ABSTRACT
The ability of plant-based medications to effectively treat malaria has been well demonstrated. They have been shown to be effective in overcoming pathogenic drug resistance caused by repeated usage of conventional allopathic medicines. In traditional medicine and folk remedies, a variety of plants have been suggested to be curative against malaria. Some of these include Allium spp., Citrus spp., Ocimum spp., Piper spp., Zingiber spp., and many more. Nonetheless, the potential limitation of herbal drugs cannot be ignored. Although these plants have been increasingly used in the preparation of drugs for treating Plasmodium infection, scientific studies have confirmed that specific active ingredients of these plants have potential cytotoxicity against normal mammalian cell lines. Increasing consumption of herbal antimalarial medicines, including combinational drugs, has elevated the risk of enhanced toxicity of these plant components. The present study tries to highlight some of the important plant species that are known to have antimalarial potential, albeit with some cytotoxic phytochemicals. An understanding of the toxic components of these medicinally active plants will significantly improve the herbal drug development against malaria.
