Home > Herbs > Withania Somnifera

Indian ginseng

Withania somnifera · Accepted scientific name

Scientific literature: Very Extensive (2123 studies) · ★★★★★

Indian ginseng, scientifically known as Withania somnifera, is a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine. Often called Ashwagandha, this potent adaptogen helps the body manage stress, enhances cognitive function, and supports overall vitality. Renowned for its restorative properties, it serves as a powerful natural remedy for balancing energy and promoting wellness.

Family
Solanaceae
Native range
Europe
Parts used
Root · Leaf
Common names
Winter-Cherry · Indian Ginseng · 4 more
Scientific synonyms
Withania Chevalieri · Withania Somnifera Var. Flexuosa · 20 more

Names

Common Names

Regional and Traditional Names

Spanish:

  • Physalis flexuosa
  • Beleño macho
  • Vejiguilla
  • Yerba mora mayor y acarreadora de sueño
  • Orvale
  • Physaloides somnifera
  • Ashwagandha
  • Tomate del diablo
  • Physalis alpini
  • Yerba mora mayor
  • Hypnoticum somniferum
  • Veleño de letargos
  • Solano acarreador de sueño
  • Yerba mora que hace dormir
  • Bufera
  • Withania sicula
  • bufera

German:

  • Schlafbeere
  • Ashwaganda
  • Ashwagandha

French:

  • Ashwagandha

Scientific Names

Accepted name

Withania somnifera

Synonyms

Taxonomical Classification

This plant, known scientifically as Withania somnifera, belongs to the kingdom Plantae and the phylum Streptophyta. Within the class Equisetopsida and subclass Magnoliidae, it is classified under the order Solanales and the family Solanaceae. Finally, it is situated within the genus Withania.

Rank Classification Source
Kingdom Plantae WCVP
Phylum Streptophyta WCVP
Class Equisetopsida WCVP
Subclass Magnoliidae WCVP
Order Solanales WCVP
Family Solanaceae WCVP
Genus Withania WCVP

Distribution

This plant exhibits a specific distribution pattern across several regions of the Mediterranean. Within Southwestern Europe, it can be found growing in the Baleares and Sardegna. It is also documented to inhabit various areas of Spain. Moving toward Southeastern Europe, the species is present in Greece. Finally, its range extends to the island of Kriti.

Region Area Source
Southwestern Europe Baleares WCVP
Southwestern Europe Sardegna WCVP
Southwestern Europe Spain WCVP
Southeastern Europe Greece WCVP
Southeastern Europe Kriti WCVP
Southeastern Europe Sicilia WCVP
Northern Africa Algeria WCVP
Northern Africa Egypt WCVP
Northern Africa Libya WCVP
Northern Africa Morocco WCVP

Plant Parts

This plant, commonly known as ashwagandha, is a versatile medicinal herb where various components are utilized for their therapeutic properties. The most significant part is the root, specifically the dried roots, which are widely processed into powders for their adaptogenic benefits. The stem serves as the central structural support for the shrub, connecting the underground parts to the foliage. Additionally, the green leaves are also of interest in traditional practices, with each individual leaf contributing to the plant's overall biological functions and chemical profile.
Plant Part Sources Consensus
root ISRN veterinary science (and other 61 sources) ★★★★★
leaf Phytochemistry (and other 33 sources) ★★★★★
fruit Analytical methods : advancing methods and applications (and other 10 sources) ★★★★★
stem Analytical methods : advancing methods and applications (and other 8 sources) ★★★★☆
seed Biomolecules (and other 2 sources) ★☆☆☆☆

Chemicals

Withania somnifera has 273 reported phytochemicals identified across 114 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported chemicals include Withaferin A, Withanolides, withanolide A, withanone, withanolide.

Chemicals reported in Withania somnifera
Chemical Supporting sources Consensus
Withaferin A 83 supporting sources ★★★★★
Withanolides 59 supporting sources ★★★★★
withanolide A 37 supporting sources ★★★★★
withanone 26 supporting sources ★★★★★
withanolide 17 supporting sources ★★★★★
Flavonoids 15 supporting sources ★★★★★
STIGMASTEROL 12 supporting sources ★★★★★
Withanolide D 11 supporting sources ★★★★★
12-Deoxywithastramonolide 10 supporting sources ★★★★★
Withanoside V 9 supporting sources ★★★★☆

Withaferin A

  1. Dr. Duke
  2. Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics
  3. Molecular biology reports
  4. Cell death & disease
  5. PloS one
View 78 additional sources
  1. Scientific reports
  2. Biochemical pharmacology
  3. Chemistry & biodiversity
  4. The Journal of biological chemistry
  5. Journal of chromatographic science
  6. Fitoterapia
  7. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  8. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
  9. Journal of complementary & integrative medicine
  10. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  11. Journal of inflammation (London, England)
  12. Plant & cell physiology
  13. Toxicology mechanisms and methods
  14. Protoplasma
  15. Frontiers in medicine
  16. Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)
  17. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken, N.J.)
  18. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology
  19. Cancer letters
  20. PLoS neglected tropical diseases
  21. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry
  22. Microbiological research
  23. Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
  24. Journal of pharmacological sciences
  25. Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology
  26. The New phytologist
  27. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie
  28. Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  29. Frontiers in plant science
  30. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
  31. Seminars in cancer biology
  32. Frontiers in pharmacology
  33. Pharmaceutical biology
  34. Environmental science and pollution research international
  35. Journal of applied microbiology
  36. Mechanisms of ageing and development
  37. Phytochemistry
  38. Plant cell reports
  39. Biomolecules
  40. The British journal of radiology
  41. Pharmacognosy magazine
  42. Journal of the American Nutrition Association
  43. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
  44. Plant cell, tissue and organ culture
  45. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science
  46. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)
  47. Journal of natural products
  48. Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA
  49. Chemical & pharmaceutical bulletin
  50. Journal of AOAC International
  51. Indian journal of experimental biology
  52. Neurochemistry international
  53. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland)
  54. Human & experimental toxicology
  55. Current pharmaceutical design
  56. Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
  57. Molecular immunology
  58. Planta medica
  59. Magnetic resonance in chemistry : MRC
  60. Journal of immunology research
  61. Parasite immunology
  62. International journal of radiation biology
  63. Natural product communications
  64. Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death
  65. The AAPS journal
  66. International journal of molecular sciences
  67. Angiogenesis
  68. Steroids
  69. Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.)
  70. Advances in therapy
  71. Journal of traditional and complementary medicine
  72. The Enzymes
  73. Journal of proteins and proteomics
  74. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology
  75. Plant disease
  76. Molecular neurobiology
  77. Molecular carcinogenesis
  78. Drug metabolism and personalized therapy

Withanolides

  1. The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology
  2. Molecular biology reports
  3. Phytochemistry
  4. PloS one
  5. Scientific reports
View 54 additional sources
  1. Revista medico-chirurgicala a Societatii de Medici si Naturalisti din Iasi
  2. Current opinion in plant biology
  3. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  4. Natural product research
  5. Protoplasma
  6. Plant signaling & behavior
  7. Fitoterapia
  8. Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung. C, Journal of biosciences
  9. Frontiers in plant science
  10. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  11. Plant & cell physiology
  12. Toxicology mechanisms and methods
  13. Journal of biotechnology
  14. Frontiers in medicine
  15. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology
  16. Journal of ginseng research
  17. Computers in biology and medicine
  18. Functional & integrative genomics
  19. Pharmacology
  20. BMC biotechnology
  21. Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology
  22. The New phytologist
  23. Journal of Asian natural products research
  24. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
  25. Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi = Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi = China journal of Chinese materia medica
  26. Frontiers in pharmacology
  27. The Journal of biological chemistry
  28. Plant physiology
  29. Mechanisms of ageing and development
  30. Phytotherapy research : PTR
  31. BMC bioinformatics
  32. Planta medica
  33. Physiologia plantarum
  34. Journal of the American Nutrition Association
  35. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  36. Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)
  37. International journal of food science
  38. Drug design, development and therapy
  39. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
  40. Plant disease
  41. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)
  42. Journal of AOAC International
  43. Cell death & disease
  44. Pharmaceutical biology
  45. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
  46. Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology
  47. The AAPS journal
  48. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology
  49. Pure and applied chemistry. Chimie pure et appliquee
  50. Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
  51. Steroids
  52. Frontiers in veterinary science
  53. Plant biotechnology journal
  54. The Enzymes

withanolide A

  1. Molecular biology reports
  2. Scientific reports
  3. PloS one
  4. The Journal of biological chemistry
  5. Journal of chromatographic science
View 32 additional sources
  1. Fitoterapia
  2. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  3. Natural product research
  4. Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology
  5. Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung. C, Journal of biosciences
  6. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  7. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology
  8. Microbiological research
  9. Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
  10. World journal of microbiology & biotechnology
  11. Frontiers in plant science
  12. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
  13. Frontiers in pharmacology
  14. Biochemical and biophysical research communications
  15. Journal of applied microbiology
  16. Pharmacognosy magazine
  17. Plant cell, tissue and organ culture
  18. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)
  19. Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)
  20. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
  21. Experimental gerontology
  22. Chemical & pharmaceutical bulletin
  23. Journal of AOAC International
  24. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
  25. Plant cell reports
  26. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology
  27. Protoplasma
  28. Journal of integrative plant biology
  29. Physiologia plantarum
  30. Advances in therapy
  31. Biochemical genetics
  32. Drug metabolism and personalized therapy

withanone

  1. Dr. Duke
  2. Molecular biology reports
  3. The Journal of biological chemistry
  4. Journal of chromatographic science
  5. Fitoterapia
View 21 additional sources
  1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  2. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  3. Computational biology and chemistry
  4. PLoS neglected tropical diseases
  5. Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
  6. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology
  7. Journal of applied microbiology
  8. Mechanisms of ageing and development
  9. Current research in toxicology
  10. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology
  11. Plant cell, tissue and organ culture
  12. Journal of molecular graphics & modelling
  13. Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)
  14. Journal of natural products
  15. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
  16. PloS one
  17. Magnetic resonance in chemistry : MRC
  18. Pharmaceutical biology
  19. Plant cell reports
  20. Steroids
  21. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics

withanolide

  1. Fitoterapia
  2. Pharmacognosy research
  3. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  4. Applied biochemistry and biotechnology
  5. Microbiological research
View 12 additional sources
  1. PloS one
  2. Journal of applied microbiology
  3. Plant cell reports
  4. Physiologia plantarum
  5. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  6. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
  7. Planta
  8. Nature communications
  9. Parasite immunology
  10. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology
  11. Scientific reports
  12. Phytochemical analysis : PCA

Flavonoids

  1. Acta pharmaceutica (Zagreb, Croatia)
  2. Iranian journal of basic medical sciences
  3. Iranian journal of pharmaceutical research : IJPR
  4. Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  5. Nutrients
View 10 additional sources
  1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  2. Planta medica
  3. Protoplasma
  4. International journal of food science
  5. ACS omega
  6. BMC complementary and alternative medicine
  7. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
  8. International journal of molecular sciences
  9. Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
  10. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology

STIGMASTEROL

  1. Dr. Duke
  2. Plant & cell physiology
  3. Planta
  4. Archiv der Pharmazie
  5. BMC bioinformatics
View 7 additional sources
  1. Physiologia plantarum
  2. Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB
  3. Molecular biology reports
  4. Journal of Asian natural products research
  5. Phytochemistry
  6. Plant cell reports
  7. Plant biotechnology journal

Withanolide D

  1. Dr. Duke
  2. Fitoterapia
  3. Endocrine-related cancer
  4. Frontiers in pharmacology
  5. Journal of ethnopharmacology
View 6 additional sources
  1. Plant cell, tissue and organ culture
  2. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science
  3. Journal of molecular graphics & modelling
  4. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
  5. Current pharmaceutical design
  6. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)

12-Deoxywithastramonolide

  1. Molecular biology reports
  2. Scientific reports
  3. Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
  4. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
  5. Journal of chromatographic science
View 5 additional sources
  1. Journal of AOAC International
  2. The Journal of biological chemistry
  3. Advances in therapy
  4. Virology journal
  5. Journal of ginseng research

Withanoside V

  1. Chemistry & biodiversity
  2. Journal of ethnopharmacology
  3. Plant signaling & behavior
  4. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
  5. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
View 4 additional sources
  1. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology
  2. Nature communications
  3. Plant cell reports
  4. PloS one

Activities

Withania somnifera has 380 reported activities identified across 114 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported activities include Antioxidant, Anticancer, Neuroprotective, Adaptogenic, Cardioprotective.

Most Reported Activities

Activity Sources Consensus
Antioxidant Dr. Duke (and other 33 sources) ★★★★★
Anticancer Dr. Duke (and other 20 sources) ★★★★★
Neuroprotective Dr. Duke (and other 13 sources) ★★★★★
Adaptogenic Journal of intercultural ethnopharmacology (and other 10 sources) ★★★★★
Cardioprotective Dr. Duke (and other 9 sources) ★★★★☆
Antidiabetic Dr. Duke (and other 7 sources) ★★★★☆
Antimicrobial PeerJ (and other 7 sources) ★★★★☆
Antistress Dr. Duke (and other 7 sources) ★★★★☆
Antiviral Dr. Duke (and other 6 sources) ★★★☆☆
Hepatoprotective Dr. Duke (and other 6 sources) ★★★☆☆

Medicinal Uses

Withania somnifera has 240 reported medicinal uses identified across 114 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported uses include cancer, breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, inflammation, oxidative stress.

Most Reported Uses

Use Sources Consensus
cancer Frontiers in immunology (and other 34 sources) ★★★★★
breast cancer Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) (and other 17 sources) ★★★★★
Alzheimer's disease Scientific reports (and other 14 sources) ★★★★★
inflammation Journal of ethnopharmacology (and other 14 sources) ★★★★★
oxidative stress Central nervous system agents in medicinal chemistry (and other 14 sources) ★★★★★
neurodegenerative diseases Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics (and other 12 sources) ★★★★★
Parkinson's disease Journal of ethnopharmacology (and other 11 sources) ★★★★★
COVID-19 Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics (and other 9 sources) ★★★★☆
anxiety Journal of ethnopharmacology (and other 7 sources) ★★★★☆
arthritis Molecular biology reports (and other 7 sources) ★★★★☆

Preparations

Preparations Sources Consensus
Withaferin A Scientific reports (and other 8 sources) ★★★★☆
extracts Indian journal of experimental biology (and other 6 sources) ★★★☆☆
extract Cancer letters (and other 4 sources) ★★☆☆☆
root extract Cellular and molecular neurobiology (and other 4 sources) ★★☆☆☆
aqueous extract Pakistan journal of biological sciences : PJBS (and other 3 sources) ★★☆☆☆
methanolic extracts Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology (and other 3 sources) ★★☆☆☆
plant extract Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology (and other 3 sources) ★★☆☆☆
WS extract BioMed research international (and other 2 sources) ★☆☆☆☆
WS root extract Drug metabolism and personalized therapy (and other 2 sources) ★☆☆☆☆
Withania somnifera extract Phytotherapy research : PTR (and other 2 sources) ★☆☆☆☆