Fumaria species – An Elaborative Pharmacological Review

Plant preparations are said to be medicinal or herbal when they are used to promote health beyond basic nutrition. It is indeed quite interesting to observe that our ancients were duly equipped with the vast, in depth and elaborated knowledge of drugs from the vegetable origin but unfortunately they possessed a scanty knowledge with regard to the presence of chemically pure compounds in most of them. In this review an attempt has been made to compile the reported pharmacological activities of the three Fumaria species. The aim of the present review is to find out the common pharmacological activities of the three Fumaria species and the review revealed that all the three are strong antioxidants and possess antimicrobial, anticancer, antiinflammtory, antiulcer activities. They are also used in treating skin diseases, as an hepato protectant and have the capacity to inhibit Acetylcholin esterase and butyrylcholin esterase activities.