Lycopodium cernuum L. in Traditional and Contemporary Medicine: A Review of Its Pharmacognostic Profiles

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Traditional medicinal plants continue to serve as important sources of therapeutic agents due to their diverse bioactive compounds and generally favorable safety profiles. This review aims to comprehensively summarize the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical constituents, and therapeutic activities of Lycopodium cernuum, highlighting its potential for drug development. A systematic search of major scientific databases and authoritative references was conducted with no a priori restriction on publication year or language, yielding 50 eligible articles published between 1948 and 2024. L. cernuum has been widely utilized in traditional medicine systems across Asia, Latin America, and other regions to manage conditions related to inflammation, metabolic disorders, infections, and cancer-associated symptoms. Phytochemical investigations have identified diverse secondary metabolites, particularly alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, and terpenoids, which are proposed to underlie its pharmacological effects. Preclinical evaluations indicate that L. cernuum exerts multi-target activities on inflammatory, oxidative, metabolic, infectious, and immune pathways, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, antiviral, antidiabetic, antiplatelet, and immunomodulatory effects, thereby providing mechanistic support for several of its traditional uses. Preliminary toxicological studies suggest a relatively wide safety margin at commonly tested doses. Nevertheless, the current evidence base is limited by a predominance of in vitro and animal studies, heterogeneous experimental designs, and a lack of standardized extracts and dose–response evaluations, while clinical data in humans are virtually absent. Collectively, these findings underscore the promising pharmacological potential of L. cernuum and highlight the need for rigorously designed studies, particularly well-controlled clinical trials and mechanistic investigations, to validate its efficacy and safety and to inform its rational development as a therapeutic agent.