Pharmacognostical and Phytochemical Studies of Notonia grandiflora Wall

Pharmacognostic evaluation is the first and foremost step to determine the identity and to assess the quality and purity of the crude drug. Notonia grandiflora is a perennial succulent plant, widely used in traditional medicinal system without standardisation. Notonia grandiflora has reported to possess various pharmacological activities such as analgesic and antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, and antipyretic. In the present study, pharmacognostic studies of root, stem, and leaf of Notonia grandiflora is carried out in order to standardize the plant. For standardization of plant material morphological and anatomical characterization was carried out. Physico-chemical parameters viz. ash content, extractive values, heavy metal content was carried out. Transverse section of Notonia grandiflora root shows periderm, cortex xylem parenchyma showing tracheids and phloem. Stem shows epidermis covered externally by cuticle, cortex, vascular bundles and pith. Calcium oxalate crystals, leaf and branch traces were also present in the cortical region of the stem. Leaf lamina showed palisade cells and spongy parenchyma in mesophyll region and anisocytic type of stomata. Powder characters and physico-chemical parameters such as moisture content, extractive values, ash content and heavy metal analysis were performed. The results of current study could be served as a diagnostic tool for the standardization of this medicinal plant and will be helpful in characterization of the crude drug.