagation, plant regeneration, plant transformation, Rehmannia glutinosa Liboschitz.