Tissue culture of medicinal plants: Morphogenesis, direct regeneration and somatic embryogenesis

Abstract

Piper longum.L (Long pepper) and Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. (Indian Sarsaparilla) are two important medicinal plants found in the Indian forests (Kirtikar & Basu, 1935). P. longum (Piperaceae) is a unisexual perennial climber, fruits of which are used as a spice and contains alkaloids like Piperine and Piplartine, while H. indicus (Asclepiadaceae) has different steroids as active substances mainly stored in its woody root and other parts of the plant body and is used as a substitute for Sarsaparilla. An in vitro study has been reported in Hemidesmus on the levels of active substances in the whole plant as well as in the cultured tissues (Heble and Chadha, 1978). As there is an increasing demand for multiplying and conserving medicinal plants, in vitro studies are indispensable to meet the requirements. In this paper we are describing protocols for the multiplication of these two plants through shoot tip culture, direct and indirect organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis.