Morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization of Evolvulus alsinoides Linn.: A memory enhancing herb

Evolvulus alsinoides Linn. is one of the important plants used in Medhya rasayana drug of Ayurveda. In the present investigation, attempts were made to study morphological, biochemical and molecular diversity of E. alsinoides collected from different regions of Maharashtra. Significant morphological differences were observed when accessions were compared with accession from Pune (PU1). Dendrogram for morphological traits clustered Evolvulus accessions into two groups considering 90% similarity. Chemical constituents in alkaloidal extract from 14 Evolvulus accessions were analyzed using high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). HPTLC profiles showed presence of 12 distinct compounds in the fraction. Dendrogram constructed on the basis of Rf values, grouped Evolvulus accessions in three major groups. Further, molecular diversity was studied using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Of the total 387 RAPD loci amplified with 40 primers, 220 loci were polymorphic with 56.1% diversity. A dendrogram constructed with UPGMA, grouped the accessions into two major clades. Wide morphological, biochemical and genetic diversity observed among the E. alsinoides accessions could probably be because of differences in their geographic environmental conditions.