Macro and microscopic evaluation of Gmelina arborea Roxb. – A botanical pharmacognostic approach for quality control of raw drug material

R M Vignesh,V R Sumitha

doi:10.14719/pst.2020.7.1.648

Abstract

Gmelina arborea Roxb. of family Verbenaceae, is one of the highly valued medicinal plant used in numerous traditional medical formulations. It belongs to the ‘Dasamoola’ group of ayurvedic medicinal plants and hence widely exploited. Pharmacognostic techniques involving macroscopic, microscopic and also dry powder analysis serve as botanical methods which help in the correct identification of the crude drug. Leaf constants such as stomatal number, stomatal index, vein islet number, vein termination number also have been determined. Better quality control practices in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries demand the correct identification of the dried plants or powdered drug thereby detects and prevents the adulterations, if any. The challenge ahead of this investigation is to validate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the plant following standard methodology.

Highlights

Gmelina arborea Roxb., a moderately small to large deciduous tree is a native to Indian subcontinent
The pharmacognostic studies serve as an ideal tool in determining the quality of the raw drug material as morphological and anatomical characters together could help in distinguishing the original drug plant from their adulterants
U-shaped single 100-150 μm size vascular bundles with parallel lines of angular thick walled xylem elements assist the identification of the medicinal plant

Summary

Introduction

Gmelina arborea Roxb., a moderately small to large deciduous tree is a native to Indian subcontinent. It is called as ‘Sriparni’ in Sanskrit, ‘Gambhar’ in Hindi, ‘Kumbil’ in Malayalam and White teak in English. It belongs to the family Verbenaceae according to Bentham and Hooker’s system of classification but Angiosperm phylogenetic system recognises it under the family Lamiaceae. G. arborea is one such plant used in folklore medicine practices in the villages of India for abdominal tumors, piles, ‘tridosha’, urinary discharge and in post-delivery weakness [4]. Owing to the increased demand for the drug, the plant parts are often substituted. The present study involves pharmacognostic studies of various parts of the plant through macroscopic and microscopic analyses

Methods

Results

Conclusion