Lepidium sativum (Garden cress): a review of contemporary literature and medicinal properties

The utility of Lepidium sativum Linn (Garden cress) as a medicinal plant has increased many fold over a period of time. A survey of literature relating to the medicinal uses of L.sativum reveals it to be one of the widely used medicinal plants. It finds place in folklore medicine, Ayurveda, Unani and other indigenous systems of medicine. Following a large number of claims on the wide range of traditional medicinal properties of the plant, considerable efforts have been made to verify its efficacy as a curative agent through pharmacological investigations and clinical trials. In this article, a comprehensive account of the traditional uses, phytochemical investigation and therapeutic potential of Lepidium sativum is presented.