Abstract
Objective: To establish diagnostic features of same looking plants (C. gigantea and C. procera) and also to explore the diurnal influence on their Pharmacognosy values. Methodology: To meet the objectives, the characteristics of these plants were explored by macroscopic, microscopic (light microscopy), and also by physio-chemical parameters. The physiochemical analysis was performed with air dried leaves and flowers of C. gigantea and C. procera. The collected samples were used for the quantitative determination of ash value (water soluble, acid soluble and sulphate ash values), extractive values, loss on drying, swelling index, and foaming index through standard methods. The leaf and flower extracts (with different solvents) were subjected to qualitative phytochemical screening using the fluorescence test. Further, to explore the diurnal influence, the samples were plucked at different time intervals (morning, afternoon and evening) and fixed immediately for further processing. Results: It was observed that the macroscopic, microscopic and physiochemical characteristics analysed could serve as diagnostic features to distinguish these closely related species. Phytochemically, these plants are rich in constituents like carbohydrates, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, phenolic compounds and terpenoids. Moreover, physio-chemical parameters with methanolic extracts provided higher bioactive constituents than other solvents. Besides this, total ash values were found to be maximum i.e. PLA (15.33 0.050%) and GFE (14.15 0.031%) than other acid insoluble and water-soluble values which were under 2-10%. Pertinently, the moisture content was found little higher in C. gigantea GLA (10.60 0.200%) and GFA (11.06 0.100) than in C. procera PLA (8.81 0.598%) and PFA (9.92 0.244, while a considerable amount of foaming content was present in both the species was less than 100. On the basis of observed pharmacognosy, C. procera was found more promising in drug prospective bioactive constituents than C. gigantea and thereby offers more contribution toward establishment of pharmacognostic profile of this medicinally effective plant species. Novelty: Our approach pays a way for the inclusion of an important factor (diurnal factor) in assessing the medical efficacy of desired plant species that could help in sampling the specific plant material with desired chemical profile and enhanced pharmacognosy potential. Keywords: Anatomy; Ash value; Calotropis; Medicinal plants; Stomata;Trichomes
Highlights
IntroductionThe variables, like geographical distribution and environmental factors (climate, temperature, altitude, season, and other conditions) and time of harvesting/collection of medicinal plants seem to be important factors related to variation in the active compounds of medicinal plants [1]
The variables, like geographical distribution and environmental factors and time of harvesting/collection of medicinal plants seem to be important factors related to variation in the active compounds of medicinal plants [1]
The morpho-anatomical variation observed in the C. gigantea and C. procera from the family Asclepiadaceae could be used to distinguish the species for identification[38]
Summary
The variables, like geographical distribution and environmental factors (climate, temperature, altitude, season, and other conditions) and time of harvesting/collection of medicinal plants seem to be important factors related to variation in the active compounds of medicinal plants [1]. Its leaves are reported for anti-diarrhoeal, anticandida, and antibacterial activities [14], besides for fever, rheumatism, paralysis, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, cough, cold, eczema and diarrhoea [15]. It is used against asthma and arthralegia swellings [16,17]. The flowers are reported to possess analgesic, antimicrobal and cytotoxic effects [18,19] in addition to the stomachic, bechic, and antiasthmatic [20] problems
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