Traditional uses, phytochemistry, quality control and biological activities of genus Grewia

•Traditional uses of Grewia spp. as medicine and food products.•Twelve and twenty seven Grewia spp. are comprehensively summarized for the phytochemistry and pharmacological activities, respectively in which Grewia asiatica is more explored.•Most of the compounds and pharmacological activities are reported in alcoholic extracts of fruits.•Flavonoids are the major phytochemicals in Grewia spp.•Traditional uses and food and medicine assist with scientific reports.•Antioxidant, radioprotective and hepatoprotective are the major activities of Grewia spp. due to flavonoids. The genus Grewia (Tiliaceae) comprises about 321 species which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They have an excellent medicinal and emergent commercial importance and are traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes, typhoid, hepatitis, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, smallpox, syphilitic ulcers, eczema, malaria, etc. The fruits of Grewia species are used as a traditional medicinal diet as a nutraceutical in healthy drinks and food additives. Vitally, in the last decade, the genus Grewia has gained more attention due to its diversified traditional medicinal diets along with pharmacological activities. This review aims to provide a complete compilation of comprehensive, systematic, and accurate information on traditional uses, nutritional values, health benefits, phytochemistry, quality control, and pharmacological properties of the genus Grewia. All the relevant and systematic literature data on the genus Grewia was gathered using multiple electronic databases, including Google Scholar, SciFinder, Web of Science, PubChem, PubMed, ChemSpider, Taylor & Francis, ScienceDirect, ACS Journals, Wiley, Springer, Thieme, The Plant List Database and Scopus. Some other relevant books, book chapters, and Wikipedia are also studied as ‘grey literature. The literature survey reveals that the fruits of Grewia asiatica and Grewia tenax are mainly used for traditional medicinal purposes and are a rich source of nutritional values and bioactive metabolites. About twenty-seven species in the genus Grewia have been reported for their pharmacological properties and in which only twelve species have been explored phytochemically. More than 227 chemical compounds, including alkaloids, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, phenols, and volatile classes of compounds have been identified and characterized in twelve species. Flavonoids appeared as the relatively most abundant class of compounds in fru