27 The Journal of Phytopharmacology 2016; 5(1): 27-34 Online at: www.phytopharmajournal.com Research Article ISSN 2230-480X JPHYTO 2016; 5(1): 27-34 January- February © 2016, All rights reserved Hafiz Abdul Khaliq Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan Correspondence: Hafiz Abdul Khaliq Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan Email: hakhaliq[at]yahoo.com Pharmacognostic, physicochemical, phytochemical and pharmacological studies on Careya arborea Roxb.; A review Hafiz Abdul Khaliq* ABSTRACT Since the birth of humans on this planet, plants have been utilized for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of various ailments. C. arborea belonging to family Lecythidaceae is one the most utilized plants. It is a tree having large sessile yellowish flowers and large green berry type fruits with persistent style and calyx. Traditionally is has been used to treat cough and cold, infertility, jaundice developed after delivery, piles, blood dysentery, scorpion sting, sores in intestine, bed sores, ear pain, snake bite, inflammation, ulcer, spermatorrhoea and wounds in humans and corneal opacity and weakness in animals. Many pharmacological activities of this plant are reported viz. antidiarrhoeal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, hypoglycemic, antibacterial, antifungal, antileishmanial, α-glucosidase inhibitory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, cytotoxic, CNS depressant and anticoagulant. Various phenolic compounds, sterols, terpenes, saponins and tannins have been isolated from this plant. Pharmacognostic studies for its authentication have also been carried out. Hamdard Ghutti® is one of the available polyherbal formulations containing C. arborea. This review provides adequate information about ethnomedicinal uses, general morphology, pharmacognostic and physicochemical parameters, phytoconstituents, pharmacological properties, and available formulations of this plant. Keywords: Careya arborea, Wild guava, Kumbhi, Ghutti, Jigrine. INTRODUCTION Plants are the most important and the oldest source of medicines. Information from fossil records reveals the use of plants as medicines some 60,000 years ago [1] . Currently 25% of prescribed drugs are derived from higher plants and this value goes to 50% if animal and microbial products are also included [2] . This highlights the importance of natural products as a good source of new drugs in future. Careya arborea Roxb. is commonly known as Kumbhi in Hindi and Wild Guava in English. It is widely distributed in Sri Lanka, India, Peninsula and Malay up to an altitude of 1500 meters [3, 4 ]. This plant is very important in the field of medicines and is being used for treatment of various ailments. It is also used for other purposes e.g. methanolic extract of the leaf is a good indicator in acid-base titrations [5] , crushed bark of the root is mixed with water to stupefy fishes [6] , stem bark is used for clothing and to produce yellow colored dye [7] and leaves are used as green manure [8] . Brief taxonomic information about C. arborea is described below [9] . Kingdom Plantae Phylum Tracheophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Ericales Family Lecythidaceae Genus Careya Species arborea Various stages of the plant are shown in figure 1. Ethnomedicinal uses C. arborea has a history of very important ethnomedicinal uses such as; persistent calyx, fresh bark juice and flowers are used to treat cough and cold [10, 11] ; paste of flowers of C. arborea and fruits of Terminalia chebula and Emblica officinalis, prepared by macerating in ghee, is taken orally in empty stomach to treat infertility [12] ; extract of bark in hot water is used to take a bath by the lady for treatment of jaundice developed after delivery [13] ; powder of stem bark is mixed with honey [ 12] or 50 g of bark is boiled with water and 1 glass of it is taken in empty stomach for seven days to treat piles [14] ; powder of bark mixed with cow milk is taken orally in empty stomach to treat dysentery [15 ]; paste prepared from fresh bark is applied over scorpion sting and fruit infusion is taken orally [12] ; root of Indigofera