Abstract

PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF THREE FICUS SP

Chachad Devangi* and Mondal Manoshree

ABSTRACT

Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal ‘renaissance’ is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolise safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment. In the current study, three species of Ficus leaves viz. Ficus benghalensis, F. glomerata, F. religiosa are worked upon for their anatomical characteristics. These characters like microscopy, macroscopy, powder study can be used as pharmacognostic standards can be employed for quality control of entire or powdered drugs that are available in the market. Also, their physico-chemical constants like ash values, moisture content, extractive values, fluorescence analyses and phytochemical constituents are analysed so as to explore the differences between them that affect their pharmacological activities. These data can help determine the authenticity of the crude drugs, which are supplied to the manufacturers through crude drug dealers. Every result is analysed in triplicates and a standard range is put forth, that is currently unavailable in the pharmacopoeias. This can be used as a reliable aid for finding out the genuine drug and reduce the chances of adulteration.

Keywords: Ficus benghalensis, Ficus glomerata, Ficus religiosa, pharmacopoeial standards, Phytochemistry.