ABSTRACT
Barleria prionitis L. belongs to the family Acanthaceae. It is a medicinally important plant with several common names such as Kuranta (Sanskrit), Vajradanti (Marathi), and Porcupine flower (English). The plant is known by synonyms like Barleria echinata St.-Lag., Barleria hystrix L., Barleria spicata Roxb., Barleria quadripinosa Stokes, Prinonitis hystrix (L.) Miq., Prionitis pubiflora Miq. (POWO, 2021). Barleria prionitis is a perennial shrub, 1 to 2 meters high, leaves ovate or elliptical. Flowers are sessile or solitary with yellow in color. Bracts and calyx are green in color; three to four cm long corolla. Seeds are ovoid in shape. It is distributed in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. It is widely applicable in the therapy of anemia, toothache, cough, fever, asthma, bronchitis, diabetes, insect bites, and inflammations. It is mainly used to cure problems related to teeth and it makes teeth strong (Aneja et al., 2010; Aiswarya et al., 2014). In Thai traditional medicines, it is used against insect bites (Kanchanapoom et al., 2001). The genus has been reported to exhibit biological properties such as antioxidant, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition, anti-inflammatory, 114antiviral, antibacterial, activities (Amoo et al., 2009; Ata et al., 2007, 2009; Chen et al., 1998; Kalhari et al., 2007; Kapoor et al., 2014).
