COMPARATIVE PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF TWO APHRODISIAC PLANTS – CHLOROPHYTUM BORIVILIANUM SANTAPAU & FERNANDES AND CHLOROPHYTUM TUBEROSUM (ROXB.) BAKER

摘要

Objective: Chlorophytum borivilianum and Chlorophytum tuberosum are economically and medicinally very important species in India. Both of the species look similar in nature and contain same type of saponin. So, there remains ample scopes to merchandise the plant parts or products of the second species in the name of the former, which although does not matter regarding the quality of product, but certainly do so in the parlance of economy. In the present study an effort has been made to work out the identifying characters and detail comparative accounts of both species for ready identification of entire plant, live or in herbarium and also the discrimination of drugs made from tubers of two species. Methods: Morphology and anatomical studies were carried out with the help of compound light microscope. Saponin was characterized through the HPTLC and FTIR analyses. Other phytochemical studies, pertinent to evaluation of drug quality, were also carried out. Results: Flower and tuber features of two species showed little differences. Anatomical investigation revealed greater number of xylem strands in C. tuberosum than the other. Organoleptic observations of both species expressed differences. FTIR and HPTLC analyses showed the presence of similar type of saponin in both of them. Conclusion: Consanguinity of two species makes delimitation and ready recognition of them harder. Similarities and dissimilarities between two species revealed in the present study in different forms of the plants, live or herbarium, entire or part or in powder form will succor well in discriminating them. Commercially available tuber powder of both the species can be discriminated with the aid of this study and the adulterants thereof can be checked