Pharmacognostic Studies and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Cold and Hot Extracts of Leaf of Tinospora malabarica Miers - An Important Medicinal Plant”

摘要

Herbal medicine is one of the oldest medicines in India, which heals many diseases as mentioned in the Ayurveda and homeopathy. Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers. (Guduchi or Amrita) is one among the medicinal plants that has been used by Indian folk practitioners since ages to treat many diseases. In India, the genus Tinospora consists of four species and Tinospora malabarica Miers. is the major adulterant for Amrita by the local herbal healers, who are adulterating without standardization. T. malabarica Miers. can be confused with T. cordifolia (Willd.) Miers. for substitution and tampering purposes. The aim of this study was to investigate the morpho-anatomy and phytochemicals of leaf of Tinospora malabarica Miers. for pharmacobotanical data that may contribute to its identification and taxonomic definition from other species of Tinospora. The leaf powder was investigated using light microscope which shows the presence of oval or reiniform starch grains, multicellular uniseriate trichomes, annular, spiral and pitted vessels with fibers. The leaf of the plant is hypostomatic; shows anomocytic type of stomata. The preliminary phytochemical analysis of hot and cold extracts, which showed the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, glycosides, saponins, tannins and phenols in both the extracts and gums, protein containing sulfur and flavonoids are present only in cold extracts.