Therapeutic value of medicinal plants of Arid zone w.s.r. to Zygophyllaceae family

Plants have provided man with all his needs in terms of shelter, clothing, food, flavours and fragrances as not the least, medicines. The plants as medicine are used in different systems of medicine such as in Ayurveda, Allopath, Unani, Homeopathy and even in other systems. Medicinal plants are distributed across diverse habitats and landscape. A large number of medicinally important species are present in the arid zones. Of the total land area in the world, arid zones cover 18.8%. In total, 11.8% of the country is under a hot arid environment. In arid zones, vegetation is typically sparse, and is comprised of perennial and annual grasses, other herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees. Arid zone of Rajasthan is fortunately gifted with 628 species belonging to 352 genera and 87 families. The prominent families to which the majority of the medicinal plants of the arid zones belong are Amaryllidaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Capparidaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Cucurbitaceae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Liliaceae, Solanaceae, Zygophyllaceae and Umbelliferae. Plants of Zygophyllaceae family taken in this paper have high therapeutic value and some important medicinal uses of these plants are mentioned in different Ayurveda Treatise but this traditional medicine needs to be evaluated, given due recognition and developed so as to improve its efficacy, safety, availability and wider application at low cost. Some of the medicinal uses given in Ayurveda Treatise are still in the books only. These uses still need to be evaluated so as to make them more practicable in the present health era. So this paper is an attempt of the author to create greater awareness amongst the people as a whole about the medicinal values of these plants of Arid zone, so that this heritage may be wisely used and conserved and perpetuated through judicious management in Health sector.