Phytochemical, morphological, botanical, and pharmacological aspects of a medicinal plant: Kalanchoe pinnata – A review article

Kalanchoe pinnata is a perennial plant of family Crassulaceae having worldwide distribution but mostly found in Caribbean, Central America, North America and some regions of Africa and Asia. Kalanchoe pinnata is found native to Madagascar where it grows in appreciable numbers in sandy and granitic soil under subhumid to temperate humid climatic conditions with mean annual rainfall of about 1000 to 2000 mm. This aromatic plant is of extreme therapeutic potential and high medicinal importance due to the presence of distinctive chemical constituents such as essential oils having alkaloids, lipids, triterpenes, bufadienolides, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids and cardienolides. Leaves of Kalanchoe pinnata contain a biologically active group of chemicals called "bufadienolides" including bryotoxin-A, bryotoxin-B, bryotoxin-C, cardiac glycoside, digitoxin and digoxin possessing the insecticidal, chemo-preventive, anti-tumor and anti-bacterial potentials. Its leaves are known to have numerous anti-ulcer compounds such as triacontane, taraxerol, syringic acid, succinic acid, stigmasterol, steroids, quercetin, pyruvate, peposterol, pseudotaraxasterol, protocatechuic acid, phosphoenolpyruvate, patuletin, palmitic acid, oxalic acid, oxaloacetate, kaempferol, isofucosterol, hentriacontane, glutinol, friedelin, flavonoids, ferulic acid, epigallocatechin, coumaric acid, codisterol, clionasterol, clerosterol, cinnamic acid, cardenolides, campesterol, caffeic acid, bufadienolides, bryotoxin-C, bryophynol, bryophyllol, bryophyllin-A and bryophyllin-C, bryophyllin, bryophollone, bryophollenone, β-sitosterol, β-amyrin, benzenoids, behenic acid, astragalin, arachidic acid and many more. Kalanchoe pinnata is known to exhibit wound healing, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-microbial, anti-tumor and CNS depressant activities along with anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic potentials.