Abstract
The present research project includes the family Asteraceae comprising the speciesCalendula arvensis L., Parthenium hysterophorus L. and Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. The present study was carried out to clear up the taxonomic position of the selected taxa and their authenticity. Medicinal plants face the problems in their identification due to confusion in nomenclature, taxonomic ranking and differentiation of various species at specific level sometimes at generic level also, but these problems can be overcome by using classical and applied approaches of taxonomy. Classical approaches are morphology, anatomy, palynology, ultra violet (UV) and infra red (IR) analysis and organoleptography whereas the applied approaches include their chemical analysis. In the context of morphology, characters such as calyx and corolla shape and size, flower color, shape and size etc showed variation. Leaf epidermal anatomy was found taxonomically useful. Epidermal cells show the difference in shape of epidermal cells, subsidiary cells, guard cells, micro-hairs and macro-hairs. All the three taxa can be distinguished easily on the basis of stomata type and width found useful in the delimitation of the taxa. Pollen characters were also studied including shape and size of pollen grains in equatorial and polar view. UV, IR and organoleptography analysis also showed a lot of variations among the selected taxa. The fluorescence, solubility and chemical analysis was also done in order to delimit the taxa. All these parameters showed successful findings and can be helpful for the identification, authentication and classification of the selected plants. All the available records are listed and mapped. Key words: Morphology, anatomy, palynology, organoleptography.
Highlights
The use of the medicinal herbs for curing disease has been documented in history of all civilizations
The present research work included the C. arvensis, Parthenium hysterophorus and S. marianum belonging to the family Asteraceae
Results for C. arvensis, P. hysterophorus and S. marianum are shown in Tables 1 to 3
Summary
The use of the medicinal herbs for curing disease has been documented in history of all civilizations. The medicinal plants find application in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agricultural and food industry. With the onset of research in medicine, it was concluded that plants contain active principles, which are responsible, for curative action of the herbs (Yineger et al, 2007). 80% of the world’s population, or 4.3 billion people, rely upon traditional plant-based systems of medicine to provide them with primary health care (Bannerman et al, 1983). Of the 250,000 higher plant species on earth, more than 80,000 are medicinal. India is one of the world’s 12 biodiversity centers with the presence of over 45,000 different plant species. About 15,000 to 20,000 plants have good medicinal value. Only 7,000 to 7,500 species are used for their medicinal values by traditional communities (Qureshi and Ghufran, 2007)
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