The medicinal plant C. asiatica (L.) Urban, belongs to the family Apiaceae, commonly known as "Pennywort." It is a perennial herb, normally grows in temperate and tropical wetlands. It consists of slender stems; creeping stolons; petiolate, stalked, and rounded leaves with palmately netted veins; pinkish, bisexual flowers and hairy, vertical, rhizomatous rootstock (S. Singh, Gautam, Sharma, & Batra, 2010).It is a slightly aromatic, herbaceous, stoloniferous, prostrate creeper of 12-15 cm in average height. Stem is rounded, glabrous, striated with rooting nodes. Leaves are 2-6 cm  1.5-5 cm in size, orbicularrenniform, glabrous, long petiolate with crenate margin, and sheathing leaf bases. Pinkish white to purple flowers are arranged in facicled umbels. Oblong shaped fruits are approximately 2 inches long with thickened pericarps and having seeds with the laterally compressed pendulous embryo (Prasad et al., 2014; S. Singh et al.). Habit and some morphological features of C. asiatica are presented in Figure 1. Taxonomic hierarchy of C. asiatica (L.

Centella asiatica is an ethnomedicinal herbaceous species that grows abundantly in tropical and sub‐tropical regions of China, India, South‐Eastern Asia and Africa. It is a popular nutraceutical that is employed in various forms of clinical and cosmetic treatments. C. asiatica extracts are reported widely in Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional medicine to boost memory, prevent cognitive deficits and improve brain functions. The major bioactive constituents of C. asiatica are the pentacyclic triterpenoid glycosides, asiaticoside and madecassoside, and their corresponding aglycones, asiatic acid and madecassic acid. Asiaticoside and madecassoside have been identified as the marker compounds of C. asiatica in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and these triterpene compounds offer a wide range of pharmacological properties, including neuroprotective, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, wound healing, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐oxidant, anti‐allergic, anti‐depressant, anxiolytic, antifibrotic, antibacterial, anti‐arthritic, anti‐tumour and immunomodulatory activities. Asiaticoside and madecassoside are also used extensively in treating skin abnormalities, burn injuries, ischaemia, ulcers, asthma, lupus, psoriasis and scleroderma. Besides medicinal applications, these phytocompounds are considered cosmetically beneficial for their role in anti‐ageing, skin hydration, collagen synthesis, UV protection and curing scars. Existing reports and experimental studies on these compounds between 2005 and 2022 have been selectively reviewed in this article to provide a comprehensive overview of the numerous therapeutic advantages of asiaticoside and madecassoside and their potential roles in the medical future.

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