Abstract

Trust on traditional medicines in the treatment of ailment is at a halt and a lot of population, especially rural population, still believes on herbs due to their easy accessibility and cost effectiveness. Due to greater attentiveness concerning significance of conventional medicine in health care, research on medicinal plants would be valuable. The plants of genus Terminalia, comprising of 250 species, are widely distributed in tropical areas of the world. Fruits of Terminalia chebula (Family: Combretaceae) commonly known as black Myroblans in English and Harad in Hindi, are widely grown in Pakistan and India among many Asian and African countries and is a popular folk medicine. T. chebula has been studied for its homeostatic, antitussive, laxative, diuretic and cardiotonic activities. This article gives a vivid account of T. chebula as a natural product and aims to (i) to refresh the importance of T. chebula to the medicinal plant researchers and (ii) to presents new information such of T. chebula.

Key words: Terminalia chebula, conventional treatment, mother of medicine.