PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF CORDIA MACLEODII (HOOK. F & THOMSON)

Jyotsna Kushwaha, Ravindra Singh and Manoj Kumar Tripathi*

ABSTRACT

Cordia macleodii known as Dahiman in Hindi is an important medicinal plant belonging to family-Boragenaceae. It is a promising drug used commonly as snake poison and also useful in, jaundice, leprosy, skin diseases, ear diseases and anti bacterial agents. Its stem bark, fruit and leaf are being used in the Indian System of Medicine and preparation of the Ayurvedic compound formulations viz. Shleshmataka panak, Durvadya taila, Banapsikadi Kashaya. The present paper deals with pharmacognostic study of stem bark and leaf which mainly included pharmacognostic investigation, HPTLC finger printing, fluorescence, phyto-chemical analysis and physico-chemical tests. Leaf physicochemical parameters average value of loss on drying at 105oC 5.22%, water soluble extractive value12.56%, alcohol soluble extractive value 4.17%, total ash value 13.68%, acid insoluble ash value3.12%, stem bark physicochemical parameters average value of loss on drying at 105oC 8.40%, water soluble extractive value 24.93%., alcohol soluble extractive value 7.01%, total ash value 17.07%, acid insoluble ash value 5.86%, phytochemicals mainly alkaloids, carbohydrate, flavanoid, saponin, tannin and resin present in the stem bark and alkaloid, resin, tannin present in the leaf. These parameters can be used for quality evaluation of single drug and for manufacturing authentic polyherbal medicines with correct identity.

Keywords: Cordia macleodii, Pharmacognostic investigation, Phyto-chemical analysis, Physicochemical analysis, HPTLC fingerprints.