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Background: The management of acute inflammation, which arises from complex biological responses to harmful stimuli, is an important determinant in recovery of the system from an otherwise detrimental outcome such as septicemia. However, the side effects and limitations of current therapeutics necessitate the development of newer and safer alternatives. Mollugo cerviana is a common medicinal herb of the Indian subcontinent and has been traditionally used for its fever mitigating, anti-microbial and hepatoprotective action. We have already reported the rich presence of radical scavenging phytochemicals in the plant extracts and their strong antioxidant properties. Objective: In the present study, we have evaluated the anti-inflammatory effects of methanolic extract (ME) of the areal parts of M. cerviana in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute inflammatory cell culture model. Method: RAW 264.7 mouse macrophages cell were stimulated by the bacterial endotoxin LPS at a concentration of 1 µg/mL. Cytotoxicity and anti-inflammatory potential of ME were carried out. Results: M. cerviana extract concentration up to 150 µg/ml was found to be non-toxic to cells (MTT and NRU assay). LPS induces acute inflammation by binding to TLR-4 receptors, initiating downstream signalling cascade that result in pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. Extract treatment at 100 µg/ml suppressed LPS-induced gene expression (qPCR) and secretion (ELISA) of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, and the chemokine CCL2, indicating a dampening of the acute inflammatory cascade. LPS-induced elevation of ROS level (DCFDA method) was significant reduced by extract treatment. Nitric oxide production, as indicated by nitrite level, was significantly reduced post extract treatment. Conclusion: From this study, it is demonstrated that M. cerviana methanolic extract has potent anti-inflammatory effect in the in vitro acute inflammation model of LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. There is not reported study so far on the anti-inflammatory properties of M. cerviana in an LPS-induced acute inflammatory model which closely mimics a human bacteremia response. Hence, this study highlights the therapeutic potential of this extract as a source of anti-inflammatory lead molecules.

Various metabolites exist in the medicinal plants have lot of potential to cure various diseases and disorders. Plants such as, Vetiveria zizanioides, Trichosanthes cucumerina, and Mollugo cerviana were collected from Western Ghats, Tamilnadu, India. Phytochemicals were extracted from these plants using various organic solvents and tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The phytochemicals such as, carbohydrate, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids and tannin were detected from these medicinal plants. Among the extracts, methanol showed potent activity and this solvent was used to extract polyherbal medicinal plants. Methanol extract of V. zizanioides was found to be highly active against E. coli (27 ± 2 mm), P. mirabilis (19 ± 3 mm) and B. subtilis (18 ± 2 mm). Ethyl acetate extract showed high activity against E. coli (24 ± 2 mm), P. mirabilis (22 ± 3 mm) and B. subtilis (20 ± 1 mm). These three plants were taken at 1:1:1 ratio and extracted with methanol at 1:10 ratio and synergistic activity was tested against bacterial pathogens. Synergistic activity of polyherbal extract was analyzed. The extracted crude herbal medicine was found to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Enterbacter sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Proteus mirabilis. The zone of inhibition was 33 ± 3 mm, 17 ± 2 mm, 22 ± 2 mm, 40 ± 2 mm, 33 ± 1 mm and 38 ± 2 mm zone of inhibition against E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, P. mirabilis, B. subtilis and Enterobacter sp. Polyherbal extract was found to be highly effective against P. mirabilis and Enterobacter sp. MIC values of polyherbal extract ranged from 29 ± 2.5 µg/ml to 34 ± 2.5 µg/ml. MIC value was found to be less against P. mirabilis and was high against S. aureus. Antioxidant property varied between 49 ± 3% and 95.3 ± 2%. At 20 µg/ml antioxidant activity was reported as 49 ± 3% and it was increased at higher concentrations of polyherbal extract. Two cell lines (HeLa and MCF cell lines) were selected to analyze cytotoxic activity of polyherbal extract. The methanol extract of polyherbal fraction showed cytotoxicity against these two cell lines. The LC50 value was 467 ± 2.9 µg/ml against HeLa cell line and >800 µg/ml against MCF-7 cell lines. The polyherbal extract showed antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activities.

Mollugo cerviana is an annual herb which usually grows throughout the year in open dry sandy and sandy-loamy soils, but also occurs in moist habitats, especially in cultivated lands. Haplothrips uses the flowers for breeding and feeding; the feeding activity affects pollination. The flowers have specialized floral structural and functional behaviours for self-induced and spontaneous autogamy while keeping the options open for insect pollination after anthesis; it is facultative autogamous which is reflected in pollen-ovule ratio and natural fruit and seed set rates. Seed dispersal modes include anemochory, ombrohydrochory and hydrochory.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder of multiple aetiology characterized by chronic hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. Liver is the central metabolic organ in body responsible for glucose homeostasis, diabetes leads to hepatic dysfunction. In the present study to investigate the protective effect of Mollugo cerviana extract on liver markers in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Hepatospecific enzymes (ALP, ALT and AST), protein and albumin content were activated when hepatocellular damage gave rise to abnormalities of liver function and these enzymes are remarkably increased in diabetic rats. Further confirmed in the histopathological studies of liver. Mollugo cerviana helps in parenchymal cell regeneration in liver, thus protecting membrane integrity and thereby minimizing enzyme leakage. Histopathological studies also supported the biochemical parameters. This result suggested that Mollugo cerviana possess potential hepato regenerating activity.

The genus Mollugo L. comprises ca. 35 species distributed throughout the tropics, and it is clearly polyphyletic. The seed morphology and ornamentation of 27 Mollugo representatives is studied with regard to their significance for systematics and taxon delimitation. The species belonging to the “M. cerviana” and “M. fragilis” groups, as well as M. tenella, are characterized by D-shaped or roundish seeds, whereas other taxa have reniform seeds. The seed ornamentation can be considered to be one of the most valuable characters for disentangling the taxonomic diversity in the genus. Mollugo cerviana shares the same reticulate ornamentation with M. namaquensis, M. pusilla, M. tenella and M. tenuissima, while the smooth surface is peculiar to M. fragilis, M. spathulata and M. walteri. The close relationship of M. fragilis and relatives to Hypertelis spergulacea is carpologically supported. Some taxa share a papillate ornamentation (M. decandra, M. floriana, M. molluginis, M. nudicaulis, M. pentaphylla,...

Mollugo cerviana (L.) Ser. es un taxon de amplia distribución, nativo en Eurasia, África y Oceanía (Gonçalves, 1990), e introducido en América (USDA-NRCS, 2017), especialmente en sistemas subdesérticos (Sanz Elorza et al., 2010). En la Península Ibérica se encuentra disperso por la zona centro, al norte y al sur del Sistema Central (ANTHOS, 2017), con localidades dudosas en Asturias (Lainz, 1981) y Almería (Gandoger, 1896).

Background The constant exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UV) has a variety of harmful effects on human health. Although synthetic sunscreen products have been introduced as a preventive/therapeutic strategy, with the realization of their adverse side effects, the recent trend is to search for human friendly alternative formulations especially of plant origin. Therefore, the present study focuses on evaluation of photoprotective activity of aqueous extracts (1 mg/ml) of eleven medicinal plants in Sri Lanka that have been widely employed in traditional medicine as treatment options for various skin diseases and to improve the complexion. Methods For the determination of UV filtering potential of the extracts, UV absorption was measured and the sun protection factor (SPF) was calculated according the Mansur equation. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH and ABTS assays. Results Among the extracts, Atalantia ceylanica, Hibiscus furcatus, Leucas zeylanica, Mollugo cerviana, Olax zeylanica and Ophiorrhiza mungos have displayed SPF value ≥ 25, which are even higher than two commercial photoprotective creams used as reference compounds. L. zeylanica and O. mungos have displayed a high UV absorbance in 260–350 nm range indicating their potential of being broad spectrum sunscreens. In addition, the extract of O. mungos was found to be photostable, without any significant reduction in the SPF after exposure to direct solar radiation for 21 days. DPPH assay and the ABTS assay revealed that the extracts possess high antioxidant activity. Conclusion The results of the present study suggest that the presence of secondary metabolites with antioxidant property could be responsible for the high UV absorbance. Our findings would offer an exciting avenue for further research towards the development of herbal cosmetics.

Plants of arid and semiarid zones are good source of phytochemically important compounds. Mollugo cerviana is a common wild plant of Bikaner and surrounding areas and it has been evaluated for the nutritive contents from root, shoot and fruits. The results obtained by AOAC (1995) method shows that the plant is rich in nutritive contents.

Parpataka is an important Ayurvedic drug used for the treatment of fevers particularly. The local market sample of Parpataka is identified as Mollugo cerviana (L.) Ser. The botanical, macroscopical, microscopical characters of root, stem, leaf, whole plant macerate, powder analysis, histochemical tests, physical constants and fluorescence studies are presented.

In dry land agriculture, intensity and type of weed pressure depend upon the rainfall pattern during the crop season. A two year field study was conducted to determine the effect of time of weed removal in clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.). Treatments consisting of weed removal at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 days after sowing were compared with clean weeded and unweeded controls. The xerophytic weeds Gisekia pharnacioides (L.) M., Mollugo cerviana (L.) Ser. and Tribulus terrestris L. dominated in the low and erratic 1993 rainfall season while grassy weeds such as Eragrostis pilosa (Beauv) were predominant in the 1994 season with well-distributed rainfall. The number of weeds was maximum at 30 days after sowing (DAS) in 1993 and at 40 DAS in 1994. The dry weight of weeds increased up to 50 DAS in 1993 and up to harvest in 1994. Removing weeds at 20 or 30 DAS increased the number of pods per plant, water use efficiency and seed yield of clusterbean. Water consumption was higher in unweeded plots. Water use efficiency decreased with the increase in time of weed removal beyond 20 days after crop sowing.

The inhibiting effect of methanolic extract ofMollugo cervianaplant on the corrosion of mild steel in 1 M HCl solution has been investigated by different techniques like potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and weight loss methods for five different concentrations of plant extract ranging from 25 to 1000 mg/L. The results indicated that the corrosion inhibition efficiency increased on increasing plant extract concentration till 500 mg/L and decreased on further increasing concentration. The extract was a mixed type inhibitor with the optimum inhibition concentration of 500 mg/L in potentiodynamic polarization. The adsorption of the plant extract on the mild steel surface was found to obey Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Surface analysis was also carried out to find out the surface morphology of the mild steel in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor to find out its efficiency. The obtained results showed that theMollugo cervianaextract acts as a good inhibitor for the corrosion of mild steel in 1 M HCl solution.

Delonix elata, Enicostemma axillare, Merremia tridentata, Mollugo cerviana and Solanum incanum are medicinal plants used in traditional Indian medicine for the treatment of various ailments. These plants were selected to evaluate their potential antibacterial activity. To determine antibacterial activity and phytochemicals in the crude extracts of five medicinal plants used in traditional Indian medicine for the treatment of various ailments like rheumatism, piles fever, skin diseases and snake bite. The antibacterial activity of organic solvent extracts of these plants were determined by disc diffusion and broth dilution techniques against grampositive bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Results revealed that the chloroform and methanol extracts of D. elata and methanol extracts of M. cerviana exhibited significant antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative strains with minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) ranging from 1.5 to 100 mg/ml. Methanol extracts of M. tridentata exhibited activity only against gram-positive bacterial strains with MBC ranging from 12.5 to 100 mg/ml. Extracts of E. axillare and S. incanum showed activity only against B. subtilis and were not bactericidal at 100 mg/ml. The most susceptible organism to the organic extracts from all the studied plants was B. subtilis and the most resistant organism was P. aeruginosa. The presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, tannins, triterpenoids, steroids and glycosides in the extracts of these plants supports their traditional uses as medicinal plants for the treatment of various ailments. The present study reveals potential use of these plants for developing new antibacterial compounds against pathogenic microorganisms. Key words: Antibacterial, Enicostemma axillare, Merremia tridentata, Mollugo cerviana, Solanum incanum

Pharnaceum cerviana Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1: 272. 1753. "Habitat Rostockii, in Russia, Hispania." RCN: 2160. Lectotype (Adamson in J. S. African Bot. 24: 14. 1958): Herb. Linn. No. 387.1 (LINN). Current name: Mollugo cerviana (L.) Ser. (Molluginaceae)., Published as part of Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part P), pp. 718-782 in Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London :Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum on page 735, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.291971

The anti-inflammatory activity of E. littorale and M. cerviana was assessed by carrageenan-induced inflammation and cotton pellet granuloma method in rats. E. littorale and M. cerviana exerted 54 and 26% anti-inflammatory activity for a dose of 100 mg/100 g body wt, respectively, in carrageenan-induced acute inflammation. In chronic inflamation of cotton pellet granuloma, E. littorale and M. cerviana exerted 30 and 46% anti-inflammatory activity at the above dosage, respectively. The optimal dose for these drugs was determined in carrageenan inflammation. The effect of the alcoholic extract of these drugs on human erythrocyte membrane stabilization and inhibition of cobra venom phospholipase A 2 was studied in vitro and the drugs were found to be effective. Further, these drugs were found to inhibit the levels of lipid peroxides, acid phosphatase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activity in the exudate of cotton pellet granuloma. The effects were compared with those of standard anti-inflammatory drug, hydrocortisone. A possible mode of action of these drugs is suggested.